Behind the Bottom Line

Find out the origin story of 'Seven Continents':

• Who were the real life characters the fictional ones are based on?
• Where is Kazbakistan and the other locations?
• How much of the background detail about the diamond industry is accurate?

Learn something about the creation of this podcast, the creative process and what happens when characters start to develop their own ideas of what they want to do, whether the writer wants it or not.

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💎It's show-down time! Kirill, Irina and Macey have organised a meeting with Sir Gilbert Villiers and Roy Marsden, who has no idea what the three of them have found out about him and his connection with Piet Hoodjink, the London director of Durban Diamonds.

But what on earth possessed Marsden to work with Hoodjink? And how is Villiers going to react when he finds his best friend has betrayed him? And let’s not forget, Villiers has a date with the United Nations General Assembly to try to persuade them to let Seven Continents mine for diamonds in Antarctica. How is that going to go down?

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💎 Kirill and Irina are now back in England. After comparing notes about what they have uncovered with Macey’s research in London, they are all now convinced that Roy Marsden, Head of ECO Warriors and Piet Hoodjink, Director of the London branch of Durban Diamonds, are behind the murder of Sergei Vasilyev in Dhosk. But why would Marsden and Hoodjink be working together? And can they prove it? This might be the moment for Macey to step forward …

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💎 Sergei Vasilyev, the source of the threatening messages and packages being sent to Gilbert Villiers, the CEO of Seven Continents, has been murdered, thrown off his 12th floor balcony by persons unknown. But before his killers struck, he sent Kirill Solokov an email. Could that contain a clue about who is behind his death? And could that person perhaps be Gilbert Villiers?

Macey is also dealing with a tricky situation. How much can she rely on what Eammon Fitzroy, the CFO for Seven Continents says? 🙄

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Kirill and Irina have told Sergei Vasilyev what they found at the diamond mine at the Tuv oasis. His story of what happened to him and his family is going to shock the two of them - and provide an explanation for the sinister events that have been troubling Gilbert Villiers.

In London, Roy Marsden is not pleased to find out that Macey has been visiting Piet Hoodjink, London director of Durban Diamonds, or that she has been lying to him about Kirill being ill. In return, he has a little surprise for her ...

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Kirill and Irina head back to Dhosk and civilization after their adventures underground. Their next visit is to Sergei Vasilyev, a colleague of Irina's at the University of Dhosk who used to work at the mine. What has he got to tell them?

Macey has decided to drop in and see Piet Hoodjink, the director of Durban Diamonds in London and a fierce business rival of Sir Gilbert Villiers. Could he be at the root of the problem?

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Kirill and Irina have to go down the stairs into the bowels of the deserted diamond mine to see if they can find anything there that could explain who is behind the campaign to smear Gilbert Villiers. But are they going to get out of there alive?

Macey is also dealing with a tricky situation. How much can she rely on what Eamonn Fitzroy, the CFO for Seven Continents says?

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Macey Church and Kirill Solokov continue to try to unravel what is happening at Seven Continents, the diamond mining giant. Macey has interviews with some of the directors at the London headquarters while Kirill and Irina, are following up clues given to them by the Kerkomen nomads in the other side of the world in Kazbakistan.

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Macey Church reports what she has learnt from interviewing Nancy Inovix to Dr Roy Marsden, director of ECO Warriors, and receives an unexpected invitation.

Meanwhile in Kazbakistan, Kirill Solokov sets off across the desert with the anthropologist Dr Irina Kerkomenova to visit the Kerkomen nomads. Do they have some answers as to why Sir Gilbert Villiers is being smeared? 🎧 To get the best experience of this story, listen with headphones. Image from AI and author.

Macey Church and Kirill Sokolov set to work to uncover who is sending sinister messages to Sir Gilbert Villiers and the Seven Continents diamond mining company. While Macey begins interviewing Villiers' colleagues in London, Kirill is headed for Kazbakistan where he gets quite a surprise when he lands at the airport …

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Roy Marsden has gone back to London and Macey and Kirill will start carrying out interviews in Seven Continents on Monday, to try to discover who is behind the anonymous messages threatening Sir Gilbert.

So, maybe they can have a relaxing weekend first and renew old friendships? Think again - things are about to turn nasty.

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Sir Gilbert has introduced Macey and Kirill to his close associate Dr Roy Marsden, director of the environmental protection group ECO Warriors. But what is his connection to the diamond mining industry and what is it that Seven Continents is so worried about?

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Kirill Solokov and Macey Church, investigators for Capstan Consultants are on their way to meet Sir Gilbert Villiers, the chairman of Seven Continents, a diamond mining company, and his wife the former ballerina Tatyana Kerkomenova. On their way to the Villiers' country estate Ashdown Hall, Kirill shares a surprising piece of information with Macey.

Will the fact that he was once engaged to Tatyana help or hinder their investigation? And who else are they going to meet this weekend?

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Seven Continents is a diamond mining company with a reputation for ethical and sustainable exploitation of natural resources. So why is the charismatic chairman, Sir Gilbert Villiers, receiving threatening messages? And what is the connection to Kazbakistan, homeland of his ballerina wife Tatyana Kerkomenova?

Macey Church and Kirill Solokov, investigators from Capstan Consultants, are given the job of finding out what is going on, a job where personal and professional interests might be about to collide.

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DRAMA: Simon Cassandra is a fortune teller - not with a crystal ball or Tarot cards but with computers. He works for the government, trying to model future scenarios to help ministers make their decisions. There's only one problem - they don't like listening to experts.

But perhaps Mr Camille, a barber working at the famous barber's shop Frederick Hobbs in London, will pay attention. His life could depend up on it ...

Thanks to his magnificent moustache, Wilhelm Adler has always managed to get his way in both the boardroom and the bedroom.

But Candy Harding is disgusted by it and remains completely immune to his charms, which of course makes her doubly attractive. 

How can he persuade her to think again?

Music by JuliusH Pixabay

Sally King is shopping in Hal Mart Superstore in Portland. As always, her experience is made much easier if she follows the advice given to her by her shopping cart. Only this time, the shopping cart has one or two strange suggestions for her.

What on earth was her husband doing the previous weekend while she was in Florida?

Jack is a highly paid motivational speaker with a secret. Bibi is his coach and she has a secret too. What could be the key for both of them to tell each other their secrets?

Could it be the catchphrase that Jack's old sheepdog Billy always said to Jack? 'Who dares, wins?'

A transcript of this story is available on my website: www.behindthebottomline.com

Richard Olsen is a financial journalist, investigating Hawksmoor Trading Ltd, an investment company with a lot of dirty fingers in a lot of dirty pies. His story is going nowhere until he meets Annie Hart, a junior secretary with a conscience about what Hawksmoor is doing. She provides him with the evidence he needs and even goes to bed with him. Everything seems peachy, until a lawyer comes to his office with a warning ...

The teams from sales on the third floor, and accountancy on the seventh floor like to prank each other.

But this time, they may have gone a little too far …

Music by JuliusH, Pixabay.

Mr Hickson is making a pot of money from his new property development at  Brancaster Towers and it’s a nice place for him to hide his mistress, Roxanna. But who is behind the mysterious door in the West Tower? And what are they looking for from Hickson?

This story was first published in Business Spotlight in 2010

Music by Pixabay and JuliusH, Pixabay.

Ed and Jane are scriptwriters for a big Hollywood studio, who've been told they've got to work together. She likes to write dramas and he likes to write thrillers.

What neither of them can write are romantic comedies. Or can they?

Music by JuliusH, Pixabay.

Imagine you have only six months to live. What would you do with the time?

A) Travel

B) Eat in the best restaurants

C) Poison the managing director of the company you worked at for thirty years?

The choice is yours…

Emily is enjoying her stay at the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation on the island of Pacelli in the Venetian lagoon, but there are some disturbing things about the place. Why has Caliban Leone, the founder of the centre, got a full-scale chemical laboratory in his cellar? What caused the argument between the centre’s cook, Paolo, and Caliban’s sinister henchman Milos? And what is Maria, Emily’s fitness coach, hiding?

Emily has met some of the bizarre other guests on the island of Pacelli at the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Meditation, including Sergei – the video installation artist from Moscow, Jason Tucker an obnoxious DJ from England, and the extravagant Dotty van Meese with whom Emily shares an interest in Tarot card reading and pug dogs. Today, Emily gets into her health regime properly, and things are about to get a little weird.

Emily has arrived in Venice and travelled across the lagoon to the island of Pacelli and the Advanced centre for Wellness and Meditation, run by the charismatic Dr Caliban Leone.

Now is the time for her to meet the rather peculiar other guests, staying on Pacelli, and have a Tarot reading done for her by the exotic Dotty van Meese.

It's the year a shark is spotted swimming down the Grand Canal in Venice, and young executive Emily Lee badly needs a holiday. She decides to travel to the Advanced Centre for Wellness and Relaxation on the small island of Pacelli in the Venetian lagoon for some yoga, warm weather and excellent food.

But is the Centre and its charismatic founder, Dr Caliban Leone, everything it should be?