Clair Buckley: I’m 100% sure that I saw a ghost dog. James isn’t convinced

One of the great mainstays of the podcasting industry is a married couple disclosing details about the inner workings of their relationship and recording their playful disagreements about chores, spending habits and sex, often making other couples feel more normal. Those who appear regularly in the trending podcasts section have crafted the perfect balance of banter, down-to-earth relatability, and crucially, genuine love for one another, so it’s not an uncomfortable listen. Peter and Abbey Crouch, Jamie and Sophie Laing, Chris and Rosie Ramsey have become the top dogs in the field. And another titan of the genre is James and Clair Buckley, with their podcast The Buckleys, which documents the funny side of their modern marriage and parenting their two sons – Harrison, 14, and Jude, 12. As the podcast and their YouTube channel have grown, it’s not just curiosity about what The Inbetweeners actor’s life is like now that has kept people tuning in; Clair has become a star in her own right. Listeners have fallen for her Scottish humour, sharp wit and love of darkness – so much so that Clair is pursuing her own podcast in another area that’s a favourite for many: true crime. Shorts The 38-year-old has long had an intense passion for it and the paranormal; therefore, recounting the stories of serial killers, ghost sightings and alien abductions felt like the right solo project, and so Pretty Scary was born. Her passion for the subject began right from her childhood. “I’ve got this really vivid memory of sneaking the Scream video from my parents’ collection at age 12. I wasn’t supposed to be watching it, and it terrified me, but I really enjoyed it too. I watched more, and whenever it said ‘based on a true story’, I found it interesting to look into.” A YouTube video she spontaneously posted a year ago about it proved very popular, with fans regularly asking for more, so she decided to finally serve the demand. Even so, this new path was an adjustment. “That first day in the studio without James was so weird. Anything I’ve done, I’ve been with him. He’s a pro who knows what he’s doing, and I was always just sort of beside him,” she remarks. But it was never an option for James, whom she began dating in 2010 before marrying two years later, to be part of it. “When James and I first got together, I would always say, ‘Let’s watch a horror film’, and he was like, ‘Really? Can we not watch something a bit funnier?’ He doesn’t like scary, weird stuff. You either love it, or you don’t.” Clair loves to chat about the darker side of life Their differing views align with wider patterns in the genre; according to YouGov, true crime consumption is around 65 per cent women, 35 per cent men. As to why this could be, Clair says: “On the whole, women are just a lot more aware. We have to be so we are safe.” Her interests expand to the supernatural, and Clair would put herself firmly in the believer category. “I’ve had so many experiences,” she states. “It’s all around you if you pay attention. I’m 100 per cent convinced that I saw the ghost of a dog at my grandparents’ house when I was 14. I’d got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom,” before dramatically pausing to interject her story: “They didn’t have a dog, by the way. I should say that.” She continues: “There was this big, fluffy black dog with green eyes sitting in the hallway. When I looked at the dog, it went down the stairs and disappeared. When I tell that story to James, he says I was dreaming. He is the complete opposite of me and always thinks there’s a reasonable explanation.” The first episodes of the podcasts are largely focused on stories that have stayed with Clair long after reading about them. One case in particular haunts her – in 2007, teenagers Viktor Sayenko and Igor Suprunyuk, committed 21 murders in Ukraine during one month. “It was a killing spree for absolutely no reason. There was no motive, no backstory – it’s terrifying,” she says. As for how she deals with these serious cases. “If you love true crime, or if you work in it, you’ve got to learn to switch off, maybe go home and watch some SpongeBob. True crime doesn’t desensitise us at all to it. I’ve been interested in it for years, and it’s not desensitised to me. I hear about stuff in the news, and I’m still like, ‘Oh my god, this is terrible.’” She has also been cautious of her ethical responsibilities since entering the space. “When you’re talking about real people, it’s really important to be mindful that this did happen, and so for certain situations, we’ve changed a victim’s name, and we obviously don’t glorify who was responsible or what happened. “With true crime, it’s always interesting to learn about the psychology of things. And not that any reason’s good enough, but the why’s and what’s that affect certain people in certain ways. It’s really learning about it rather than just being like, oh, this is a horrendous story. But the podcast is not opinion-based; I just share the facts.” The ‘Pretty Scary ’ podcast is available to listen to and watch on all major platforms