PODCAST OF THE WEEK
West Cork
The world is full of really good podcasts but there have only ever been a handful of truly great ones — series you could honestly say were up there with the best books or films. Serial was one of them, and S-Town remains one of the best examples. But West Cork might be even better.
The 13-part series was first released as an Audible exclusive back in 2018, but has only recently become available on other platforms. Like countless other true-crime podcasts, it’s the story of an unsolved murder — this one involving a French woman in the small western Ireland town of Schull in 1996. The first episode is most notable for how well documentarian Jennifer Forde and journalist Sam Bungey set the scene, painting a vivid picture of the remote community and the characters who call it home. “The murder”, as it is simply known in these parts, still haunts the town to this day.
But what at first appears to be a fairly procedural true-crime mystery turns out to be so much more. The less you know going in the better — just set aside some time and prepare to be engrossed by one of the best podcast series ever made.
The original Popstars, which legend has it inspired Simon Cowell to create Pop Idol, which led to X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and all that followed, would probably be cancelled within seconds if it aired today.
Smartly, if a little disappointingly, the 2021 reboot looks like an entirely different show — one that’s based more on experienced popstar trio Kimbra, Vince Harder and Nathan from Zed nurturing creative talent than on record label moguls trying to shape a group of young women into New Zealand’s version of the Spice Girls. Will any of them manage to produce a piece of music anywhere near as good as the TrueBliss anthem, Tonight? That’s the real test.