The Man City captain turns to podcasting; Radio 4 gets deep on AI; into the woods with the team behind Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding; and poet Ian McMillan hymns the mundane
Launching a football podcast at the end of the season is a plucky move. You might have the balls to do so, as it were, if you captained a team who’d just won the Premier League title four times on the trot, and were expected to win the FA Cup just before your show’s premiere.
Balls indeed. You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker arrived on BBC Sounds four days after his club, Manchester City, lost to Manchester United in a game described by the Guardian’s chief sports writer, Barney Ronay, as “a hungover performance”. This fact is conveniently left unsaid by podcast presenter Chris Hughes, the chirpy former Love Island contestant turned serial BBC sports host. Instead, Walker is called captain of the European champions, which he was on Wednesday, but isn’t now (this year’s Champions League final, between Dortmund and Real Madrid, is tonight). “The boffins at the BBC have spent months talking about what we could do in his series,” Hughes continues, laddishly, “but in the end, all we wanted to do was talk football and take the listeners inside the life of a serial winner.”
The writer and broadcaster, 57, on tracking down stories, holding grudges, feeling happiest when he’s at work – and looking for the connections that bring us together
I found childhood quite uncomfortable. The itchy fabric of the school uniform, the bright overhead lights of the classroom, the being in a room with 30 boisterous young Welsh people – all of these things that were intolerable.
There was solace in going home to watch The Tube or to the arts centre that showed Scorsese films – portals into a different world. They gave me glimmers of hope that life could be good.
After 55 years, the vibrator continues to inspire devotion, as well as a new podcast: ‘It takes on larger-than-life symbolism’
In a Goop-ified world where one can purchase sleek, luxury vibrators for up to three figures, how has one sex toy that’s existed for 55 years garnered such devotion? It’s a question the sex writer Kate Sloan explores in Making Magic, a new podcast about the clunky, white-and-blue, straight-from-a-70s-porn-set Magic Wand Original Massager.
Sloan first became interested in the Magic Wand when she was a 19-year-old spending her gap year writing a sex toy review blog called Girly Juice. Later, while working at a sex store, Sloan noticed how customers would come back to buy the Magic Wand over and over again, eager to replace their old ones with the same model.
Pack One Bag Widely available, episodes weekly from 5 Jun
“If fascism takes over your country, do you stay or do you try to flee?” David Modigliani opens this beautiful podcast about his family history with the question his Italian grandfather Franco faced. Modigliani reads love letters between his nonna Serena and Franco, learning about their escape to the US, where Franco won a Nobel prize. Then, executive producer Stanley Tucci brings great-grandfather Giulio into the story. Hannah Verdier
Audio reboots aren’t just fun and fast to make – they’re also a way to create the easiest naked scenes stars will ever record. For the stars of retro television hits, the future is audio
When Pippa Haywood was asked to reprise the role of Joanna in a revival of cult hospital comedy Green Wing, it was a no-brainer: “None of us quite knew what we were making during the original, but it was a special atmosphere, it was unique.” The twist that the series would return as a podcast, instead of on TV, sealed the deal: “You don’t have that awful thing of, ‘Who’s aged best?’ I could be butt-naked in a scene, and I wouldn’t even need to shave my legs – you don’t want to see 60-year-old Pippa stripping off.”
Green Wing: Resuscitated was made by the show’s creator, Victoria Pile, along with the original writers and cast (including Olivia Colman, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig). Its release marks 20 years since the offbeat sitcom first aired, and picks up 16 years after the final episode in 2007. Guy (Mangan) is now a TV doctor, Harriet (Colman) is, somehow, head of HR, and Joanna (Haywood) is in prison after her killing spree.
Episode 331 of the Shared Security Podcast discusses privacy and security concerns related to two major technological developments: the introduction of Windows PC’s new feature ‘Recall,’ part of Microsoft’s Copilot+, which captures desktop screenshots for AI-powered search tools, and Slack’s policy of using user data to train machine learning features with users opted in by […]
Gary Younge and Carys Afoko rebalance the news; amateur detectives take centre stage; all that glitters is dodgy in Borneo; and brains amaze in an exploration of the senses
Not every new podcast sets out to remind you of the weirdest public art idea of all time: a giant Queen Mother on the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. “It’s an equestrian plinth!”, says Orwell-prize-winning journalist Gary Younge, as his co-host, Carys Afoko, creases up with laughter. “She would have been this colossus, like a huge centaur figure with a handbag.”
Comedian, writer and actor Stephen Merchant on standup, fame and the pressures of cancel culture; testing the ‘world-leading science’ claims behind the Zoe nutrition app; and the point when writer Harriet Tyce realised she didn’t want to be remembered only as a drinker
Why did a mini corduroy suit appear in a woman’s home? Helen McLaughlin, Karen Whitehouse and Lauren Kilby dive down a new rabbit hole. Plus: five of the best podcasts about songs
Glad We Had This Chat With Caroline Hirons Widely available, episodes weekly
You can get celebrities to spill serious tea by digging into their beauty bags, which skincare guru and natural chatterbox Caroline Hirons knows all too well in her new interview series. It’s an impressive start with first guest Sarah Jessica Parker, who reveals her favourite Boots beauty buy for under £2, gets frank on ageing and her body, compares her parenting style with that of husband Matthew Broderick and gushes over Zadie Smith. Hollie Richardson
The panel also discuss Vivienne Miedema and Fran Kirby’s fairytale endings, hand out some of their end-of-season awards as well as waxing lyrical about the Lionesses’ under-17s side.
We’re nearly halfway through 2024, which makes it’s a great time to do inventory on the podcasts that have come out so far that shouldn't be missed. Here’s a list of the true-crime, comedy, fiction, and culture shows that stand out from the rest and will be some of the best things you listen to this year. Let's hope the second half of 2024 keeps up the momentum.
Beyond All Repair
Credit: Beyond All Repair
Sophia Johnson was a pregnant newlywed when her mother-in-law was brutally murdered, and her own brother testified against her, claiming he saw her do it. Beyond All Repair, reported by WBUR’s Amory Sivertson with precision and heart, tries to figure out who is lying and what really happened. This is a messy family story that demands your full attention and will have you second guessing everything, unsure of what you really believe, until the very end.
Never Post
Credit: Never Post
Miss Reply All? Love 99% Invisible? Have I got news for you: Never Post, hosted by Mike Rugnetta (he wrote and hosted PBS Digital Studios’ YouTube series Idea Channel) is a podcast looking at the internet universe with a super powerful telescope, at things both big and small, giving the digital world the 99% Invisible treatment. On the show, he covers topics like influencer voice, posting disease, the emotional impacts of making and seeing before-and-after posts, purposely bad-sounding content, trickshot content, and more, more, more. Rugnetta is backed by a team of reporters to form a group of brilliant and funny cultural critics who are so much fun to hang out with.
Tiny Dinos
Credit: Tiny Dinos
Improvisers Connor Ratliff (Dead Eyes, Mean Girls, Search Party, so many things) and James III (Black Men Can't Jump [In Hollywood], Astronomy Club, so many things) just created a world for their improv comedy podcast, Tiny Dinos, that is so much fun I just want to live inside of it. In this world, Connor and James are scientists who have brought back dinosaurs, but not normal sized ones—that would be irresponsible. These ones are tiny. This world is the perfect place for really silly conversations to happen as they attempt to keep their scientific endeavor a secret. If you need laughs, you will get them.
Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Credit: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Jamie Loftus is making some of the funniest and smartest (and weirdest) stuff in audio. Her new weekly series Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) sees her asking various main characters of the internet what it was like to be the center of our digital attention—and more importantly, what happened once the fame went away. The kick-off is a two-parter with Antoine Dodson of “Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife” fame.
She Has a Name
Credit: She Has a Name
Tonya Mosley is an unforgettable journalist who I got to know in her beautiful series, Truth Be Told. She’s back with She Has a Name, something totally different: a true-crime investigation that lets her shed light on her own life. It all started when Tonya got a call from a nephew she never knew she had, about his mother, her sister Anita, who was murdered during the Detroit drug epidemic in the 1980s. The two set out to heal what had been broken, expose the trauma shared by so many other families, and try to once and for all give Anita the memorial she deserves.
Go Touch Grass
Credit: Go Touch Grass
It’s a simple premise: Go Touch Grass’ hosts Milly and Alise round up internet news so that you can remain informed without being addicted to it. They’re doing the lord’s work, really, sacrificing their own sanity to give us time to be in nature or do absolutely anything else. Every week they bring in an internet persona of some kind for an interview and coverage of the trend du jour with the ability to put everything in context. This is a comedy podcast even more than it is a podcast about the internet. The show ends with fun segments, which include crowning “grasshole of the week.” Listening will entertain you, give you a weekly course in internet culture, and make sure you don’t get crowned yourself.
The Competition
Credit: The Competition
The Distinguished Young Women event (formerly known as America’s Junior Miss) gathers high school seniors (one from every state) to Mobile, Alabama, for two weeks, competing for a $40,000 prize. The Competition is a six-part reality TV-style investigation that helps you get to know the girls and understand their friendships, the challenges, and the drama. After more than 20 years of being Nevada’s contestant, Shima Oliaee (of Dolly Parton’s America and Pink Card) returns both to share this complex story and also to be a judge at the pageant itself.
Fur & Loathing
Credit: Fur & Loathing
In 2014, a chlorine gas attack at the Midwest FurFest convention hospitalized 19 people and has yet to be solved. Hosted by Nicky Woolf, Fur & Loathing looks back to the FBI’s lackluster investigation as well as the people who might have done it. There aren’t enough explorations into the furry community, with so much of it is completely ignored or mocked. This is a serious, respectful look at a cold case that will fill in gaps, connect dots, and take you to unexpected places.
Stolen
Credit: Stolen
This year, Connie Walker’s Stolen, which has won a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award, returned with a new season: Trouble in Sweetwater, which looks into the cold case of Ella Mae Begay, a 62-year-old Navajo woman who was murdered in Sweetwater, Arizona. It’s as much a story about what happened to Ella as much as it is about what happened to her case—like why it’s still unresolved, despite the fact that a 23-year-old admitted to possibly killing her the night she went missing. Connie has been reporting on missing and murdered Indigenous people for years and nobody does this kind of reporting quite like her.
The Sicilian Inheritance
Credit: The Sicilian Inheritance
The Sicilian Inheritance is part murder investigation and part travelog that sees host Jo Piazza returning to her roots so she can try to find out, once and for all, how her grandmother Lorenza Marsala died. It’s a story her family has been passing around for decades. Was she killed by the Black Hand? Killed for being a witch? Jo really lets you sit shotgun on this true-crime road trip with more twists than a ride up the Amalfi coast. It all started with Jo’s novel of the same name, which fictionalized the story, but this podcast is the real deal.
Finally! A Show (About Women That’s Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare)
Credit: Finally! A Show (About Women That’s Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare)
Jane Marie is most known for creating the hit show The Dream, which beautifully shined a light on multi-level marketing before everybody and their aunt (who is now in a pyramid scheme) knew what that was. Her latest, Finally! A Show (About Women That’s Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare) lets us walk in the shoes of women who could be the person next door, or you, or me—like an 83-year-old calendar girl shopping for a vibrator, a fish-throwing songstress delighting the crowd at an outdoor market, a young mother turned death care provider, or a TikTok viral plus-size boutique owner. Don’t pretend like you haven’t spent hours of your life peering into lit windows at night, curious to see what goes on inside the life of someone else. It’s why we watch reality TV. Here’s your chance to do it with Jane Marie as your guide.
Josie's Lonely Hearts Club
Credit: Josie's Lonely Hearts Club
Josie's Lonely Hearts Club is about a fictional love advice call-in show hosted by “Josie Heller” (the stage name of fictional character Joanne Holtzinger, who is voiced by real person Rachel Music) that lets us eavesdrop on the funny, totally human interactions between Josie and her callers, conversations with the show’s engineer Frank, and Josie’s life. The fact that it’s “semi-improvised” gives it a certain springiness, and Josie (played by Joanne, played by Rachel) has a perfectly seductive voice that makes every second of the show a delight. The production is phenomenal.
In episode 330 Tom, Scott, and Kevin discuss the new features for iPhones and Android phones designed to warn users about secret trackers, possibly aiding in identifying stalkers. The hosts discuss Apple and Google’s collaboration on a technology called DOLT (Detecting Unwanted Location Trackers), aiming to improve user privacy by detecting Bluetooth trackers like Tiles […]
Labour leader’s appearance on chatshow reflects politicians’ more general move away from hard news outlets to cosier, more niche settings
When Keir Starmer appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch to cook his favourite tandoori salmon recipe, host Tim Lovejoy had a question: “What on earth are you doing here? You should be on the BBC with Laura Kuenssberg.”
“This is so much nicer!” replied the Labour leader.
There’s been high drama in Ambridge and a great start for Today’s new presenter. Plus, a delightful Lee Krasner documentary and an amusing study of unfinished art
Pray for this week’s radio reviewer, allergic since time immemorial to the theme tune of The Archers, finding herself writing in the thick of a blockbuster storyline. But with a crack consultant to hand (my mother-in-law, who remembers listening to Grace Archer dying in a stable fire in 1955: thank you, Lill) I’m braving the challenge.
In this first-ever in-person recording of Shared Security, Tom and Kevin, along with special guest Matt Johansen from Reddit, discuss their experience at the RSA conference in San Francisco, including their walk-through of ‘enhanced security’ and the humorous misunderstanding that ensued. The conversation moves to the ubiquity of AI and machine learning buzzwords at the […]
Jason joins us to discuss the current enterprise landscape for defending against supply chain attacks, remediating firmware issues, and the current challenges with patch management. Show Notes
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