Believe in Magic
Anyone who was glued to Jamie Bartlett’s previous hit podcast, The Missing Cryptoqueen, will race through this multi-layered mystery. It digs into the story of Megan Bhari who, inspired by her own cancer diagnosis, launched a charity when she was 16 years old that gained the support of One Direction. We meet the sceptics who hired a private investigator because they did not believe Megan was actually unwell, only to be baffled by her sudden death. It adds a layer of tragedy to an already murky and complex story, and Bartlett does a great job of unpicking what on earth is really going on.
Buried
There are two inescapable reasons to dive into one of the most significant podcast releases of the year. First, its staggering revelations about organised crime infiltrating the UK’s rubbish disposal industry – and illegally dumping astonishing quantities – make it a must-listen for anyone with the slightest interest in the environment. Second, the deathbed confessions, the cover-ups, the awful visits to the Northern Irish Mobuoy site at the centre of the scandal and the interview with the Italian priest who now lives under armed guard aren’t just gripping material. They all come in episodes that are only 15 minutes long.
Cotton Capital
The Guardian’s landmark series on its – and Manchester’s – links to slavery has been a huge undertaking and clearly a labour of love for the team of journalists who worked on it. Maya Wolfe-Robinson, the project’s editor, also helms much of this striking six-part series. It features contributions from the likes of Dr Cassandra Gooptar – who worked for two years to unpick the Guardian’s connections to slavery – pioneering TV journalist turned reparations campaigner Barbara Makeda Blake-Hannah, and Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner.
Educating Daisy
A podcast hosted by Daisy May Cooper was always going to be a riotously entertaining affair. But the comics who pitch classic novels to Cooper (who has supposedly never read one) make it double fun. From Cooper haranguing Diane Morgan for boring her with talk of social justice (you instantly know she won’t read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists) to hysterically giggling over Jamali Maddix’s description of graphic novel Preacher, it’s like listening to the world’s most amusingly unreceptive audience. But its spirit is best summed up by Cooper’s words to Tim Key, when – during a digression from his pitch for comic masterpiece The Diary of a Nobody – he mentions offhand enjoying The Catcher in the Rye due to its brevity. “Well why didn’t you bring that in?”
Filthy Ritual
True-crime podcasters Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire were used to flitting between cases for their hit show RedHanded, but Filthy Ritual has seen them drill down into just one: the bizarre, disturbing story of Juliette D’Souza. How did this super-prolific “shaman” manage to embezzle half of Hampstead for millions of pounds – especially when she was running not one, but two, different types of scam at the same time? Thrilling listening, which paints a vivid picture of its audacious real-life villain.
I’m Not a Monster: The Shamima Begum Story
The story of Shamima Begum, the Bethnal Green teenager who left London to join Islamic State in 2015, has long been framed as one of radicalisation and callous extremism – not least by the UK government, who revoked her citizenship in 2019. The host of this award-winning BBC/PBS podcast, Josh Baker, speaks to the woman herself, in what is an eye-opening look at Begum’s motivations, the harsh realities of her life in Syria – and whether she can ever be forgiven.
Love, Janessa
Catfishing stories never fail to shock, but the scale of this one makes jaws drop. Janessa Brazil is a successful adult entertainment star, but stolen photos have also made her the face and body of a global romance catfishing scheme. Does she know about this? How do the catfishers get away with using her identity? And just how many people have been scammed? In this in-depth investigation of the scandal, Hannah Ajala speaks to people who have lost millions and had hopes of new relationships shattered.
Northern News
Dead dogs reappearing to their owners in bath mats! A husband’s infidelity announced to the world via the medium of balloon! A schoolgirl who spilled some food colouring! Northerners Amy Gledhill and Ian Smith’s hilarious look at news from the north of England is an unfailingly fun jaunt through local journalism with celebrity guests such as Tim Key, Rosie Jones and Phil Wang. Hardly surprising, given that it comes from the same stable as long-running hits Off Menu and Cuddle Club.
Pod Save the UK
It can be hard to cut through the noise of political talk in the pod-sphere, but this UK version of Pod Save America genuinely sounds fresh. That is of course thanks to its hosts: political satirist Nish Kumar and the Guardian’s Coco Khan. The pals flit between conversations about Eurovision, the immigration bill, Beyoncé concerts, the housing crisis and everything in between, depending on what everyone is talking about in a given week, just as you would with (very politically engaged and articulate) friends.
Rylan: How to Be a Man
Rylan annually rewatches the moment he got through to the X Factor live shows; a big heap of shrieking tears in judge Nicole Scherzinger’s home (he was incredibly hungover, apparently). He does this to remind himself of how much “all of this” means to him – and oh how far he has come since then. Securing his status as a national sweetheart, in this thoughtful podcast we hear his warmth, intelligence and wit as he asks a lineup of diverse guests – Amir Khan, Hamza Yassin, Janet Street-Porter – what it means to be a man in the modern world. And because this is lovely Rylan, they easily open up.
Terri White: Finding Britain’s Ghost Children
Terri White’s captivating series about the thousands of children who are missing from school in the UK isn’t an easy listen. The opening episode about Arthur Labinjo-Hughes’s death is devastating. But it sparks White’s investigation into how we can try to protect children like Arthur in the future. Travelling across the country, she meets social workers, teachers, senior figures in the children’s services and family members. There’s a personal element to this, too; White was abused while growing up and saw school as a sanctuary – she also speaks to the teacher she hasn’t seen in more than 30 years. As she probes for answers and calls for real change, there is hope too.
The Coldest Case in Laramie
Serial Productions knock it out of the park once again with this series about a decades-old murder investigation suddenly reinvigorated by an arrest – only for the case against the prime suspect, a former police officer, to abruptly fall apart. New York Times reporter Kim Barker sensitively investigates the death of Shelli Wiley in Laramie, Wyoming – the place she spent her own teenage years – and asks whether a major cover-up may have taken place, in a series that echoes that first, gripping series of Serial itself.
The Debutante
The latest, exhaustively researched series from Jon Ronson is an utterly fascinating look at the life of Carol Howe – a glamorous former debutante who started calling dial-a-racist lines, got a swastika tattoo and became the poster girl for the neo-Nazi movement – or would have, if she could’ve toned down her taste for excessively violent public statements. Its reason for existence? To look at how she may well have been connected to one of the “most terrible crimes of the 21st century” – the Oklahoma City bombing. Another gripping voyage into extremism.
The Last Soviet
A Russian cosmonaut finds out that his beloved Soviet Union is crumbling below him while he is living on a space station. He’s offered a choice: return to Earth (and his family) while the space programme is still operational – and allow the station to disintegrate – or fulfil his duty of protecting one of Russia’s greatest sources of national pride, and risk possibly never seeing his family again. The compelling premise for this podcast makes it the kind of show that you just have to pick up. And then, partway through listening, discovering the voice of the presenter is ’NSync’s Lance Bass – and that he was also once a real Russian cosmonaut – makes it one you have to keep going with. Drama, sociological history, amusing references to boybands: this show has it all.
White Smoke: America’s Chemsex Killer
There’s huge depth to this true-crime show about the drug-fuelled, sex-related deaths of gay men caused by wealthy US political donor Ed Buck. It’s full of context and insight not just into the lives of the victims (although there is plenty of that), but also an immersion in gay subcultures – from the world of ballroom to the chemsex scene, looking at the latter’s power dynamics, terminology, most commonly used drugs and awful potential for exploitation. By plunging listeners into a world whose workings aren’t common knowledge outside LGBTQ+ communities, it uses its unique perspective to bring satisfying depth to its story – and it’s excellent.
