The Crossed Wires Festival, now confirmed to be the world’s biggest podcast festival, took place in Sheffield last weekend.
Matt Deegan, who runs Podcast Rex and this very newsletter, was a visitor. “I think there was a good mix,” he tells us. “There were some local podcasts on a small stage, the free BBC shows, then popular shows like The Political Party and Richard Herring and then mega shows like Help I Sexted My Boss”
In fact Help I Sexted featured a rather hedonistic mix. There was an on-stage proposal between Tristan and Shona (and Shona said yes!) and an unexpected strip tease by the hosts. Jordan and William also did a quiz where they guessed who was a Northerner from a random selection of G&Divas. Elsewhere, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker read The Shipping Forecast to celebrate its 100th anniversary, whilst the one-and-only Michael Pain, in an interview with Radio 1’s Greg James, performed a deleted scene from ‘The Life of Brian’ for the very first time.
At Crossed Wires there was also a Free Fringe by BBC Sounds. Matt Deegan was there too: “At the 'Fringe' I enjoyed the behind the scenes discussion about putting together To Catch A Scorpion. A good reminder how, really, just two people can investigate and create a compelling podcast.”
The festival has also confirmed that it will take place on the 3rd - 5th July in 2026.
