Recommendation Engine: Sport’s Strangest Crimes

Plus Vanessa Kirby, Michael Johnson and Jamie Laing

10:00 AM GMT+1 on August 21, 2024

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 & 🔥

Fiona Sturges in the FT

In the Dark - “A true-crime podcast that will restore your faith that series can still fly the flag for meticulous, ethical reporting… what they reveal is horrifying but in no way sensationalised, instead offering a glimpse into the mindset among the Marines deployed in Iraq that their actions didn’t have consequences.”

Jude Rogers in the Observer

Bad People - “Both women are likeable pros on the mic, but this reboot feels grim. The focus on Amber Haque on her ‘sofa with my Post-it notes trying to piece it all together’ will be catnip for armchair detectives, which feels a bit – sorry to spoil the fun, guys – irresponsible. Julia Shaw says she’s hoping to steer Haque ‘off-course… towards weird ethical conversations’, but there are only a few interesting diversions into gendered violence and psychopathy, and nothing goes deep.”
Conspiracy, She Wrote - “Aims to unravel the webs of conspiracy theories woven by and about women.”
Sport’s Strangest Crimes: Confessions of a Match Fixer - “Early on, it’s about broader, bigger things: football as a fickle engine of social mobility; money as a propeller and a corruptor; and about how harsh it can feel for a young man when your form and your luck leave you behind.”
Rising Phoenix: What Does it Take? - “Hosted by friends Matt Stutzman, a world record-holding American archer born without arms, and former Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson, known in recent years for his intelligent athletics commentary for the BBC.”

James Marriott in the Times

In the News this Week - “If proceedings sometimes feel a little amateurish, the listener can reflect that this is also part of the charm. There is a worse version of this podcast staffed by a gang of over-eager, over-produced comedians that would have been unbearable to listen to. I like the feeling that the team has just been allowed to get on with things without senior executives breathing down the backs of their necks.”

Patricia Nicol in the Sunday Times

The Strange Case - “A dazzling Vanessa Kirby plays Dr Henri Jekyll, a globetrotting physicist, but also her assassin doppelgänger Hyde.”
Tom Slick: Mystery Hunter - “The show is fun and suitable for a family audience — less fun is the intrusive advertising of the American maker iHeart Radio.”
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Haunted House on Hollow Hill - “This should prove holiday distraction to the book series’ many young fans — and perhaps bring in some new ones.”

The Guardian’s Hear Here column recommends

Sport’s Strangest Crimes: Confessions of a Match Fixer - “You can hear the regret in his voice.”
Scripts - “A sensitive and thought-provoking examination of sobriety medication.”
Unsung: Sport’s Hidden Stars - “After forming in 2016, the Refugee Olympic Team made history at Paris 2024 when boxer Cindy Ngamba won the team’s first medal.”
A Fine Mess - “Questions around AI, cannabis legalisation and what success means are all here.”
Master Plan - “David Sirota and his super-sharp team have spent two years investigating corruption and scandal in the US supreme court.”

In the Guardian’s Guide newsletter

2 Promoters 1 Pod - “Running a festival is the sort of job we all fantasise about doing, but what’s it like in reality? Extremely complicated if this podcast series is anything to go by.”

Highlights from the Radio Times

Every Single Sci Fi Film Ever - “As our host and her expert guests debate the historical, political and social context of titles and their themes, stimulating digressions emerge.”
Tape Letters - “Pakistani families in the UK in the 60s and 70s kept in touch with home by recording exhaustive summaries of family news and sending them back and forth in cassette form.”
Where Should We Begin? The Arc of Love - “Perel is banking on people recognising themselves somewhere along the line, and she’s probably not wrong.”

Heat’s Top of the Pods

Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts

Rising Phoenix: What Does it Take? - "Featuring interviews with Paris 2024 Paralympians and insight into what it takes to win.”
This is Powerful - “A detailed and frank interview series that unpacks the realities of addiction.”
The Blue Plaque Pod - “Each guest chooses a blue plaque they’ve seen, and Kassia St. Clair and the guest then unpack their life and their achievements.”
Great Company with Jamie Laing - “The conversations here are rather compelling.”