On the double

How very odd of Radio 4 not only to release The Ratline as a podcast before broadcasting it on the schedule in the conventional manner, but also to give its network listeners an edited-down version. It’s as if the podcast of Philippe Sands’s programme, which investigates war crimes by the Nazis, fuelled by his own family history and what he discovered while writing his book East West Street, has been given priority, and anyone who listens in the old-fashioned, switch-of-a-button way is somehow second-best and doesn’t deserve the full monty. The first episode of the ten-part series was six minutes longer online than on-air. What’s in those missing minutes, I wondered?

Not much. A bit of filling. Some extraneous detail. The sound of someone typing on a typewriter, just to make sure we pick up on the fact that we’re talking history here. There’s a good deal of hyperbole, claims of ‘unique’ access, the insertion of an anachronistic reference to Donald Trump, some voice-to-mike stuff from Sands himself, emphasising the personal nature of his quest. None of which is necessary. Sands has the voice, the authority, the observational understanding of what makes a telling detail, and the raw passion of his mission to make great radio. Are two versions of the series really necessary? You can now listen to the first episodes on iPlayer but also to the longer podcasts (some of which run to 30 minutes). Is this cost-effective?

In The Ratline, Sands follows up on one of the stories he talked about in his book, as he discovered that 80 members of his extended family had died in just four months when the Nazis moved into the town of Lviv (which used to be called Lemberg). He was particularly intrigued by Otto von Wächter, a wealthy family man and lawyer who was also a high-ranking Nazi, and who was in Lemberg while those mass murders were taking place.