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 & 🔥
- Shut Up I’m Talking
- We’re Not Getting any Younger
- Milena’s Diary
- The Louis Theroux Podcast
- Never Live it Down
James Marriott in the Times
- The Louis Theroux Podcast (Spotify) - “This has to be the only time I have heard a Louis Theroux interview that makes the interviewer more uncomfortable than the interviewee.”
- Plus James interviews Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart about The Rest Is Politics and their upcoming live tour.
Patricia Nicol and Clair Woodward in the Sunday Times
- Legend: The Joni Mitchell Story (BBC Radio 4) - “Even if you are already a committed fan, the six-part [series] offers an engrossingly moving biographical overview of a continually questing musician who has overcome multiple setbacks, while never betraying herself artistically. No hagiography either — I was unaware of her mid-1970s blackface experimentations.”
- The Road to Joni (Talkhouse/SHEROES)- “The presenter Carmel Holt’s intention is to undertake a cross-country US road trip, converging on Mitchell’s LA shindig next month. Each pitstop involves interviews with musicians under her influence.”
The Guardian’s Hear Here column recommends
- The Wonder of Stevie (Higher Ground/Audible) - “Lupita Nyong’o came up with the idea for this podcast when she was stuck in traffic and wanted to hear a story from Kenya, where she grew up.”
- Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News (Slate) - “A forensic and accessible examination, informed by the people who worked there in the early 2000s.”
- Holly Burn’s Dream House (ind.) - “It’s like listening to Grand Designs episodes too weird to air..”
- Talking Rubbish (18Sixty) - “Eye-opening stuff – and only rarely dry.”
- In All Honesty (ind.) - “Within 24 hours, TV life coach Michelle Elman announced her engagement on Instagram, received messages about her fiance’s infidelity and called it off.”
In the Guardian’s Guide newsletter
- The Deserter (NYT) - “Liev Schreiber narrates a reported story about a Russian army captain who decides to desert the war in Ukraine and flee for a safe country with his wife.”
Highlights from the Radio Times
- Rob Burrow Seven, Meets… (BBC Sounds) - “It’s extremely moving.”
- World of Secrets: Predator at Harrods (BBC World Service) - “Only now can this story be told at length.”
- The Life of Bryony (Daily Mail) - “Fancy some therapy minus the couch and the bill?”
Heat’s Top of the Pods
- Evil Uncovered (Crime Monthly) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Crossways (BBC Radio 6) ⭐⭐⭐
Scott Bryan in Great British Podcasts
- Lady Swindlers (BBC Radio 4) - "The series is rich in detail, illuminating in insights and a notable series in a very crowded true crime market.”
- What’s Your Map? (Oculi Mundi) - “In this illuminating new series, map historian Jerry Brotton invites a guest who also shares their interest in maps to unfold and explore their favourite and unpack its significance and historical context.”
- Brainwash Me (Little Wander) - “A guest with a passion is invited onto the programme and has to convince Poppy Hilstead that their passion is actually interesting. Poppy finds out whether they have succeeded by attaching her head to a brain scanner whilst they are talking and then having her and a scientist check the results.”
- The Rest is Politics US (Goalhanger) - “A new four part series looking into how Trump managed to pull off the Presidency the first time round.”
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