Transmissions, which plots the story of Joy Division and New Order, returns for a second run. Plus: five of the best sci-fi podcasts • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here In case you missed it, Serial’s Sarah Koenig was recently interviewed by Fiona Sturges for the Guardian, on 10 years of Serial. It was an intriguing interview about how web sleuths had changed Koenig’s own view of the Adnan Syed case that made her podcast such a huge hit back in 2014. But one section struck me as pretty surprising, if not totally shocking. Good friends and family, Koenig said – “like, even my siblings” – had asked her whether its fourth series, on Guantánamo Bay, had been released yet (it came out in March). “We can speculate about the topic and the quality of it, but I think it’s also just the [pod] universe is completely different,” she added. “There are so many choices. We are in a sea of podcasts.” Serial season four isn’t a whodunnit – Serial hasn’t really done that since its inception, and that first series that hinged on whether Syed had killed his high-school sweetheart Hae Min Lee. Successive outings have also leaned less on the serialisation you might assume from the title, with the Guantánamo series focusing instead on somewhat interlinked stories of life at the notorious US prison camp, rather than one overarching, unfurling narrative. In many ways, it’s kind of become a podcast Ship of Theseus, its elements slowly changing with each season. Still, it’s slightly sad to think that some people may have abandoned it just because it isn’t that same show it was at that very specific moment in time, pre-true crime boom, rather than something that has changed and evolved over a decade. Plus, the Guantánamo series is pretty solid (although, beware – episode eight in particular comes with some deeply upsetting details of sexual assault). Continue reading...

The movie megastars contribute to Rebecca Keegan’s irresistible show, A Film We Can’t Refuse. Plus: five of the best outdoors podcasts • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Far be it for me to define a man by his romantic relationships, but if you’ve heard of Travis Kelce, you may know him more as Taylor Swift’s boyfriend than because he’s an NFL star. He is, however, also a podcaster, and not just any podcaster – he’s just landed a reported $100m deal with the Amazon-owned Wondery for New Heights, the show he hosts with his brother Jason (a former NFL star), which has become one of the most popular sports podcasts in the world since it launched in 2022. It’s a lot of cash, especially for two already-wealthy men at a time when every month seems to bring a headline about some podcast studio or another shedding staff and slashing budgets. At the same time, it could prove to be a shrewd investment, with Kelce and Swift rarely out of the headlines. It does have the mad effect of making Joe Rogan’s estimated $250m deal with Spotify – the biggest of its kind – seem a little low by comparison, though, or even Call Her Daddy’s $100m contract with SiriusXM. Continue reading...

Olympic hero Michael Johnson and archer Matt Stutzman interview stars including Kadeena Cox in Rising Phoenix. Plus: five of the best podcasts about classic movies • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I am really, really interested in drugs. I read Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain earlier this year after it spent way too long on my “to read” pile, and found its tale of the rise and rise of the Sackler opioid dynasty genuinely terrifying (though isn’t artist turned Oxy campaigner Nan Goldin a total hero?). Naturally, I got stuck into Scripts this week – a new miniseries from the Atlantic – about “the pills we take for our brains and the stories we tell ourselves about them”. It’s sensitively made, but scary, as much of this stuff is; the tale of two siblings who found themselves on the same treatment for heroin addiction, but whose lives took very different paths, will stay with me for a while. As with Dan Taberski’s recent series Hysterical, about a group of young girls who developed Tourettes-like symptoms in tandem, there are real characters in here dealing with some very difficult ailments, but we’re also never far away from bigger questions about how we think about mental health and selfhood. Read on for our picks of the week, from scammer dads to a gritty Paralympics pod, and five of the best podcasts for fans of classic movies – from old Hollywood hits to Hammer horror history. Hannah J Davies Deputy editor, newsletters Continue reading...

Moses Swaibu tells all about betraying the sport he loved in a news podcast. Plus: five of the best podcasts about great love stories • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here The way to solve the world’s problems? With a podcast, apparently. Today sees the launch of Assembly Required, a new show from former US politician Stacey Abrams, which aims to help listeners understand the planet’s biggest ills – and how they can get involved with fixing them. It comes hot on the heels of A Fine Mess, in which entrepreneur Sabrina Merage Naim tries to grapple with some of society’s most difficult issues – and “find a path through this chaos” by approaching them with curiosity, rather than dread. Will they work? Who knows? But at this point, we’re willing to try anything. We’re also looking at the best podcasts about love this week, from profiles of Hollywood romances to a highly bingeable audio drama about two men falling for each other, told via their voicemails. It’s joined by previews of a compelling confessional from an ex-professional footballer who became a match-fixer, a fascinating scrutiny of psychiatric medication, and the inspirational tale of the Olympic refugee team. Even if they don’t fix the planet, hopefully one of them should bring you some joy. Continue reading...

Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat turn their hand to audio with True Tales of Possession. Plus: five of the best podcasts featuring A-listers • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Anyone else’s productivity levels at an all-time low thanks to the Olympics? Like me, you’ve probably had a tiny but very distracting iPlayer window open in the corner of your screen all day, only to go straight home, put the athletics on the telly, ignore those dirty dishes and doze off. What about when you’re – shock, horror – on the go? BBC Radio 5 Live and the official Olympics podcast have been great for following the action away from the screen (I might have cried while listening to the women’s triathlon on the way to work). But they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pods that extend your Paris 2024 journey. As the medals are awarded and sporting heroes emerge, there are shows that take you far deeper into the personalities themselves. Continue reading...

Question-setters Anna Ptaszynski and James Harkin get in the competitive spirit with Quite a Good Sport. Plus: five of the best podcasts about America • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Earlier this week, my colleague Archie Bland of First Edition fame enthusiastically recommended the podcast In the Dark to me. Despite being a super-successful investigative series – acquired last year by Condé Nast/The New Yorker – I’d never actually listened to the pod and its feted second season about Curtis Flowers, who was tried six times for the same murder. Or at least I thought I hadn’t listened to the podcast – I had actually caught the spin-off miniseries about discontent in Dubai’s royal family – The Runaway Princesses – back in January, but hadn’t quite joined the dots about it being part of a larger true-crime stable (maybe I’m an idiot, maybe the huge font size for “Runaway Princesses” and the tiny one for “from In the Dark” threw me?) The Runaway Princesses didn’t blow me away, but I’m still curious about the show which – like Serial – has risen above the true-crime surfeit and been acquired by one of the biggest names in journalism. It is back this week for its third proper run, which sees Madeleine Baran explore the infamous killings of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2005 by US marines, and ask why justice wasn’t served – the first two episodes are out now. Continue reading...

Hipster ornithologist Matt Spracklen makes birds cool, while Elizabeth Day introduces an an insightful how-to series. Plus: five of the best podcasts about ancient history • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It’s not often I find myself moved by a new podcast announcement. But in recent weeks that’s happened not once, but twice. First by the podcast debut of Gracie Nuttall, sister of the late cancer campainer Laura Nuttall. The Dead Sibling Society sees her team up with the founder of the Sibling Support charity for an intimate look at what it’s like to lose a brother or sister. Second, by Room to Grieve – the creation of two mothers who met after they lost children to cancer, and launched a show to help others navigate their grief. What it lacks in production values, it more than makes up for in its altruism, bravery and honesty about topics such as navigating difficult anniversaries and how the experience of loss changes over time. Less touchingly, this week we’re also taking a look at a historical analysis of toilets. Alongside some offbeat current affairs satire from the brains behind Have I Got News for You and an immersive attempt to bring birdwatching to hipsters, it’s just one of the listens that are more likely to have you stifling a chortle than dampening your hanky. Alexi Duggins Deputy TV editor Continue reading...

The audio superstar is back with a ‘beach read’ of a podcast, The Arc of Love. Plus: five of the best podcasts about death • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Retire the cream polo shirt, put away the Bruce Springsteen football chants whose lyrics bear no relation to reality: Euro 2024 is over. Leaving aside the actual football (probably best), this has been a total first for the competition – the levels of interest in what actually happened on the pitch has easily been matched by discussions about the expert commentary provided by podcasts. Alright, perhaps “expert commentary” might not exactly be the mots justes, given how many headlines Gary Lineker generated saying that England v Denmark was “shit” on The Rest is Football. But it’s remarkable that a podcast caused a row (albeit one that relied on taking a quote out of context) that ended up seeing England’s captain put on the spot in a press conference. There were articles trying to create the Battle of the Garys: pitting Lineker’s pod against Gary Neville’s. There were financial analyses of how much money had been made out of being unkind about England into people’s earphones (imagine! Being paid to be a pundit who is honest about bad football!). Continue reading...

The Call Your Girlfriend host turns mediator in the Pop Culture Debate Club. Plus: five of the best poetry podcasts • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here If you were a production company, which podcast would you fund? Another series of a show that already had tons of followers? Or a totally new one which may flop? You don’t need me to tell you, in financially tricky times, which option looks increasingly appealing. That’s why, even though podcasts are often about one-off, totally distinct stories, there are also many anthology shows. Think British Scandal, or even Serial, which leapfrogged from a whodunnit true-crime tale to a study of Guantánamo Bay. May as well try to tap into a pre-existing audience rather than start from scratch, eh? Continue reading...

In this week’s newsletter: The seven-time grand slam winner and patron of the arts hosts a new series, Widening the Lens. Plus: five of the best podcasts about the single life • Don’t get Hear Here delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape Widely available, all episodes out now Tennis champion, arts patron and now podcaster – Venus Williams hosts this thoughtful series from the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. “Look at the photos on your phone,” she requests in the opener. “Go ahead, give them a scroll … ” She then speaks with experts about the relationship between photography and the environment, and how artists are reframing the world around us. Hollie Richardson Continue reading...