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
- Bed of Lies (Telegraph) - “McGoogan chisels away with remarkable innocence and sometimes unintentionally politicised language. ‘Can you believe this happened in our country?’ she asks a British detective, when in fact the question of whether any part of Ireland should be ruled by the British was at the very heart of the Troubles. Initially, I found this naivety a problem, but came to see it as welcoming for other young people who are unaware of how Britain and Ireland have “interacted” over the years.”
- Extreme: Peak Danger (BBC Radio 4) - “Swept me along with its immersive sounds and details.”
Fiona Sturges in the FT
- The Pitcairn Trials (Wondery/Audio Always) - “Along with the story of a knotty police investigation, The Pitcairn Trials is also a compelling portrait of a uniquely strange society created in a uniquely strange land.”
James Marriott in the Times
- Untapped (High Performance) - “[Spencer] Matthews is keen to distance himself from his witless escapades on Made in Chelsea. ‘I care very little about entertaining people,’ he insists. (By the end of two hours listening to his self-optimisation pointers, I was inclined to agree.)”
Clair Woodward in the Sunday Times
- The Ancients (History Hit) - “Tristan Hughes’s excellent deep dive into ancient history continues with a four-episode season devoted to the Ice Age.”
- British Scandal: Julian Assange (Wondery) - “Alice Levine and Matt Forde’s series about headline-makers hits its 52nd season with a look at the life of Julian Assange and the personal sacrifices he made for his creation, WikiLeaks.”
- Mad, Sad & Bad (JamPot) - "Faith's candour and excitability make her a firecracker of a host.”
The Guardian’s Best Podcasts of the Week column recommends
- Boiling Point (LA Times) - “Climate columnist Sammy Roth and expert guests discuss how California – and the world – can face up to policy rollbacks.”
- British Scandal: Julian Assange (Wondery) - “If you’re looking for a proper primer then steer clear.”
- We Started Here with Lacey Turner (BBC Studios) - “It could really do with explaining what it’s talking about for non-soap fans a bit better, but it’s still a fun listen.”
- We Came to the Forest (Campside/Wondery) - “This true-crime series tells the story of when Georgia police shot dead environmental protestor Tortuguita, real name Manuel Terán.”
- Scratch and Win (GBH News) - “The unlikely story of the most successful state lottery – Massachusetts – and its transformation from vice to something that the US and its government collectively decided to accept.”
And in the Guardian’s Guide newsletter
- Past Present Future (London Review of Books) - “Best of all, for those of a pop cultural persuasion, has been his series on great political films.”
Highlights from the Radio Times
- Trump 100 (Sky News) - “With a US President intent on flooding the news cycle with the appearance of action, Sky News has responded by promising a daily podcast, beginning each fresh 24 hours with an update on the latest Trump has only gone and done or, and this is the difficult bit, simply said he’s going to do.”
- UnReality (Transmission Roundhouse) - “There’s a dreamlike quality to each episode.”
- How to Be Superhuman (Red Bull/Samizdat) - “As humans, we’re inclined to push ourselves to extraordinary lengths.”
Plus Jonathan Wells interviews ultrarunner and How to Be Superhuman host Rob Pope.
Heat’s Top of the Pods
Ben Sixsmith in The Critic
- Modern Wisdom - “Importantly, Williamson appears to grasp the limits of his knowledge. A conversation is not a conversation if it reaches preordained conclusions. There must be an element of unpredictability. I enjoyed Williamson’s recent conversations with the delightfully strange fitness expert Dr Mike Israetel, and with the even stranger actor Matthew McConaughey.”
Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts
- How to Date (Sony Music Entertainment/Daylight) - “Taps into how to identify the right partner, how to deal with rejection and most importantly, how to treat yourself with kindness and compassion throughout.”
- We Started Here with Lacey Turner (BBC Studios) - “Sarah Lancashire. Himesh Patel. Margot Robbie. These are just some of the household names who have career roots based in British soap.”
- Passports Please (Audio Always) - “Chelsea Dickinson and James Robinson have built up a considerable fanbase, particularly on TikTok, for providing travel hacks and destination inspiration.”
- Bed of Lies (Telegraph) - “Whilst Stakeknife specifically explores a British Army informant who worked within the IRA, Cara McGoogan says that the story is so much wider in its scope and involves many more people.”
