Adults in the Room: Bad Apples
Apr 07, 2026
A surprise archival interview with a former Garfield High School principal reveals that teacher abuse was more pervasive than Tom Hudson.
The production team behind the Peabody-nominated " Lost Patients" returns with a new investigative series: " Adults in the Room." Episodes will come out Tuesdays at midnight Pacific Time. Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering voice and imposing stature, Mr. Hudson — or “Tom” as select students call him — teaches biology and leads an elite outdoors program. But when teen reporters at the school paper start exploring a rumor that he sexually abused students, all hell breaks loose. Adults close ranks, and schoolmates turn on the young journalists. And then one day, a voice on the school intercom announces that Mr. Hudson is dead. Isolde Raftery is one of the students who first hears about and reports allegations against Mr. Hudson. Today, she is an investigative journalist in Seattle. In " Adults in the Room ," Raftery re-reports the story to understand what really happened in 1999. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher? "Focus" is KUOW’s home for immersive audio documentaries. Each season zooms in on a single story that challenges commonly held narratives about life in the Pacific Northwest and reveals something bigger about American society.
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Episodes
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Adults in the Room: The Boy in the Photograph
Mar 31, 2026
Isolde discovers a mystery student’s identity from 1994 and interviews him about his time with Tom Hudson.
Adults in the Room: The Bet
Mar 24, 2026
Ella and Isolde, as adults, start investigating the question of Hudson’s guilt. To start their inquiry, Isolde digs out an envelope containing the school district's records on Hudson, which she…
Adults in the Room: Jonathan
Mar 17, 2026
One of the students who was closest to Hudson, Jonathan Hill, spends the weeks after his teacher's death trying to ensure his reputation and legacy go untarnished by the allegations that led to his…
Adults in the Room: Blame the Messenger
Mar 10, 2026
The school district sends an investigator to Garfield to look into the allegations against Tom Hudson. Isolde and Ella wonder if they did the right thing.
Adults in the Room: The Price of Belief
Mar 03, 2026
Garfield High School is shocked after learning their beloved principal is in an inappropriate relationship with a student.
Adults in the Room: Mounting Danger
Feb 24, 2026
In 1998, a popular teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle falls into a crevasse while mountain-climbing in Olympic National Park. Six of his teenage students then pull off a daring rescue.
Coming Soon: Adults in the Room (Trailer)
Feb 03, 2026
The production team behind Lost Patients returns on February 24 with a new investigative series: Adults in the Room. Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering…
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Lost Patients compares the system for treating mental illness in America to an elaborate house, where every room, hallway and staircase was designed independently by a different architect. So what is…
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Across the U.S., efforts are underway to make it easier to involuntarily commit people to psychiatric hospitals. It's a reaction to the sight of seriously mentally ill people on the streets and the…
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Heidi Aurand has watched her son Adam spiral from one psychiatric crisis to the next for about eight years, bouncing between emergency rooms, jails, and homelessness. Now, after treatment at the…