Picks of the week
Upfront
Widely available, episodes weekly
Who will be the winners of the Women’s Super League football this season? This excellent podcast is the ultimate guide, and sees Crystal Palace goalkeeper Chloe Morgan and journalist Rachel O’Sullivan pore over the beautiful game, alongside special guests each week – including WSL players. Its episodes are packed with cracking chemistry, astute analysis and lots of smile-inducing chat.
Alexi Duggins
Mattan: Injustice of a Hanged Man
BBC Sounds, episodes weekly
Seventy years ago, Mahmood Mattan was executed for the murder of Cardiff shopkeeper Lily Volpert. But, as Danielle Fahiya’s podcast reveals, Mattan wasn’t guilty. Using eyewitness accounts, she tells how he wanted to fit in to Tiger Bay, but was met with hostility and prejudice that resulted in an unfair trial. Hannah Verdier
Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World
Widely available, from 22 Sep
What does it mean to live in Ukraine today? Journalists from the Kyiv Independent talk to civilians who reveal a strong sense of independence, a desire for inclusivity and the need to defend their liberal values. They also address the myth that there’s a clear split between Ukraine’s east and west. HV
Witnessed: Mystic Mother
Widely available, episodes weekly
Was the Phoenix Goddess Temple in Arizona and its belief in “whole body healing” – which tried to provide emotional support through sexual touch – a wonderful spiritual practice? Or a front for sex workers? This pacy, captivating series tries to get to the bottom of a place that outraged the local community before facing one of Arizona’s largest prostitution busts. AD
Gatecrashers: The Hidden History of Jews and the Ivy League
Widely available, episodes weekly
A look at a deep-rooted issue in the US: how Jews fought for acceptance in the Ivy League colleges and what admissions diversity means today. The host of the Unorthodox podcast, Mark Oppenheimer, dissects each school, starting with Columbia. Hollie Richardson
There’s a podcast for that
This week, Charlie Lindlar chooses five of the best long podcasts, from a cultural deep dive into Marvel, Game of Thrones and more, to four-hour investigations of civilisations’ mysterious collapses
Binge Mode
Few podcast hosts have displayed as much commitment as The Ringer’s Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion did to their pop culture series Binge Mode between 2017 and 2021. Its lengthy seasons gave fans a chapter-by-chapter deconstruction of the Harry Potter novels, epic journeys through the Star Wars saga and Marvel Cinematic Universe, and – perhaps its most popular strand – weekly breakdowns of Game of Thrones. Its bold format (almost every episode breaches two hours) made it one of the most ambitious podcasts going. But it was Rubin and Concepcion’s peerless chemistry, inside humour and heartfelt adoration for the source material that made Binge Mode so great.
Fall of Civilizations
Ever wonder how exactly the Romans lost Britain? Or what really happened to disappeared cultures like the Mayans or the Inca? Tune into novelist Paul Cooper’s show, which does exactly what it says on the tin, charting and interrogating societal collapses around the globe. Cooper’s gentle voice and the show’s Radio 4-like production make each four-hour show an easy listen. Where Fall of Civilizations excels, though, is in finding the common threads between each calamity, asking what universal lessons we can learn about the way humans live together, treat each other – and fall apart.
The Secret History of Hollywood
Anyone for a 20-hour podcast on Cary Grant? A different breed of scandalous story awaits listeners in this marathon anthology podcast series on cinema’s sacred land. Originally imagined as a podcast for reviewing films from the 1930s and 40s, host Adam Roche accidentally found a niche in telling the unknown tales of silver screen’s Golden Age and pivoted. In the podcast’s Patreon archives listeners will find the true story of Hollywood’s steamy “pre-code” culture, as well as extensive “audio biopics” of Alfred Hitchcock’s career and Audrey Hepburn’s life before fame.
Hardcore History
Hosted by broadcaster Dan Carlin – dubbed “America’s best history teacher” in a 2015 profile – this award-winning podcast focuses on the truth of history’s bloodiest bits. Expect episodes to pop up intermittently after months in hibernation and range from two to as long as six hours, as Carlin delves into everything from the influence of the Mongol empire to the all-conquering Alexander the Great. More dramatic and sensational than some historical podcasts, Hardcore History is careful to stand itself apart – “this isn’t academic history (and Carlin isn’t a historian)” – but entertains nonetheless.
Behind the Bastards
“There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating.” So reads the description for Behind the Bastards, which – in its long but lighthearted episodes – sees investigative journalist Robert Evans and guests name and shame humanity’s most notorious rotters. The CIA, Henry Kissinger (who earns himself a six-part series), and the entire nation of Great Britain all feature, as do more unexpected characters such as John Wayne (“A Guy Who Sucked”, as it turns out).
Why not try …
Ambitious environmental journalism in the Peabody-winning Threshold.
Smart, feminist chat – from staying married to sex toys – in Unladylike.
NPR’s Embedded analyses the future of an embattled area of New York law enforcement in Changing The Police.
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