The Gift (BBC Radio 4) | BBC Sounds
Political Currency (Persephonica) | Apple Podcasts
When It Hits the Fan (BBC Radio 4) | BBC Sounds
Newscast | BBC Sounds
Here’s a show that couldn’t have been made even a few years ago: Radio 4’s The Gift, an engaging six-part series that examines what can happen when someone gets given a DNA kit, from 23andMe or Ancestry, as a present for Christmas or a birthday. We can all guess where this is likely to go – a friend of mine happily did one such test and the result sent the whole family into a tailspin (their father was not their father, many complications arising) – and, yep, the first show concerns fatherhood. But the story was weirder and, really, much more serious than you might expect.
We meet two women whose DNA tests set them wondering. For both, it turns out that the story is more complicated than just a hidden affair, and gradually the truth is revealed as something creepier, involving rogue fertility experts. Judging by this show, and podcasts such as The Retrievals or The Immaculate Deception, infertility doctors don’t always centre the women they’re treating. Sometimes, they’re too busy playing God to remember.
The Gift’s host, Jenny Kleeman, was the presenter of The Immaculate Deception too: plainly, she’s interested in the question of fertility and parenthood. She’s the right mixture of serious and light, and what becomes clear is that different people react differently to an unexpected genetic discovery. The two women in this episode had contrasting reactions to discovering their father was not who they thought: one, devastated and angry; the other, curious and determined. The biological father of one of them responded in yet another way, calmly accepting of the shocking news that he had a child he’d never known about: “It’s a bit annoying,” he said. Was he angry? “No, too long ago, mate. Too long ago.” This week we’re promised a DNA revelation that actually solves a crime. Old secrets cleared up – what’s not to like?
Very late on Thursday, a brand new weekly economics show Political Currency burst into our podcast feeds, to great media fanfare; mostly around its hosts, George Osborne and Ed Balls. Remember those guys? They were both chancellors/chancellor wannabes: Osborne, shadow chancellor from 2005 to 2010, then actual chancellor under David Cameron’s Tory austerity government from 2010 to 2016; Labour’s Balls doing the shadow thing from 2011 to 2015. Clearly, the pair were on different sides during those years. But now, apparently, they’re mates.
Post-politics, they’ve operated in different fields too: Osborne moving smoothly between various highly paid positions, Balls working in more public but less well-remunerated media roles and, since November 2022, regularly co-presenting ITV’s Good Morning Britain with Susanna Reid. (Osborne popped up on the show on Wednesday morning to promo Political Currency: Reid made mincement of him, as you might expect.) But they’ve also been a double act on Andrew Neil’s show for the past year or so. Tweedledum and Tweedledeeconomics, ho ho. They call themselves “frenemies”.
Judging by their first show’s offering, the “fre” is overwhelming the “enemy” here: not that anyone wants full-on fisticuffs, but there wasn’t much contrast between the pair as audio personas, though they did disagree on what to do about HS2 (Osborne: keep it going; Balls: get rid). Balls seemed more human – scoffing, joking, reacting and, most importantly, listening – though actually a bit dull and nit-picky on stuff such as pensions. Osborne’s natural broadcast mode is combative, trying to get a point across. But, really, if you listened casually, or weren’t already familiar with them, you’d need to work hard to remember who was who.
They plan to discuss the most important political story of the week (last week: spies in the House of Commons, HS2), plus a more underground yet still vital story (pensions) and a business or economic one that, they believe, will shape things to come (global oil prices). Yeah, I know: James Acaster must be quaking in front of his mic. With topics this dry, the most important element in Political Currency will be its chemistry, both between the hosts, and between the hosts and the audience. Balls will be fine, but Osborne has a big likeability gap to cross. Perhaps he should become even more of the bad guy, just for fun.
Does podcasting need any more middle-aged men, once insiders, now not so much, but still very keen to let us know their thoughts on life? Well, funny you should ask, because here’s another double act of such chaps: When It Hits the Fan. Our hosts are ex-Sun editor David Yelland and former PR for both the late queen and Gordon Brown, Simon Lewis. I have a soft spot for Yelland, a sober alcoholic and fundamentally kind man who’s fessed up to acting badly during his Sun days. But, oh dear, this too is dry stuff. These podcasts only work if there’s some life in them: some jokes, or warmth, or intimacy, a little sparkle in the relationship that means you want to spend time with these people. The production here doesn’t let us get anywhere near these two, so their insights don’t land. And the insights weren’t all that: “The palace is an extraordinary place to work,” Lewis kept saying (the queen told a lame joke! Blimey!). More pep needed.
Newscast, a show that knows what it is and who it’s for, has moved to seven days a week. When It Hits the Fan might take some tips from it. During the week, Adam Fleming and Chris Mason are our hosts; now, on Saturdays and Sundays, we’re getting Laura Kuenssberg and Paddy O’Connell. Although O’Connell was away last weekend, so Kuenssberg teamed up with Dominic Casciani (Saturday) and James Cook (Sunday). There’s a briskness and jollity here that means you can’t get bored. Plus, of course, everyone on the show has the advantage of actually still being involved in the areas they’re talking about: Kuenssberg came out of hosting her Sunday morning TV show, which featured an interview with justice secretary Alex Chalk, and gave Newscast an immediate analysis of how it went, which questions she thought he dodged. Usually, O’Connell will also be coming to Newscast straight out of his Sunday morning job, hosting Broadcasting House.
I could have done without O’Connell’s little recorded missive from his holiday, not that it wasn’t sweet, but because we didn’t need it. Newscast already has a sense of community and both the familiar Kuenssberg and the funny O’Connell will slot right in.
