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Welcome to this week's Recommendation Engine from Podcast Rex, rounding up the week in podcast reviews. Get this in an email each week by signing up to be a supporter of Podcast Rex from £3.99.

Apple Podcasts New & Noteworthy:

Spotify New & 🔥

Miranda Sawyer in the Observer

  • The Telepathy Tapes (ind.) - “It’s all very persuasive and enjoyable. But that doesn’t make it true. Just a little background reading reveals that the main scientists consulted have been dismissed as cranks.”
  • Self Help with Scottee (ind.) - “It’s another great, original series from him, one that might get you to rise from your January duvet of despair and stride out into the big wide world.”

Fiona Sturges in the FT

  • Virtually Parkinson (Night Train Digital) - “Given the host’s shortcomings, it rests on the guests to extract what they can from the questions and keep talking, which they do, admirably. Even so, it all feels like hard work. These are far from normal conversations, in that they are one-sided and stripped of all the elements — laughter, interruption, digression — that turn sterile exchanges into illuminating ones.”
  • The Louis Theroux Podcast (Spotify) - “After a slightly shaky opening episode with Willem Dafoe, who makes clear he has no idea who his host is, Theroux fares better with pop star Jade Thirlwall.”

James Marriott in the Times

  • Trump 100 (Sky News) - “You can see the pitfalls. One moment you’re referring to Greenland as a Danish territory. Five minutes later Trump has done a deal and it’s the 51st state of America. One minute America is a liberal democracy, the next … Indeed, the hosts are already being somewhat overtaken by events.”

Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times

  • The Ricky Gervais Podcast (The Guardian) - “Very mysterious to me is how this re-release has come about… Gervais’s publicist seems to know nothing about it, nor The Guardian.”
  • Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring (Project Citizen) - “Is it, as it claims, ‘the untold story of the most audacious Russian influence operation in British history’?”
  • The Con: Kaitlyn’s Baby (BBC/CBC) - “As the six-part series progressed I felt increasingly squeamish about the degree of judgment being levelled at an obviously troubled person, and the dubious public interest justification of her story.”
  • The Trapped (ITV News) - “Hewitt’s compassionate, campaigning journalism takes him from unfit homes to parliamentary select committees, ministers’ meetings and through three changes of prime minister.”

Clair Woodward in the Sunday Times

  • Ladies Who Launch (ind.) - “Humes has attracted a stellar line-up of names, including Emma Grede, the British brain behind the Kardashian-endorsed brands Skims and Good American, and the perfumier Jo Malone.”
  • James O’Brien Daily (LBC) - “O’Brien’s three-hour LBC show is edited down to a 60-minute podcast and released in time for the commute home in the evening.”
  • After Hours Skin Clinic (Raconteur Skin Clinic) - “Dr Emma Craythorne, the dermatologist from The Bad Skin Clinic on the Really channel, presents a twice-weekly show with her fellow dermatologist and friend Dr Ellie Rashid.” 

The Guardian’s Best Podcasts of the Week column recommends

  • Mad, Sad and Bad (Jampot) - “Just when you thought you didn’t need another podcast to listen to, here I come!” So announces Paloma Faith in her new show where she chats to celebrity guests about the lows of their lives.”
  • Miss Me? (BBC Sounds) - “Lily Allen announced she was taking a break from the podcast, but Miquita Oliver luckily has a lot of celebrity friends to sit in for a while.”
  • The Copernic Affair (Canadaland) - “In October 1980, a bomb exploded outside a Paris synagogue, killing four people and leading police to an unlikely suspect.”
  • The Spy Who Infiltrated Auschwitz (Wondery) - “A dramatically soundtracked, tense three-parter about an astonishing individual.”

And in the Guardian’s Guide newsletter

  • The Louis Theroux Podcast (Spotify) - “Louis Theroux seemed to morph from gonzo documentarian to podcaster without anyone really noticing it had happened, but his series is now one of the biggest celeb interview pods around.”

Highlights from the Radio Times

Heat’s Top of the Pods

Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts

  • Unmasked: Extreme Far Right (BBC Radio Wales) - “Undercover, Dan Jones infiltrates a far right summer camp called Patriotic Alternative (PA), who go on hikes located in the heart of the Welsh countryside. Here, members openly share hate and misinformation, secretly recorded by Jones.”
  • Winning Isn’t Everything (Keep It Light) - “Whilst being clearly geared towards existing fans, it is delightful to hear such an authentic friendship play out in audio.”
  • The Good Food Podcast (Good Food) - “The long-running Good Food podcast, now hosted by the magazine’s senior food editor Samuel Goldsmith, has launched a new series on trying healthier living and small adjustments that we can make throughout January.”
  • Welcome to Hell (ind.) - “What stands out from listening is a great sense of community from the show’s listeners.”

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