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Recommendation Engine

Recommendation Engine: The Teen Commandments

Plus Greenpeace, ballet and Heart of Midlothian

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 Ā£3.99.

Apple Podcasts New & Noteworthy:

Spotify New & šŸ”„

Miranda Sawyer in the Observer

  • Radio Atlas (ind.) - ā€œIt finds the best audio pieces from around the world and gives them a beautiful translation into English that appears on your screen, each word timed perfectly to those spoken, so that youā€™re not rushing ahead or catching up.ā€
  • The Great Post Office Trial (BBC Radio 4) - ā€œMuch of it is centred on ex-Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells.ā€
  • The Teen Commandments (ind.) - ā€œThe episodes need a specific topic rather than a jovial ramble around the edges, and are in need of listener contributions too, which no doubt will come flooding in. Until then, itā€™s a bit formless.ā€

Fiona Sturges in the FT

  • Why is Amy in the Bath? - ā€œA seemingly absurd question about an actorā€™s career choices quickly turns into something else: a funny, quizzical and improbably in-depth podcast about the nature of success itself.ā€

James Marriott in the Times

  • Scam Inc (Economist) - ā€œScam Inc has an extraordinary story to tell. But it starts slowly and you have to stick with it to get there.ā€

Clair Woodward in the Sunday Times

  • Baby Broker (Sony Music Entertainment) - ā€œPeter McDonnell investigates the Detroit-based adoption agency Always Hope and its owner, Tara Lee, who duped more than 100 couples who longed for a child.ā€
  • The Magnificent Others (ind.) - ā€œThe Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan launches a new series in which he has lengthy talks with guests whose careers he feels have been overlooked.ā€
  • Stalked (BBC Sounds) - ā€œCarole Cadwalladr and Hannah Mossman Moore present a ten-part series detailing the latterā€™s cyber-harassment.ā€

The Guardianā€™s Best Podcasts of the Week column recommends

  • The Teen Commandments (ind.) - ā€œLess an advice show than a ā€œpanic roomā€, itā€™s packed with entertaining tales of dealing with kids once they lose the squeaky voices and develop an attitude.ā€
  • You Donā€™t Know Peanuts (ind.) - ā€œA second season for the official podcast dedicated to Charles Schulzā€™s classic comic strip, which celebrates its 75th birthday this year.ā€
  • Dancing with Shadows (Stak) - ā€œNew York City Balletā€™s history is laid out in an engaging, personal manner by journalist Nicky Anderson.ā€
  • Greatest Escapes (Filmnation/iHeart) - ā€œGuatemalan American actor Arturo Castro shone in his freewheeling sketch show Alternatino, sadly cut short after a single season in 2019. This podcast feels like a coda.ā€
  • Cramped (ind.) - ā€œWhen host Kate Downey first had ā€œdeath crampsā€ at 14, a doctor told her they ā€˜usually go away when you have a baby.ā€™ Why has this pain been dismissed for so long.ā€

And in the Guardianā€™s Guide newsletter

  • Scratch & Win (GBH News) - ā€œIt looks at that relationship through the rise of the humble scratchcard in the 1970s, and the battle for its control between state bureaucrats and organised crime.ā€

Highlights from the Radio Times

Heatā€™s Top of the Pods

Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts

  • The Teen Commandments (ind.) - ā€œUnbelievably, despite having been in radio broadcasting for more than 25 years, BBC Radio 2ā€™s Sara Cox has never fronted her own podcast.ā€
  • Itā€™s Reigning Men (ind.) - ā€œProbably the best named podcast in quite some time.ā€
  • Stalked (BBC Sounds) - ā€œA disturbing new investigative series looking at how one womanā€™s life was turned upside down by a relentless stalking and a cyber-harassment campaign.ā€
  • Imaginary Advice (ind.) - ā€œNow containing four short stories per episode rather than one self-contained piece, the stories verge from surreal to strange.ā€

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