Apple Debuts True-Crime Podcast 'Hooked' as First Standalone Original

Apple today debuted "Hooked," a true-crime podcast, seemingly as the company's first wholly standalone original podcast series.

While Apple has already begun its venture into original podcasts with the likes of "Oprah's Book Club" and "For All Mankind: The Official Podcast," Hooked is the first Apple Original podcast that is seemingly not tied to an Apple TV+ series in any way.

"The Line" debuted earlier this year as an independent podcast, but it is set to be accompanied by an ‌Apple TV+‌ documentary series of the same name later in the fall. Hooked, on the other hand, has no apparent link to an ‌Apple TV+‌ series. Hooked is still published by ‌Apple TV+‌ in Apple Podcasts and it remains unclear if Apple will create a dedicated channel for Apple Original podcasts. Hooked is produced by Campside Media, and Apple describes the series as follows:

When Tony Hathaway was arrested outside a Seattle bank in February 2014, it brought an end to one of the most prolific bank robbery streaks in American history. Hathaway robbed 30 banks in a single year, all within a 30-mile radius of his suburban home. But that’s not the most surprising part of this story. Before Hathaway was a masterful bank robber—a shape-shifting professional who confounded multiple police departments and the FBI—he was a top design engineer at Boeing, one of America’s most important companies. Hathaway traveled the world in business class, working on the 747, while hiding a gigantic secret: an OxyContin addiction that ultimately unraveled his life. Based on three years of conversations between Hathaway and journalist Josh Dean, Hooked is a different kind of crime story that takes listeners on an exceptional and very personal tour of America’s opioid epidemic.

Apple has ramped up its podcast production output over the past year and is rumored to be working on a podcast streaming subscription service to better compete with Spotify. Hooked appears to be another step toward bolstering ‌Apple Podcasts‌' ability to rival Spotify.

The first three episodes of Hooked are available now in the Apple Podcasts app or via RSS in other podcast players, with new episodes becoming available on Wednesdays.

Yesterday, ‌Apple Podcasts‌ gained two new subscription-based channels: BBC Studios and Slate. BBC Studios gives subscribers in the U.S. and Canada access to shows that were previously only accessible in the UK.