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 & 🔥
Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times
- The Rest is Classified (Goalhanger) - “This feels an assured pairing, which should find a cross-Atlantic audience among those who cannot get enough of derring-do — but I cannot quite envisage it aping the success of its stablemate The Rest Is … History, the bro show it most closely emulates.”
Fiona Sturges in the FT
- The Rest is Classified (Goalhanger) - “The atmosphere is learned yet convivial and conversational. and is very much of a piece with The Rest Is History, which is hosted by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland. This is deliberate since both series are aimed at listeners who enjoy old-school storytelling where the likes of Churchill, Nixon and Hitler have walk-on parts.
Miranda Sawyer in the Observer
- The Rest Is Classified (Goalhanger) - “Their first episode concerns the 1953 Iranian coup d’etat, where US and UK spies toppled Iran’s government. I knew nothing about this, but that is, apparently, not unusual among people in the UK. In Iran, however, the coup is still remembered, far from fondly.”
- Short Cuts (BBC Radio 4) - “Every culture needs its weirdo experimenters, its young outsiders. We all need more than celebrity dadcast chatathons. I’ve said in the past that Short Cuts is one of the most important programmes on UK radio, and I stand by this. Why the BBC is cutting it is completely beyond me.”
James Marriott in the Times
- The News Agents (Global), Live at the Royal Albert Hall - “‘On the podcast Maitlis, Sopel and Goodall are handy narrators of the day’s events, but their attempts to synthesise and analyse a year’s worth of politics did not go very deep… Goodall wondered out loud how Trump could have won given he eschews ‘civility’ and ‘manners’. None of his co-hosts made much more than a half-hearted attempt to answer this rather overfamiliar question.”
Clair Woodward in the Sunday Times
- The Rest Is Classified (Goalhanger) - “Spying is a big podcast subject, but what makes this different is that it is hosted by David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and spy novelist, and Gordon Corera, the BBC security correspondent.”
- Lady Mafia - “Michele McPhee tells the story of Sara King, who claimed to be such a great businesswoman that the Californian attorney (now suspended) said she could ‘sell fire to the Devil.’”
- Deadpod - “The pair aren’t just interested in murder but are looking at all kinds of topics surrounding death. In their first episode they discuss human sacrifice.”
The Guardian’s Hear Here column recommends
- The Rest Is Classified (Goalhanger) - “It’s exactly what you’d expect: a slick, info-packed chat between two hosts with sparkling rapport – specifically CIA analyst turned spy novelist David McCloskey and veteran national security journalist Gordon Corera.”
- ‘Tis the Grinch Holiday Christmas Podcast (Wondery) - “It’s a fairly questionable bit of character comedy, elevated by the stellar guests brought on to join in comic banter.”
- The Trapped (ITV News) - “It’s impossible not to be furious and distressed after listening to ITV News’ Daniel Hewitt’s podcast about social housing: there should be an outcry when a woman needs to use an umbrella in her home because the leaks are so bad.”
- The King of the Peso (Audible) - “This retelling of a cross-border crime family’s story opens with a horrific car crash and goes on to detail corruption, power and bags of cash.”
- Club Sandwich (Insanity) - “Henry Southan and Jordan Sangha’s new romance captured hearts in last year’s Big Brother, and fans who continued to watch the “daahhling” pair eat their way around London’s finest restaurants on social media will be delighted to hear they now have a podcast.”
In the Guardian’s Guide newsletter
- 16 Sunsets (TellTale/Antica) - “A new crowdfunded series about the history of the space shuttle, a giant leap forward for space travel that became entwined with the US military industrial complex and the cold war.”
Highlights from the Radio Times
- The Rest Is Classified (Goalhanger) - “Slightly giddy in the telling and comes off a little too much like the recapitulation of a hastily-digested book.”
- Stakeknife (BBC Radio 5 Live) - “Truly, horribly fascinating.”
Heat’s Top of the Pods
Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts
- Routes (Distorted/LNER) - “Despite it being essentially a podcast backed by a train operator, broadcaster Clara Amfo has such an engaging and breezy presenting style that the interviews are engaging and the vibe never feels stuffy or corporate. .”
- Death of an Artist (Pushkin) - “A fascinating little series, hosted by the British art historian and writer Katy Hessel, looking into the life of the American painter Lee Krasner.”
- Homing In (The Modern House) - “Author Matt Gibberd interviews a well known name about the house they grew up in, the house they live in now and the home that they hope to live in the future.”
- The Hackney & Newham History Social Club (Distorted) - "You don’t need to be a resident to enjoy this podcast.”
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