From true-crime podcast investigations to documentary films, we believe in stories that hook in everyone, no matter your interest in the environment. 

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Our BBC Radio 4 series 'Buried' featured a deathbed tape that took listeners into the world of organised waste crime. It won Gold at the British Podcast Awards. The second season, "Buried: The Last Witness", with the Hollywood actor Michael Sheen, followed a dead witness's secret evidence to uncover a nationwide chemical scandal. It has sparked two public investigations, and may yet lead to a community-led lawsuit. 

 

In the film-world, our short Beautiful Poison followed one former US coal community's fight to save their rivers, premiering at Hot Docs. It was shown to representatives at the UN General Assembly, and business leaders worldwide, to inspire environmental action.   

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Founders Dan and Lucy are both seasoned investigative journalists and presenters, who bring years of experience reporting on the frontline. Before starting Smoke Trail, they set up the first independent TV news bureau in Tanzania, investigating stories from the ivory trade to rosewood smuggling, and travelling everywhere from the Madagascan rainforest to Burundian refugee camps. From there, they moved to Russia, reporting live from Moscow for international news networks. 

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Most of our work is focused on environment reporting, but from 2025 we are expanding into investigations around social affairs, science and health. 

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