More mystery shoppers
Scott continued the previous day’s anonymous accounts from people who had worked as mystery shoppers.
One former shopper had surveyed seven departments during each supermarket visit and said the cheese counter consistently failed.
Other assignments involved visiting financial advisers with invented stories, inspecting hotels and evaluating staff while trying to appear completely ordinary.
The programme altered names and voices to protect people who still wanted to remain anonymous.
Katy’s Music Police case
Katy had been trying to identify a song from a short and uncertain remembered fragment.
The force entered the programme without a clear leading suspect.
Scott replayed the evidence and compared it with the strongest listener suggestions.
Several proposals had the right general shape or rhythm but failed when tested against Katy’s memory.
The difficulty of remembered music
Katy’s case demonstrated how unreliable earworms could become over time.
The remembered tempo, voice, decade and even melody could all shift after years of replaying a fragment internally.
Scott resisted declaring a solution simply because one suggestion was vaguely similar.
The investigation therefore continued until Katy could recognise the answer with confidence.
Music detectives elsewhere
Scott also noted that other Radio 2 programmes had begun developing Music Police-style investigations.
Listeners were becoming used to sending hummed clues whenever a presenter or guest could not identify a song.
Handover
Scott handed over with Katy’s case still requiring convincing evidence.
COMMENTS