Sheffield DocFest Podcast Live Events Showcase Previous Whickers Winners
Alongside this year’s pitch competitions, The Whickers was delighted to host two special live podcast events at Sheffield DocFest 2026, showcasing the work of previous Podcast Pitch winners and demonstrating the impact of Whickers funding in bringing ambitious audio projects to life.
The Road to Redemption Man
On Thursday evening, audiences joined 2025 Podcast Pitch winner Chris Mitchell for The Road to Redemption Man, a special conversation with producer and audio commissioner Jane Ray exploring the journey from pitch-winning idea to completed podcast series.
The event offered a world-exclusive preview of episode two, Stranger in a Strange Land, alongside behind-the-scenes insights into the creative and editorial development of the project. Tracing a remarkable story that spans from Ladbroke Grove to Guyana, Redemption Man explores themes of British history, community resilience, loss, grief and transformation.
Chris and Jane discussed how the series evolved from an independent idea into an ambitious documentary production, reflecting on the challenges of development, the ethical responsibilities involved in telling real-life stories, and the opportunities made possible by winning the Whickers Podcast Pitch Award in 2025.
Previewing Rewriting the Narrative
On Saturday afternoon, The Whickers welcomed back 2024 Podcast Pitch winner Christina Hardinge to present an exclusive preview of her forthcoming series, Rewriting the Narrative, ahead of its public release later this year.
The event featured premieres of several episodes, followed by a Q&A with Hardinge about the innovative storytelling techniques at the heart of the project.
Rewriting the Narrative explores a simple but profound question: What if you could rewrite the story of your own life?
In each immersive episode, a different participant revisits a personal struggle, such as grief, addiction or depression and transforms it into a living character with whom they can enter into dialogue. As the relationship unfolds, new perspectives emerge and alternative narratives become possible.
Inspired by drama-therapy techniques that bring complex emotions and experiences to life through personification, the series offers a fresh and imaginative approach to documentary storytelling. The result is a deeply moving listening experience that has the power, not only to transform the perspectives of those taking part, but also those of the audience listening alongside them.
Together, these two events provided a compelling showcase of the creative ambition, originality and impact that The Whickers Podcast Pitch continues to nurture long after the awards are presented.