P-P-P-PICK UP A NEW PODCAST... OR THREE
THE PENGUIN PODCAST
RUTH JONES reveals why being
Welsh makes her characters funnier, while Richard Osman shares insecurities about his working class background, in this semi-regular podcast from publisher Penguin.
While books are understandably the starting point for conversations between presenter Nihal Arthanayake and a large range of different authors, the subjects veer off into all sorts of interesting places.
Guests are each asked to choose a number of cherished ‘things’ to help spark the discussion – Blink author Malcolm Gladwell selects the Friends’ theme tune, while The Lost Words illustrator Jackie Morris picks a special golden hare.
Arthanayake is a warm and enthusiastic interviewer, and there are also episodes with guest presenters such as Sue Perkins and Katy Brand.
If you love reading, this is a treasure trove of time spent hanging out with many favourite authors, but it’s also a great podcast for dipping into episodes based on celebrity status.
Where to start: Hafsa Zayyan, winner of Stormzy’s #Merky Books New Writer’s Prize, gives an insight into life with a dual heritage.
Where to find it: The usual podcast apps and online at penguin.co.uk/podcasts.html
YOU’RE WRONG ABOUT
JOURNALISTS Mike and Sarah tackle events, news stories and individuals that have in some way been misunderstood by the public.
Everyone from OJ Simpson to Diana, Princess of Wales is placed under their microscope in a conversational podcast that is charismatic and witty as well as jam-packed with detail.
It’s a rabbit hole that you’ll be in no rush to climb out of, as you consider whether the Stepford Wives were (sort of ) real and wonder whether there were actually upsides to the 1980s Satanic Panic belief that devil-worshippers lurked around every corner.
Where to start: The Stanford Prison experiment, which involved a group of students behaving as brutal guards when given unlimited power over other students acting as their prisoners. Or so we thought. Where to find it: All usual podcast apps and at yourewrong about.com
VIDEO NASTIES PODCAST
KIDS of the 1980s will remember the moral panic around so-called ‘video nasty’ films that were considered to be so violent and generally horrible they posed a grave danger to young people.
The persecution of these features was led by conservative activist Mary Whitehouse who, as a quote in the introduction of each episode of this podcast reminds us, never actually watched any of them.
Christopher Brown takes us through the films on the list, beginning with those that were prosecuted. He sets them in the context of film history and the socio-cultural climate of the time and considers it was the list existed.
Where to start: Night of the Living Dead is a fascinating look into the film that launched George A Romero’s career. Or last month’s The Killing Hour, about a police procedural with a bizarre plot. Where to find it: All the usual podcast apps and online at thelasthorrorpodcast.com/ category/video-nasties-podcast