Shadow World: The Smuggler (BBC Radio 4) - “At once an illuminating character study and an extended confession in audio, The Smuggler finds Nick sharing his decade-long activities moving illegal migrants across the English Channel.”

Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times

The Ex Files (Global) - “A twinkly, teasing Amanpour is clearly enjoying herself, untethered from the formality of the studio (these are recorded from home). But Global needs to ensure the editorial focus remains sharp; that the veterans’ misty-eyed “I remember it well” moments are always counterbalanced by future-looking insight. The second episode felt too much of a mishmash.”
One Decision (Situation Room) - “In the UK this unfrivolous show’s good cop-bad cop pairing is the sunny, though not-to-be-underestimated Kate McCann (who also presents Times Radio’s Breakfast Show) with [former head of MI6, Richard] Dearlove — a man of few but precise words, yet a disarmingly powerful audio presence.”

James Marriott in the Times

The Truth About Sarah (Pushkin) - “This is all outrageous and entertaining and mad. But I couldn’t help feeling that there was also something a bit tawdry and small-time about Sarah’s story. Her lies are terrible, obviously. She shouldn’t have gone around telling everyone she had lung cancer and she definitely shouldn’t have doctored her military records. But is all this quite podcast-worthy?” ★★★☆☆

Chris Bennion in the Daily Telegraph

Rylan: How To Be In Love (BBC Sounds) - “The secret was out some time ago that ‘Rylan’ is a construct and that the man beneath the Botox – real name, Ross Clark – is far more witty and intelligent than we’d previously suspected. Those qualities were in evidence in the opening episode of the podcast in which Rylan asked Stephen Fry to answer the question, ‘What is love?’ Not before, however, he blew enough smoke up the ‘legendary’ Fry’s backside that you could have sailed the 67-year-old over Mont Blanc.”