Intrigue Podcast
Million Dollar Lover is a true story recorded in real time about how homelessness and wealth collide in a luxury Californian resort when a millionaire widow falls for her handyman.
Million Dollar Lover is an unlikely love story, recorded in real time as the relationship unfolds between a wealthy widow, Carolyn, who is 80 and Dave, 57, a former drug addict who is homeless and has a long criminal history.
The story captured the attention of the BBC Journalist Sue Mitchell as it was unfolding on her street. She spends a lot of time in California, she married an American and her award-winning journalism has been about the lives of people like Dave who inhabit the dangerous margins of society.
There are so many homeless people in America that the wealthy can no longer avoid contact with them. When Dave arrives in Cayucos, a charming beach town, prosperous and sunny all year round, he goes to church. People there help him find work, recommending him to Carolyn as an odd job man. She falls in love with him and within a fortnight, he's moved in.
Dave is a skilled joiner and musician who makes and sells jewellery. With Carolyn’s support, he appears to be thriving. Her daughters fear that he has his sights set on the valuable property portfolio which their parents and grandparents built up over the years and turn to the police for help.
Soon everyone is asking whether Dave is really a tender carer or a dangerous interloper who will fleece her – breaking her heart and her family?
New episodes will be released on Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. If you’re in the UK, listen to the latest full series of Intrigue first on BBC Sounds. https://bbc.in/3WEQS5W
Million Dollar Lover is produced at BBC Audio by the team behind The Boy in the Woods and is presented by Sue Mitchell.
The series is scripted by Winifred Robinson; the producers are Sue Mitchell and Joel Moors; the dramaturg is Flo Dessau and sound design is by Tom Brignell.
Episodes to download
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 10: Final Plot
Thu 23 Nov 2023
A death leaves people trying to make some sense of what happened between Carolyn and Dave
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 9: Missing You
Thu 23 Nov 2023
Dave looks set to get some money from the house sale when events take an unexpected turn.
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 8: Taking Control
Thu 23 Nov 2023
A hidden daughter almost killed by neglect unlocks a new truth that could stop the sale.
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 7: Hidden Lives
Thu 23 Nov 2023
Troubling tales of violence and terror emerge when Dave returns to places from his past.
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 6: Unforgettable
Thu 23 Nov 2023
Does a parallel tragedy in Dave and Carolyn’s lives explain what brings them together?
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 5: Family Fortunes
Wed 22 Nov 2023
What do we really know about Dave's dark past and can his children really forgive him?
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 4: Rewards of Love
Tue 21 Nov 2023
With Carolyn having wrested back control of her money, she wants to spend some on Dave.
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 3: The Fight
Mon 20 Nov 2023
Fury about Dave and Carolyn spills into violence when her daughter attacks Dave.
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 2: A Lady Never Tells
Sun 19 Nov 2023
With Carolyn and Dave at odds with her daughters, a battle over inheritance takes shape.
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Million Dollar Lover – Ep 1: Stranger in Town
Sat 18 Nov 2023
When a homeless man moves in with a rich widow is it true love or something much darker?
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Introducing - Intrigue: Million Dollar Lover
Fri 17 Nov 2023
When a homeless man moves in with a rich widow is it true love or something much darker?
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The Immortals - Ep 10: After the Dragon
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Immortality - does anyone other than Silicon Valley billionaires want it?
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The Immortals - Ep 9: Nerd Rapture
Mon 4 Sep 2023
An immortalist is excommunicated for speaking out against the techno-utopian movement.
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The Immortals - Ep 8: The Prophet
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Will our immortal future only come if we merge with machines and become “post-human”?
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The Immortals - Ep 7: Vitalik
Mon 4 Sep 2023
A cryptocurrency billionaire’s experiment to loosen laws and create a longevity paradise.
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The Immortals - Ep 6: Longevity Escape Velocity
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Why settle for an additional 20 healthy years when you might eliminate death entirely?
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The Immortals - Ep 5: The Trial
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Aging is just something that happens. Isn’t it? There’s no cure for it. Is there?
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The Immortals - Ep 4: The Hype Cycle
Mon 4 Sep 2023
The hype around young blood backfires for a US entrepreneur who courted tech billionaires.
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The Immortals - Ep 3: The Plasma Clinic
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Inside the US plasma clinic promising to reverse ageing with the blood of the young.
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The Immortals – Ep 2: The Experiment
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Does injecting the blood plasma from young people really reverse aging?
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The Immortals – Ep 1: Dracula
Mon 4 Sep 2023
Aleks Krotoski tracks the imminent cure for aging and the push by Silicon Valley to own it
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Introducing - Intrigue: The Immortals
Tue 29 Aug 2023
Investing in immortality – the tech pioneers who want to live forever.
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Burning Sun - Ep 5: An Extreme Decision
Mon 26 Jun 2023
Journalist Kang receives a surprising call from K-pop royalty Goo-Hara who wants to help.
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Burning Sun - Ep 4: Consent
Mon 26 Jun 2023
The sex scandals make headlines around the world. K-pop fans, like Jung's superfan, react.
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Burning Sun - Ep 3 : The Nightclub
Mon 26 Jun 2023
A shocking scandal is uncovered at a nightclub co-owned by Big Bang K-pop star Seungri.
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Burning Sun - Ep 2: Kakao Talk
Mon 26 Jun 2023
Someone is holding popstar Jung’s phone in their hands.
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Introducing - Intrigue: Burning Sun
Mon 19 Jun 2023
The sex scandals that brought down some of the world’s biggest K-pop Stars.
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Mayday - Bonus: The Evidence Gatherers
Wed 7 Apr 2021
More than a million documents have been taken out of Syria by a Western-funded NGO.