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:
- The Energy Equation
- In the News This Week
- The Rest is Politics US
- Political Currency
- The Doctor’s Kitchen
Spotify New & 🔥
Fiona Sturges in the FT
- Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring (Project Citizen) - “This crowdfunded series, told in nine parts, is written and hosted by the investigative journalists Carole Cadwalladr and Peter Jukes. Cadwalladr, a Pulitzer Prize finalist who exposed the Cambridge Analytica scandal, has been doggedly investigating this story for nearly a decade, while Jukes is co-founder of the alternative news outlet Byline Times. Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring also comes hot on the heels of Wondery’s The Spy Who and Goalhanger’s The Rest Is Classified, two podcasts capitalising on the current vogue for spy dramas. But where those series revel in historical tales of duplicity and derring-do, this one tells a story that is still unfolding.”
James Marriott in the Times
- The Telepathy Tapes (ind.) - “The Telepathy Tapes is animated by contempt for all the values that underpin science: respect for evidence, a willingness to be wrong, a commitment to what is actually true instead of what you wish were true. In a happier time Dickens would have merely been an anonymous crank. Right now her podcast is at the top of the charts in Britain and America.”
Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times reviewed five-star podcasts to listen to in 2025
Clair Woodward in the Sunday Times
- Conflict Of Interest (Imperial War Museums/Rethink Audio) - “Imperial War Museums has just launched the third series of its podcast in which its curators take celebrity guests on a tour of one of its venues to look at conflicts in detail.”
- What Went Wrong (Sad Boom) - “It’s an incredible feat to get a Hollywood movie made. Lizzie Bassett and Chris Winterbauer look at the production of some of the greatest (and not-so-great) films.”
- Dear Jill (Unlocked) - “The actress Jill Halfpenny has had some tough moments in her life — she lost her father to a heart attack when she was a child, and her partner, Matt, in the same way in 2017. That — and her warm personality — makes her the ideal host for this new agony aunt series.”
Yolanthe Fawehinmi in the Independent
- The Big Drink Rethink (ind.) - “Thought-provoking conversations with the people at the heart of this shift, sharing different perspectives on alcohol and practical tools to help people make the right choices for themselves.”
- Political Currency: Inside Number 10 (Persephonica) - “It’s interesting to hear more about why our political leaders make the decisions they do and if they have any regrets. Political Currency isn’t just for people who are just interested in politics, because politics impacts every aspect of our lives.”
- Ladies Who Launch (ind.) - “From the great intro music to the beautiful conversation, Ladies Who Launch is truly the girls’ group chat for business and beyond.”
Highlights from the Radio Times
- Sherlock Holmes Short Stories (Noiser) - “This series begins with The Adventure of the Speckled Band, a tale that has been causing this writer sleepless nights since Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister.”
- Conflict of Interest (Imperial War Museums/Rethink Audio) - “Taking inspiration from IWM London’s new galleries, guests including Helen Lewis and Rachel Parris will contemplate topics including propaganda, technology and destruction.”
- Parish Matters (BBC Radio 4) - “This Parochial comedy recorded in Belfast crept out on Radio 4 last November.”
Heat’s Top of the Pods
Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts
- Why? (Podmasters) - “Hosted by Emma Kennedy, each episode tries to answer one big question, such as why can’t time travel to why do we have a ‘type’ for an ideal romantic partner, with a couple of experts who speak in layman’s terms.”
- History’s Heroes (BBC Radio 4) - “You’ll hear stories such as Nelson Mandela’s acts of defiance resulting in the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa and also about Grace Darling, a young lighthouse keeper who rescued nine people after a paddle steamer crashed into the rocks nearby.”
- Scarred for Life (Lock It In) - “Based on the notable book which looked at dark moments from 1970s and 80s pop culture, this relatively new podcast features notable guests talking about the disturbing things they stumbled across when they were a kid that have haunted them ever since.”
Eleanor and Alasdair Read That (ind.) - "It is one of those podcasts where the format is the second reason why you listen. The engaging and entertaining chemistry between the hosts is the real draw.”
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