The Last Soviet (Samizdat and Kaleidoscope) | samizdataudio.com
Stolen Hearts (Wondery) | Apple Podcasts
Namaste Motherf**kers (Cally Beaton) | Apple Podcasts
Magic Radio Premium | Planet Radio
Early in the first episode of excellent new podcast The Last Soviet, our hero, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, is alone on Mir, the space station, orbiting the globe. It’s 1991, and back down on Earth his country, the Soviet Union, has collapsed in disarray. Now there is no money to send out another cosmonaut to take over Sergei’s position. Luckily, he’s not completely stranded: he can return home in the re-entry capsule, but that would leave the space station empty, circling Earth without a crew. Sergei is married, with a one-year-old daughter. He has a choice: he can come home to his family or stay on the space station for who knows how long. What will he do?
As a choice it’s hardly Hobson’s. You come home, right? Job done, see ya starscape, thanks for all the floating. But Sergei stays. And The Last Soviet answers why he decided to do that, along with many other spacey questions you may have.
Made by Samizdat and Kaleidoscope, The Last Soviet is impressive and interesting, with some lovely use of sound: voices fading in and out, crackling radio, clanging machines. Such care means that initially, the choice of presenter – Lance Bass, from 90s boyband ’NSync – is a surprise, but Bass isn’t a random celebrity host. As he tells us, he trained with the Russians to be a cosmonaut during a six-month ’NSync break. One minute he was twirling toes with Justin Timberlake and the lads, the next he was in Star City, cosmonaut-ing like billy-oh.
I’ll give you a moment to absorb that information, but, rest assured, it’s not the most astonishing part of this show. In episode two we hear about another Soviet space station, Salyut 7, and how in 1985 it just… stopped working. The USSR sent up two cosmonauts to kick it back into action, and Sergei guided them from the ground as they hurtled, at 1,800mph, towards their target. Merely docking on to the station, which was spinning out of control, was a huge feat. When the cosmonauts got in, they found everywhere covered in ice.
Space is always a brilliant topic, and The Last Soviet is packed not only with starship detail but the social and political context, the personalities involved, the mad scientific nuttiness of it all. Plus, Lance has promised to tell us about his cosmonaut action, too. How could anyone resist?
Speaking of why-would-you-do-that? life choices, Wondery has a new show, Stolen Hearts. It’s about impossible romance and where it can take you. In this case it takes Jill, a successful Welsh police sergeant, slap bang into a relationship with a charming cockney businessman, Dean. Dean – surprise! – turns out to be not quite as wonderful as he seems. In truth, there isn’t a great deal to this tale, but the peppy script, by Kim MacAskill, Tom Wright and Anna Sinfield ensures we don’t lose interest. Comedian and actor Kerry Godliman narrates with a wry eyebrow raised, and the story switchbacks enjoyably. Plus, there are intimate interviews with everyone involved, including Jill, Dean and Dean’s mum (a proper toughie). Though Jill can’t always explain quite why she did what she did, the producers do at least ask her the question.
At the beginning of each episode, some unique British-isms are explained for American listeners (“Superdrug”, “blancmange”, “a marmalade dropper”), which is funny; and in the final episode the podcast brings Jill and Dean together, to talk over what happened. A coup that, true to form, doesn’t go as planned… Stolen Hearts is part brilliant audiobook, part true crime doc, part great pub story. Every which way, it’s gripping.
Here’s a sweet celeb-y interview podcast: Namaste Motherf**kers, hosted by comedian and businesswoman Cally Beaton. Beaton, who pivoted from a successful media career to standup just before the pandemic, offers a particular USP: very few performers understand boardrooms. Plus, there’s the namaste bit, as she’s also interested in self-help. Her guests, often comedians, are engaged and engaging, but I prefer the business ones. I enjoyed the most recent episode with the irrepressible Deborah Meaden, as well as the one with King of Soho Gin co-founder Alex Robson. Occasionally, Beaton talks a little too much about herself, but her warmth and charm mean that each show turns into a proper chat.
Here’s yet more non-BBC audio manoeuvring. Magic FM is offering a new premium no-adverts subscription service, at £3.99 a month. It’s a clever move, to be followed by Greatest Hits FM later this month. The sub gets you the usual Magic stations, sans selling, plus five extra. Greatest Hits also gets five extra, including one called Simon Mayo’s Album Tracks. (Mayo must live in front of a microphone these days, what with all this plus his podcasts with Mark Kermode.)
Listening to Lemar’s Magic show on Sunday night, which trailed one of these new offerings, Soul Floor Fillers, you don’t get the impression that the new stations will blow a parting in your hair (tracklist: Kool and the Gang’s Get Down on It, Stevie Wonder’s Superstition, Chic’s Good Times, Sister Sledge’s We Are Family – you get the gist). But if you’re after music to keep you trucking/hoovering/hen partying, there will surely be something for you. And the Greatest Hits offer will mean that Ken Bruce fans can enjoy him doing pretty much exactly what he did on Radio 2, without ads to put them off. Clever.
• This article was amended on 14 February 2023 to add scriptwriting credits, in the review of Stolen Hearts, for Tom Wright and Anna Sinfield.
