Episode 09: Lessons Learned

In this special two-part conclusion to MISSING, Tim Weaver continues his life as one of the disappeared. Four days after he walked out the front door, the tension of life off the grid is mounting. What’s life like without human contact, no technology, and the pressure of being pursued? Plus: when the adventure ends, Tim discusses his experience – including all the surveillance he never saw - with Renate Samson, Chief Executive of Big Brother Watch.

In this special two-part conclusion to MISSING, Tim Weaver puts everything he’s learned to the test. He walks out the front door – not telling his family or his friends where he's going – and sees how long he can make it on the road and off the grid. With no phone, no computer, no contacts and under constant pressure of being found by a team of search experts, Tim has to deal with the practical and emotional challenges of life as one of the disappeared.

One year on, Tim Weaver returns to MISSING and discusses how the lessons he learned from the show’s guests influenced his new book, BROKEN HEART. Tim’s joined by broadcaster Michael Carlson and discusses writing about and researching missing people, as well as the disturbing real-life cases that prove how truth is stranger than fiction.

In the podcast's final episode, Tim returns to Quinn Norton and Frank M. Ahearn, both of whom have first-hand experience of watching people disappear. What exactly would people need to do in order to vanish? Is it a matter of determination, technical skill, deceit, or blind luck? What’s the balance between creating a new life and burying the old one? With their help, Tim sifts through the final evidence before asking, in the 21st century, is it really possible for someone to disappear?

Only 1% of people that go missing stay disappeared for longer than a year. Who continues looking for them, and how? Tim rejoins the Missing Person Bureau’s Sherri McAra and Dr Karen Shalev Greene from Centre for the Study of Missing Persons, and discusses what happens when a case goes cold. And how far would you go if a loved one went missing? Tim meets with noted clairvoyant Camilla Ventham Fraser, to explore the more unconventional paths a missing persons search can take.

Tim takes a unique, behind the scenes tour of the Crime Museum of Scotland Yard, accompanied by Jackie Keily, curator of the Museum of London. From spies to serial killers, the Museum contains the artifacts and stories of those that have disappeared throughout history. What lessons can we learn from their successes - and their mistakes?