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Some interesting podcast news before we get stuck into this week’s best new series…
Danny Robins Is Taking His Terribly Popular Ghost Hunting Podcast Mysterious to the United States at the end of the month: covering a possible UFO encounter, visiting voodoo shops in New Orleans and meeting a woman who believes her father, a former spy, is contacting her from beyond the grave.
Elsewhere, fans of the Valley of Bones Podcast You will be able to see the story unfold on the screen, as Deadline reports that it will become a scripted series. For the uninitiated, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King explores the innocence of Leo Schofield, who has been in prison for more than 35 years for the murder of his wife, even though another man confessed to the crime.
In case there wasn’t enough Steven Bartlett on the podcast landscape (his Diary of a CEO was Apple’s number one show in 2023), the entrepreneur Just Launched a global podcast technology and media platform, Flight Studio. Davina McCall is already on board.
And, to prove that the world is sometimes a good place, the Beaver Trust just launched the sixth season of its podcast about, well, beavers and the climate. Read more about their history and mission here.
Our picks this week include new releases from Late Night Mash comedian Rachel Parris, Jackass legend Johnny Knoxville, and former Taskmaster contestants Lucy Beaumont and Sam Campbell. And read to the end for our roundup of the best articles on motherhood.
Hollie Richardson
Television editing assistant
Picks of the week
Widely available, weekly episodes.
Married comedy couple Rachel Parris and Marcus Brigstocke have lots of funny ideas about long group train journeys, and they’re here to discuss (argue about) their latest train journey from London to Leeds in the first episode of their new podcast. Each week they will find another life dilemma to “review,” including… canned fish! Hollie Richardson
Widely available, weekly episodes.
A rap about Jesus, a debate about whether ears are part of your face, and a warning about the dangers of eating hair await you in this quirky new podcast. Your very goofy hosts are Taskmaster’s charming, natural couple Lucy Beaumont and Sam Campbell, who provide good-natured laughs and incoherent chatter on tap. Hannah Verdier
Widely available, weekly episodes.
More than 300 people died in the sinking of the General Belgrano, one of the most controversial moves of the Malvinas War. Margaret Thatcher belligerently claimed the ship was “a danger to our boys”, but a young officer’s diary suggests a cover-up. This London Review of Books podcast provides a solid history of the war and the impact of this incident on it. high voltage
Widely available, weekly episodes.
Taking a group of kids ages eight to 15 to a desolate New Mexico town and getting them to form a society was clearly the braver side of the reality show assignment. Now, Josh Gwynn’s brilliant podcast tells the story of 2007’s Kid Nation, with all its chicken slaughter and parental complaints. high voltage
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Widely available, weekly episodes.
Jackass legend Johnny Knoxville and This American Life’s Elna Baker are spotlighting people who “grab life by the hands” in this gloriously enthusiastic podcast about daredevils. A man who wrestles with alligators, the first woman to walk to the North and South Pole and a motorcyclist who has broken his penis three times are on the menu. high voltage
There’s a podcast for that.
This week, Raquel Aroesti choose five of the best podcasts on maternityfrom Katherine Ryan’s scathing take to Giovanna Fletcher’s unbridled punch.
Happy mom, happy baby
New motherhood can be a strange, lonely and scary place, so thank goodness for Giovanna Fletcher’s warm and informal interview podcast, which has become a valued virtual friend to many in the six years since its inception. In each episode, Fletcher (herself a novelist, TV host, wife of McFly’s Tom, and mother of three) sits down with a celebrity guest to talk about her journey as a mother. Her peers are dazzlingly starry (the Princess of Wales, Coleen Rooney, Malorie Blackman), but the content of her conversations is not always as upbeat as the show’s title might suggest. These are frank and insightful discussions about the universal threads of trauma, stress, and the endless bribery that are part and parcel of having children.
Low The influence
For all the triumphs of feminism, the litany of social pressures and expectations imposed on mothers have not diminished at all over the decades, but their delivery system has changed. This podcast from author and journalist Jo Piazza is a fascinating look at the mind-blowing world of social media parenting. It takes a deep dive into the mom influencers who subtly and aspirationally repackage narrow ideals and the scandals behind apparent Instaperfection, as well as offering some welcome advice for parents on how to navigate the choppy and often toxic waters of online life. Get the inside scoop on the insidious trend of tradwifery, sharenting (did you know it’s banned in France?), and lunchbox stylists with a hidden agenda.
The disgusting mummies
When budding comedians Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson began their funny and honest talks about raising young children in 2013, podcasting was still in its infancy. More than a decade later, and now with two groups of teenagers on their hands, their early adoption of this form has made them pioneers of the cathartic mother-based confessional; a hit they’ve turned into a hugely successful live show (featuring, invariably, in their trademark sparkly cat suits). The couple’s hilarious celebration of imperfection (though not necessarily literal vulgarity) – Gibson eventually “coming out” as a secretly organized mother – combined with their comedic-quality banter means the show is full of laughs, but also It is full of real life conflicts. , from Gibson’s experience having a premature baby to the breakup of Thorn’s marriage.
Maternity in black & White
From the fact that Black women are more than four times more likely to die during childbirth than their white counterparts to the measures Black mothers are forced to take to prepare their children for an unequal world, it’s fair to say that Both race and racism are greatly magnified by motherhood. This podcast, hosted by friends Kaanji Irby, who is Black, and Tara Campbell, who is white, takes a thoughtful, empathetic, and lively look at the differences in their experiences as parents of children in the U.S. Sensitive topics include children’s use of the N-word, how to explain injustice to children, and what anti-racism might look like in the context of parenting.
Telling everything to everyone
Katherine Ryan is one of our most outspoken and outspoken comedians (the fact that she’s not British probably helps) and she certainly doesn’t hold back when it comes to the topic of motherhood. On her one-woman podcast, the stand-up details her life experiences with a 14-year-old, a two-year-old, and a one-year-old, a setup that means her parenting issues range from teenage anxieties to newborn nightmares. Whether she’s angry about her oldest daughter’s harassment on the subway, sharing her belief that it’s beneficial to potty train an eight-month-old baby, or revealing the hellish stress of traveling with a baby in tow, her monologues Ryan’s motherhood can be divisive but never boring.
Why not try it…?
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As hundreds of thousands of people prepared to arrive at the South by Southwest festival in 2018, the host city of Austin, Texas, was being terrorized by package bombs being mailed and left at locations around the city. Witnessed: 19 days relives the three-week search for the perpetrator.
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Kate Thornton Question time about white wine has returned for a new series, the first guest to join her for a chat and a drink is nineties singing star Anastacia.
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Self-proclaimed ‘middle-aged influencer’ Lu Featherstone brings her brand of positivity to podcasting with the revolution of self love – where he will speak to guests including Davina McCall.