Behind the Bottom Line

Richard Olsen is a financial journalist, investigating Hawksmoor Trading Ltd, an investment company with a lot of dirty fingers in a lot of dirty pies. His story is going nowhere until he meets Annie Hart, a junior secretary with a conscience about what Hawksmoor is doing. She provides him with the evidence he needs and even goes to bed with him. Everything seems peachy, until a lawyer comes to hi...

Superlearning - now that sounds like a nice way to polish your skills. Lie back, get a massage, relax and allow the soft whispering in your ear to improve your performance, without any effort at all. Only over time, too much superlearning might have unforeseen consequences, and turn you from a pleasant coworker into a raging sociopath. And then who knows what might happen?  Music and sound ef...

The teams from sales on the third floor, and accountancy on the seventh floor like to prank each other. But this time, they may have gone a little too far … Music by JuliusH, Pixabay. Image by rawpixel.com This story first appeared in Business Spotlight.

Mr Hickson is making a pot of money from his new property development at  Brancaster Towers and it’s a nice place for him to hide his mistress, Roxanna. But who is behind the mysterious door in the West Tower? And what are they looking for from Hickson? This story was first published in Business Spotlight in 2010 Music by Pixabay and JuliusH, Pixabay. Photo by Antonio Dillard from Pexels

Ed and Jane are scriptwriters for a big Hollywood studio, who've been told they've got to work together. She likes to write dramas and he likes to write thrillers. What neither of them can write are romantic comedies. Or can they? Music by JuliusH, Pixabay. Photo by Monstera from Pexels This story first appeared in Business Spotlight in 2020.

Imagine you have only six months to live. What would you do with the time? A) Travel B) Eat in the best restaurants C) Poison the managing director of the company you worked at for thirty years? The choice is yours… The text for the story can be found in the transcript section on my website: https://www.podpage.com/behind-the-bottom-line/ Music by JuliusH, Pixabay. Photo by Food Photographer | Jen...

An old man in a hospital ward is convinced his grandchildren are trying to steal his company from under his nose. Can he persuade his lawyers that they have to do something to stop this, or will he just be ignored? This story is based on a thousand real events. Music by JuliusH, Pixabay.

In the final episode for season 6 find out about: - Pacelli and the real-life Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation - the importance of pugs and Tarot cards in life - shopping in Venice I’ll also share some interesting facts and figures about my podcast in 2021 and carry out a live Tarot reading concerning its future in 2022. Join me if you dare… And, if you still need a Christmas present fo...

Caliban and his henchman Milos have been arrested, but the real head of their drug dealing gang – the New York socialite Dotty van Meese – has just met the unsuspecting Emily for dinner.  Is Emily going to get out of this alive? Music by JuliusH from Pixabay

On Pacelli, Filippo has set up a meeting with Caliban Leone to see if they can agree on a drug deal. Meanwhile, Emily decides to follow the mysterious man she saw talking to Leone’s henchman, Milos, on the Lido. But is this really a good idea? Music by JuliusH from Pixabay

Emily Lee’s holiday in Venice has not been peaceful. Some headache tablets packed in Emily’s suitcase by the masseuse Maria Torres from her yoga retreat, turn out to contain ecstasy, causing Emily’s friend Filippo to behave very strangely when he took one by mistake. The two of them have now gone to the police where they find out something even more shocking: Maria’s boyfriend has been found drown...

Emily has left the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation and is now supposed to be spending a week in Venice with her friend Filippo Cimino. Filippo takes her to have lunch with some good friends of his who run a restaurant, but on their way back to their hotel, Emily has a shock. In the newspaper she reads that a guest she met on the island, Jason Tucker, has died of a drug overdose in Berl...

Emily is enjoying her stay at the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation on the island of Pacelli in the Venetian lagoon, but there are some disturbing things about the place. Why has Caliban Leone, the founder of the centre, got a full-scale chemical laboratory in his cellar? What caused the argument between the centre’s cook, Paolo, and Caliban’s sinister henchman Milos? And what is Maria,...

Emily wants answers to the questions that have been bothering her since she arrived at the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation on the island of Pacelli. Why are boats arriving on the island in the early hours of the morning? And what is in the herbal tea that the guests drink before their early-morning yoga class that made her behave so strangely? Emily needs answers from Caliban Leone, th...

Emily has met some of the bizarre other guests on the island of Pacelli at the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation, including Sergei – the video installation artist from Moscow, Jason Tucker an obnoxious DJ from England, and the extravagant Dotty van Meese with whom Emily shares an interest in Tarot card reading and pug dogs. Today, Emily gets into her health regime properly, and thin...

Emily has arrived in Venice and travelled across the lagoon to the island of Pacelli and the Advanced centre for Wellness and Meditation, run by the charismatic Dr Caliban Leone. Now is the time for her to meet the rather peculiar other guests, staying on Pacelli, and have a Tarot reading done for her by the exotic Dotty van Meese. Music by JuliusH from Pixabay

It's the year a shark is spotted swimming down the Grand Canal in Venice, and young executive Emily Lee badly needs a holiday. She decides to travel to the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Relaxation on the small island of Pacelli in the Venetian lagoon for some yoga, warm weather and excellent food. But is the Centre and its charismatic founder, Dr Caliban Leone, everything it should be? Music by...

Behind the Bottom Line is back on the audio waves for season 6 on October 6 with a detective story, 'Peril in Venice'. Join Emily Lee as she travels from Munich to the island of Pacelli in the Venetian lagoon for a well-deserved holiday at the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation. The question is, will she manage to return?

What was the real-life background to 'Double Trouble'? In this last episode of season 5 of Behind the Bottom Line find out about: the original model for 'Double Trouble' the influence of a disaster back in 1968 how advertisements torture me how I choose the names for my characters You will also get a sneak preview of season 6 which will be coming to a podcast player near you at the beginning of Oc...

Tim, Nick and Wanda are now in London filming the Xaewoo Motors commercial with Lady Lois. So far, things have been going well, but Jemima Madison, the boss’s daughter, isn’t stupid and she’s starting to ask a lot of questions.  What will happen if she finds out what's been going on? Image by zl2ifb from Pixabay 

Tim has found a way to bring his brother, Nick, Wanda and Lady Lois up to London to film a commercial for Xaewoo Motors. But can a goat act? And will the twins really get away with fooling everybody for very much longer? Image by Marcel Langthim from Pixabay

Tim Aldridge needs to come up with a new advertising campaign for the Madison & Oggers client, Xaewoo Motors in less than a week. Will his longing to escape London and get back to his farm help the creative juices flow? And what about his brother Nick trapped by floods on the farm? Is he simply flirting with Wanda, the Polish agricultural student, or is this something more serious? Image by bu...

After his unfortunate encounter with Tanya Mischkovich in a restaurant, Tim Aldridge is desperate to leave London and get back to his farm. But a visit to a cheese shop which sells his very own 'Aldridge Blue' cheese makes him realise that he has been guilty of avoiding his business responsibilities, and when he does get home, he's going to have to make some changes. Meanwhile, Nick is finding out...

Tim is still in London pretending to be his twin brother Nick, an advertising executive for the company Madison and Oggers. But things are about to get tricky for Tim: Jemima Madison, Nick's ex-girlfriend, has invited him out on a date. Can he keep her fooled, especially as she starts getting more than a little bit friendly?  As for Nick, back on the farm he's advising Tim's wife Gwyneth on h...

Tim is finding out that his brother’s life in London is more complicated than he realized. His colleagues are competitive, he has to create a new advertising campaign for a car in only a week, Nick’s ex-girlfriend wants to get back together with him and that’s before he’s even met the boss, Louis Madison... Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay.