The Five Podcasts I Rarely Miss

Dependably great pods for devoted listening

I listen to stacks of podcasts. On the train, behind the wheel, in the bath, on sleepless nights - I always have someone on my phone to keep me company. I love bingeing (often guiltily) on serialised stories of scams, scandals, conspiracies, cults and crimes but that’s not what I’m celebrating here. For this post, I’m listing my staples, my aural bread and butter, the formatted, long-running podcasts that automatically download to my phone, locked and loaded, so I’m never caught short without Wi-Fi. They’re the tried and true shows that must be consumed before I can even think of embarking on some trending boxset-style pod. I know most of them are already so broadly loved that you’ll wonder why I even bothered mentioning them, but I write this partly in the selfish hope that now you know where I park my car, podcast wise, you’ll have some to recommend back to me. My books are always open for more - as proven by my new obsession, Acquired, a podcast recommended to me only five days ago by Laney Crowell from Saie Beauty, which is only a few more episodes away from joining the list below. You can click on any of the titles here to listen.

The Savage Lovecast

Dan Savage is a journalist, author, relationships expert, activist and writer of a widely syndicated US advice column, Savage Love, in which he tackles modern dilemmas around romantic and/or sexual relationships. The medium of podcast allows the endlessly wise and wholly unshockable Savage to delve deeper into the listeners’ sometimes very explicitly told stories and to speak even more frankly on their often extraordinary predicaments. And yet despite this, The Savage Lovecast has absolutely nothing to do with the short of shock-jock pods whose frankness is more about establishing the host as some dreary edge-lord. The vibe here is human, adult, warm and sane, is only judgemental where required (the boyfriend who insisted on having a Hitler moustache despite pleas from his girlfriend rightly got it with both barrels) and is unfailingly respectful of anyone’s mutually consenting adult decisions. The advice given is never pearl clutching, never preachy, almost always on the money. The Savage Lovecast offers fascinating and yes, occasionally shocking, insight into modern relationships and US sexual politics yet remains a comfy, cosy weekly listen because its content is delivered by the safest imaginable pair of hands.

The Rest Is Politics

I doubt I’m telling you anything new here, of course. TRIP is Britain’s number one podcast and with good reason. When a new episode drops, my AirPods go in as soon as is professional. The format is simple: super posh Rory Stewart, ex-Tory MP on the centre-Right; and less posh Alastair Campbell, ex-Blair advisor, spin doctor and campaign chief on the centre-Left, sit down to discuss and analyse the big political stories of the day or week. The vibe here is agreeable disagreement. Regardless of your feelings about them personally, their political knowledge is impressive and inarguable.

I suppose what I love about TRIP is that it confirms what I believe about post-2015 politics: that political arguments are no longer as luxurious as Left Vs Right, but about Sanity Vs Extremism on both sides. Whether in government or on social media, there appears to be an obsession with purity of belief over practical, real life solutions that involve dealing humanly and constructively with people whose beliefs may instinctively be different from our own. Maybe I’m just getting old (and no, I am certainly not becoming right wing, ever. I’ve never bought into that tired theory about ageing), but I believe that no one ever changed their mind or their vote in response to being called an irredeemably stupid piece of shit on the internet. So while, admittedly, Stewart and Campbell (the more tribal of the two) don’t have acres to travel to their middle-ground, their good natured, adult and amiable analysis of political differences - both theirs and the country’s - offers welcome respite.

I also listen to most episodes of The News Agents and Electoral Dysfunction. I’m a news junkie and have been my whole life. For whatever reason, I feel less frightened, more in control (as illusory as that actually may be) when I know things, have read about them and tried to understand. But at the same time, I completely get why so many people tell me they’re triggered and made hopeless by engaging with news, especially right now (I’m the same with animal suffering. A PR emailed me footage of the dog meat festival the other week and I immediately blocked her. We all have our LALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU moments). But what I would say, sincerely, to the newsphobes is this: somehow, the calm, perceptive analysis in The Rest Is Politics doesn’t have the same adrenalising effect as rolling news and current affairs radio. TRIP may make you angry, weary, annoyed or frustrated, but the air is - at least to some degree - let in through the open window and a big news story becomes not any less worrying, but somehow less stifling.

You Must Remember This

While I’m sure that any of my fellow movie nerds will already be familiar with Karina Longworth’s fantastic, long running pod on “the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century”, I’d hate anyone to feel they needed to be obsessed with film to enjoy it. Because although You Must Remember This is certainly authored by an expert, Longworth (an American film editor, journalist, broadcaster, author and film studies lecturer) makes it so deliciously salacious, unsnobby, entertaining and accessible that one really needs no more than a passing interest in her subject to become hooked. Episodes can be standalone hours on a single film or creative, or frequently, clustered into a series-within-series exploring movements, genres, feuds or more complex themes in Hollywood’s history. Make Me Over is a nine-part series exploring the intersection between Hollywood and the beauty industry (which I loved, obviously), Star Wars looks at the experiences of Hollywood stars during WWII. The Blacklist; Charles Manson’s Hollywood and Dead Blondes are about well, exactly as described and all superb. There is a huge and fascinating back catalogue to make your way through. Longworth’s breathy, gossipy, almost 1950s pulp literature-style narration leavens what is on her part, some seriously weighty research, deep knowledge, understanding and smarts around the grubby, sleazy history of showbiz. Both podcast and podcaster are completely great.

You Must Remember This

Desert Island Discs

For years, I couldn’t listen to Radio 4, because my single father had it on for every single minute of its airtime - shipping forecast and all - and just the wordless but unmistakable sound of the channel made me feel instantly depressed. I was cured permanently when I was about 23, and began listening to Desert Island Discs without any parental pressure. I don’t know what made me, or which episode reeled me in and it’s ironic that Sue Lawley was presenting at the time I became hooked, since her episodes are the only ones in the archive I now actively avoid listening to (it’s nothing personal - she was professional and well researched. I just always found her so chilly and abrupt. I’ve loved all the other presenters, before and since). But very quickly, I had an appointment to listen and that still stands, over 26 years later. After over 80 years of Desert Island Discs, none of us needs a recap on the format, but I believe the ability to do so in 20 words: “Person of note chooses the eight tracks, book and luxury item they’d take with them as castaway on an island” is the key to its enduring appeal. So simple, revealing, relatable and surprising (the people I’d never heard of are almost always my favourite guests). DID is a warm bath of a show - metaphorically and literally. It’s my lock-the-bathroom-door-and-shut-out-the-world podcast, to be consumed with hot tea and no outside distractions. I try to listen live so I can hear the song choices in their entirety, but I’ve caught up or revisited many on the podcast app. On the unlikely chance you’ve never listened, here’s a wee handful of great episodes, with both the famous and non-famous:

John Timpson

Ian Wright

Daniel Kahneman

Kate Moss

George Michael

Yoko Ono

Marlon James

Victoria Wood

Photo by Neal Kharawala on Unsplash

This American Life

I don’t hear people talk as much about This American Life as I used to, but I still think that even a duff episode (rare) is leagues ahead of most podcast storytelling. TAL is a public radio show and podcast since 1995 and is now syndicated around the world and on all major podcast platforms. It became the first ever podcast to receive a Pulitzer Prize. It tells real life stories - huge and world-altering (the threat of Putin, the killing of George Floyd, FBI coverups), to tiny and seemingly inconsequential (how babies spend their first Christmas, the human impact of online business reviews, a flute player who steals dead birds) - about modern life mostly, but not always, in America. Case studies are expertly chosen, characters are quirky and funny, human emotions are raw and central without ever seeming like participants are exploited or the audience manipulated (the many episodes on school shootings are deeply moving and the best I’ve heard on the issue). The show itself describes the format as “like little movies for the radio”, which is a perfect way to sum it up. Presenter Ira Glass opens, then either tells today’s story, or hands over to one of the many excellent TAL journalists who’ve authored the episode. What I love most about This American Life is its seriousness and ambition. Everyone involved is seriously on their shit. 800 episodes in, each one is still made to count, has gravitas and is memorable. Occasionally, there are series within the series (the one set in a working US courthouse is terrific), or offshoots (like S-Town and The Trojan Horse Affair) and while I’ve liked some a lot more than others, they all share in common the high production values and fact-checking that make This American Life seem classier than most podcasts. Listen to just a handful and you’ll see how hugely influential it has been on all kinds of storytelling, but especially on serial podcasts. A must.

Please share your own long-running, never-miss-it staple podcasts below. I’d love to hear them.