Radio
If you like First Dates, you'll love This is Dating
The tagline of This is Dating, a new podcast from across the pond, is ‘Come for the cringe, stay for…
Glorious and bracing interrogation of the world's smartest people: Conversations with Tyler reviewed
Tyler Cowen is a man who leaves you at once in awe and perturbed. He is the Holbert L. Harris…
The dark world of illness influencers
I have heartburn. I probably have heartburn simply because both my parents also had a lot of heartburn, and I…
A strange blend of farce and tragedy: Wild Things – Siegfried & Roy reviewed
The prestige podcasting era began in 2014, when the true-crime Serial gripped us with the ‘did-he-dunnit’ mystery of whether Adnan…
Disappointingly conventional and linear: BBC radio's modernism season reviewed
This week marks the beginning of modernism season on BBC Radio 3 and 4, which means it’s time for some…
The best podcasts about dying, or almost dying
If there’s any form of entertainment that I will reliably find time for, no matter how big the to-read pile…
Mild at heart
It’s a sweet, green, glowing dawn in north-west Scotland. All around us are empty hillsides of rock and heather. The…
Radio 4's Moominland Midwinter restores Moomintroll's innocence
Moomins do not like winter. In one of Tove Jansson’s stories, Moomin’s Winter Follies, young Moomintroll bumps his head when…
Brought me to tears: Tortoise Media's Sweet Bobby podcast reviewed
Eleven years ago, Kirat Assi received a message on Facebook from a man named Bobby. There was a family connection…
When will the Nineties revival end?
We’ve been living through a nostalgia for the 1990s that has lasted longer than the decade itself. That was back…
It's amazing how little insight Paul McCartney has into the Beatles' genius
The Paul people are out in force these days. A New Yorker profile, a book and a new documentary have…
The astonishing stories behind today’s culture wars: Radio 4’s Things Fell Apart reviewed
Martin McNamara, the writer of Mosley Must Fall, a play on Radio 4 this week, must have had a jolt…
The best podcasts about money
Stories about money are never about money. They are about pain, about family, about atrocity, about luck, about health, about…
The genius of Caveh Zahedi
365 Stories I Want To Tell You Before We Both Die is a podcast that experimental filmmaker Caveh Zahedi started…
In 1980s Bennington it was a badge of dishonour not to have slept with your professor
It is incredibly hard to convey the fleeting invincibility and passionate self-significance that we feel on the cusp of adulthood.…
The best podcasts to help you become a better painter
There’s a great documentary film on Netflix at the moment about the late artist Bob Ross, he of the happy…
The best podcasts where girls sit around talking about ghosts
‘I’ve actually seen ghosts.’ This statement comes less than ten minutes into the first episode of Dark House, a limited-series…
The Sunday Feature is one of the most consistently interesting things on Radio 3
The story is likely apocryphal — and so disgraceful I almost hesitate to tell it — but it goes like…
Made me buzz like an electron: Science – Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda reviewed
Given my affection for M*A*S*H, I can’t think why I haven’t listened to Alan Alda’s podcasts before now, besides the…
How the good intentions of Title IX ended up punishing the innocent
How do we have difficult conversations? Especially in an age of polarisation, where everything is immediately politicised? But also where…
A podcast that will rescue your relationship: Where Should We Begin? reviewed
Let me give you a free piece of relationship advice: just break up. If it’s more work than pleasure, if…
Must all history programming be 'relevant'?
When it comes to history programming, television’s loss is increasingly audio’s gain. People moan to me most weeks over the…
Contains moments of spellbinding banality: Radio 4's The Poet Laureate has Gone to his Shed reviewed
The interview podcast is a genre immoderately drawn to gimmicks, as the logical space of possible formats is gradually exhausted.…
Why do I find sketch shows – even the better ones – so embarrassing and charmless?
On sketch shows, the wisdom once was that you needed a punchline. That is, a slightly hammy, summative sign-off to…
A podcast that listens to what anti-vaxxers think rather than lecturing them
Work is our new religion. There are people whose primary job is writing listicles of celebrity gossip, illustrated with gifs…
