The Australian’s Teacher’s Pet trial tops Apple Podcast charts

The Australian’s new podcast series that investigates the murder trial involving former footballer and teacher Chris Dawson has proven a hit with listeners.

Chris Dawson arriving at the Supreme Court, Sydney CBD. The ex-Newtown Jets player and schoolteacher has been charged with murdering his wife Lynette in 1982. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

The Australian’s new podcast ­series on the murder trial of former footballer and teacher Chris Dawson has topped the podcast charts just days after its launch.

The Teacher’s Trial, which launched on Friday, shot to No. 1 in the Apple podcast charts and follows on from the 2018 hit podcast The Teacher’s Pet.

Tens of thousands of listeners have already tuned in to the new series, which will focus on the events in the court trial of Mr Dawson, who is accused of murdering his wife, Lynette Dawson, in Sydney in 1982.

The podcast series is led by two of the nation’s most experienced crime reporters, David Murray and Matthew Condon, who will be attending the five-week trial in Sydney’s Supreme Court.

The pair will produce a weekly podcast on the information that unfolds inside the courtroom and each new episode will be released every Friday during the trial.

It includes commentary and analysis from experts and legal professionals in the lead-up to the verdict.

The Teacher’s Trial and The Australian’s new morning news podcast The Front occupied the top two positions in the news category in the Apple Podcast charts across the weekend.

The Front, which features page one stories as well as journalists’ takes on important issues, will also ­feature analysis from the Dawson trial.

The Teacher’s Pet podcast, which was spearheaded by The Australian’s national chief correspondent Hedley Thomas, was a worldwide news phenomenon, reaching the top of the podcast charts in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand and registering more than 60 ­million downloads across 16 ­episodes.

Thomas went on to produce two other crime podcasts, The Night Driver and Shandee’s Story, and both also recorded many downloads over the weekend, driven by the launch of The Teacher’s Trial.

The Night Driver, which was released in 2020, delved into the disappearance of 31-year-old ­Janine Vaughan, who went missing 19 years ago in Bathurst after a night out.

The 2021 podcast, Shandee’s Story, investigated the brutal murder of 23-year-old Mackay woman Shandee Blackburn, who was stabbed multiple times while she was walking home from work late at night.