Charlie Webster was in a coma on life support for two weeks. She had malaria and multiple organ failure. Doctors gave her 24 hours. She survived, and the story of what came before and after is unlike anything you have heard.

Charlie tells James Kirkham how a TV executive told her the boxing world was not ready for women. Two years later she became the first woman in the world to host a heavyweight world title fight.

She grew up working class in Sheffield, raised by a teenage mother, and coped with a violent home life by reading Stephen King at nine years old and writing her feelings on scraps of exercise books.

She discusses the double standards she faced as a female sports broadcaster: the sexism, the classism, the abuse. She describes being told to sit there and look pretty.

She describes campaigning against a convicted rapist returning to professional football and the rape threats she received. When she nearly died of malaria in 2016, people told her she got what she deserved.

Charlie made the BBC documentary Nowhere to Run about the running coach who sexually abused her and other girls in her athletics group. She made it to change a specific law. She succeeded. The position of trust loophole was closed. The documentary was later used in court to convict another abusive coach.

She explains how she created Scamanda, the most successful podcast of 2023: a story with no murder, built entirely on betrayal, deception and human behaviour. She describes working with 50 Cent on a podcast about the Flores twins and El Chapo, where the real story was PTSD and family loyalty, not cartel action.

Charlie reflects on what resilience actually means, why she has friction with the word, and the difference between getting back up and actually healing. She talks about AI, the future of long-form storytelling, and why she now sees herself as a conduit for other people's voices.

Chapters

1. 00:00 — Introduction
2. 01:05 — The boxing world isn't ready for women
3. 06:30 — Fear, class and the chip on her shoulder
4. 08:30 — Sheffield, Stephen King and a teenage mum
5. 11:15 — The box of scraps she kept for decades
6. 14:00 — London with no money and no contacts
7. 18:00 — Why she has friction with the word resilience
8. 22:30 — Social media and live broadcasting collide
9. 26:00 — Malaria, a coma and being told she should die
10. 29:00 — Nowhere to Run: a documentary to change the law
11. 33:15 — Story first, then format
12. 37:00 — Scamanda, 50 Cent and the Flores twins
13. 42:30 — AI and why human stories endure
14. 54:00 — What comes next

StoryCo is presented by James Kirkham. Sponsored by TYX Studios in London, with special thanks to Jack Freeguard, Panos Agamemnos, Craig Heptinstall and Thailah Newton.

Produced by Jago Lee.

Production managed by Archan Mohile.

Developed by Issa Gibson.

Theme music by Doubt Point.

A Telltale Industries Production.