Turn on, tune in: the 50 best podcasts
The choice of what to listen to is endless – and overwhelming. So we have picked the top downloadable shows available right now
T hey say a new podcast is released once every 30 seconds. From heavyweight political interviews, to film reviews, history and sport, there is more pod chat out there than anyone has the time to listen to. But, of course, quantity does not equal quality. Here, Telegraph writers recommend 50 podcasts that stand out from the crowd, from the story of the CIA and its links to a famous 1980s power ballad, to a comedy about two feuding funeral parlours…
INTERVIEWS The Adam Buxton Podcast
Listening to Buxton’s podcast is like reconnecting with an old friend, from the opening section in which he welcomes listeners (“podcats”) to his absorbing “ramblechats” with guests. Start with Bob Mortimer For fans of Smartless and RHLSTP with Richard Herring
How to Fail
Writer Elizabeth Day’s podcast celebrates things that haven’t gone right in people’s lives. Guests over the 13 seasons have included Stanley Tucci and Delia Smith. Start with Graham Norton For fans of On Being and Where Should We Begin
The Diary of a CEO
Dragons’ Den’s newest dragon, Steven Bartlett, talks to big names from the world of business, culture and politics about how they got to their current positions. Start with Matt Hancock For fans of Mission Makers and Success is in the Mind Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware Singer Jessie Ware and her mum Lennie cook a meal for celebrities and discuss life and food. Start with Paul and Mary Mccartney For fans of Out to Lunch with Jay Rayner
Changes with Annie Mac
Thoughtful and often bracingly candid interviews by DJ Annie Mac with everyone from Damon Albarn to Douglas Stuart. Start with Perez Hilton For fans of Happy Place
Bryony Gordon’s Mad World
The Telegraph columnist speaks to household names and ordinary people with extraordinary stories about mental health. Start with Prince Harry For fans of Happy Place
INVESTIGATIVE Sweet Bobby
If you thought the Tinder Swindler was outrageous, wait until you hear this six-part series navigating the true story of Kirat Assi, who was duped for eight years in an elaborate catfishing scam that involved 60 fictional online profiles. Start with Sliding Doors For fans of Serial and Catfish: The Podcast
Wind of Change
Writer Patrick Radden Keefe examines whether power ballad Wind of Change by heavy metal band Scorpions was actually CIA propaganda to help end the Cold War. Start with The opening episode For fans of End of Days and The Coming Storm
Nolan Investigates: Stonewall
BBC presenter Stephen Nolan’s research into the LGBTQ+ charity’s influence on the corporation was shocking and did what all good reporting should do – effected change. Start with The incisive first episode For fans of Smoke Screen
Bed of Lies
The Telegraph’s Cara Mcgoogan and her team tell the story of two shocking scandals in their award-winning series. Start with Infatuation For fans of The Great Post Office Trial
Killer Book Club
A riveting eight-parter about the brutal murder of an apparently mildmannered book-club member in Buckinghamshire by one of his former students. Start with The Knot For fans of Fairy Meadow
WEIRD AND WONDERFUL Twenty Thousand Hertz
The gestation of all sorts of familiar sounds, from the vvvvwoom of a lightsaber to a weird hum which drove the residents of a small town in America mad. Start with 20th Century Fox For fans of Song Exploder The Atlas Obscura Podcast These daily 10 to 20-minute nuggets spotlight unusual travel destinations around the world, from a house in Houston clad in beer cans to an enormous abandoned telescope in rural Puerto Rico. Start with The very beginning For fans of The BBC Earth podcast
Dead Honest
Moving interviews with people who deal with death on a daily basis, including police divers and a tow truck driver who retrieves vehicles from crash sites. Start with Picking Up the Pieces For fans of The Griefcast, Life Changing
Ephemeral
This glories in the obscure, the surprising, and the very nearly forgotten. Among the cacophony of podcasts, Ephemeral is one of the most beautiful listens out there. Start with Diaspora For fans of 99% Invisible
POP CULTURE The Watch
Get the lowdown on popular TV, films and music from Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan of website The Ringer. Start with The Return of Better Call Saul For fans of Filmspotting
Broken Record
One for the musos. Four big-name co-hosts, including producer Rick Rubin and writer Malcolm Gladwell, take a deep dive into musicians’ output and careers. Start with Barry Gibb’s Wild Ride For fans of Sodajerker on Songwriting
Decoder Ring
Tune in for the rise and fall of video games, how to resist “selling out”, and a deep-dive into segways. Start with Truly Tasteless Jokes For fans of Reply All and Culture Gabfest
On Wednesdays We Wear Black
Tackling everything from fashion, racism and punk, this is a hilarious and unfiltered glimpse into life in the mosh pit. Start with Happy Birthday to Us For fans of All Songs Considered
Your Favourite Band Sucks
An entire podcast dedicated to tearing down everyone’s favourite bands, from easy targets Coldplay to more revered heroes such as David Bowie. Start with Guiltless Pleasures For fans of James Acaster’s Perfect Sounds
Lolita podcast
This covers Nabokov’s novel, its controversial impact on pop culture and how playing Lolita damaged female actors. Start with Dolores Not Lolita For fans of Believed and Stuff Mom Never Told You
Who? Weekly
Of course you don’t care about the lives of D-list celebrities. But nor do the hosts of this entertainingly disdainful podcast dedicated to their movements. Start with Spencer Pratt? For fans of Red Scare and Scam Goddess
TRUE CRIME Criminal
This is true crime with class. Covering 18th-century murder, stolen identities, bootlegging and scandalous seances. Listen without risking moral degradation. Start with In Plain Sight For fans of Serial and This American Life
Last Podcast on the Left
A well-researched look into all the horrors of the world, from serial killers and cults to government conspiracies and UFOS. Start with Randy Kraft For fans of Morbid: A True Crime Podcast
Dr Death
Warning: do not listen before your next GP visit. Each season covers a different doctor who committed egregious malpractice. Start with Three Days in Dallas For fans of Dirty John and The Dropout
Redhanded
A true-crime breath of fresh air that probes little-known horrors in meticulous detail and with a healthy dose of British banter. Start with Keli Lane For fans of The Last Podcast on the Left and Someone Knows Something
HISTORY The Rest is History
Historians Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook tackle topics ranging from the origins of cricket to Gengis Khan. A recent four-part mini-series about modern Russian history was exceptional. Start with James Bond For fans of You’re Dead to Me and In Our Time
Lore
Folklore, superstition, grisly esoterica – Lore sets some of the past’s most macabre episodes to twinkly piano music, creating something both fascinating and atmospheric. Start with Black Stockings For fans of Myths and Legends, Uncanny
You’re Wrong About
Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes set the record straight on everything from the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” to the Stanford prison experiment. Start with Tipper Gore vs Heavy Metal For fans of Stuff You Missed in History Class
Behind the Bastards
Meticulous excavations of the world’s worst people (dead and alive) – making up a treasure trove of deplorables. Start with Saddam Hussein: Erotic Novelist For fans of Ridiculous History
Three Castles Burning
Historian Donal Fallon explores Ireland’s capital, covering the Dublin Metropolitan Police to the Hibernian metropolis’s literary scene. Start with The Great Liberties Whiskey Fire For fans of Throughline and The Troubles podcast
The Retrospectors: Today in History
Interesting events from that day in history, from Butlin’s to failed French conquests. Start with The Birth of Butlin’s For fans of Dan Snow’s History Hit
CURRENT AFFAIRS Podcast of Ideas
Boisterous debates where the audience rules. From gender wars to assisted suicide and trans inclusion in sports, their motto is “free speech allowed” – you’ve been warned. Start with Misinformation For fans of Planet Normal Chopper’s Politics The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope reports from Westminster’s Red Lion pub with exclusive interviews that shape the news agenda. Start with How will history judge Boris Johnson? For fans of Coffee House Shots
The Rest is Politics
Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart discuss the day’s top political and global issues. Start with War in Ukraine For fans of Newscast
Slow Burn
Flits between politics, culture and sociology to uncover wider issues that have shaped America, from Watergate to the LA riots. Start with The Tape For fans of American Scandal
The Town
Listen for episodes on Rupert Murdoch, Bruce Willis’s retirement, and the influencer’s favourite music festival, Coachella. Start with Why Was Bruce Willis Still Working? For fans of Still Processing
COMEDY
Alan Partridge: From the Oasthouse Steve Coogan and co-writers the Gibbons brothers take us deeper into north Norfolk’s most respected D-jock’s increasingly fraught psyche. Start with Seldom For fans of The Kurupt FM Podkast and Wolf and Owl
Dear Joan and Jericha
Julia Davis and Vicki Pepperdine’s spoof agony aunts dispense filthy, potentially life-ruining pointers to anyone desperate enough to ask them for help. Start with Series 1, Episode 1 For fans of Help I Sexted My Boss
No Such Thing as a Fish
From the team behind quiz show QI, this weekly podcast combines witty chatter with joyfully abstruse trivia. Start with No Such Thing as Quentin Tarantino’s Bambi For fans of Stuff You Should Know
Wooden Overcoats
Following the misadventures of two feuding funeral parlours on a fictional channel island, this full-cast production is one of the funniest British sitcoms of recent years, in any medium. Brilliantly acted. Start with Season 1, Episode 1 – The Bane of Rudyard For fans of PG Wodehouse
Dead Eyes
Actor Connor Ratliff ’s attempt to find out why nice guy Tom Hanks removed him from the cast of the miniseries Band of Brothers for the crime of having “dead eyes”. Start with Episode 1 For fans of Script Apart
Comedy Bang Bang
This self-contained universe of recurring characters gives improv comedy a good name. Start with Two Thumbs & Not Much Else For fans of Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
LIFESTYLE Off Menu
Celebrities, from Bob Mortimer to Claudia Winkleman, talk to comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble about their dream meal. Start with Joe Thomas For fans of The Moon Under Water
Fortunately with Fi and Jane
Radio 4 stalwarts Fi Glover and Jane Garvey are in gloriously relaxed, anarchic and funny mode here, interviewing guests and talking about whatever they fancy. Start with Miriam Margolyes For fans of The Line-up with Shaun Keaveny
SPORT Tifo Football Podcast
Offers in-depth tactical analysis and discussion of how football intersects with wider politics and culture. Start with Abramovich Sanctions: What happens to Chelsea now? For fans of The Price of Football
Tailenders
Radio 1’s Greg James, former Maccabees guitarist Felix White and England cricketing legend Jimmy Anderson host a podcast that’s the anti-test Match Special. Start with Best of Mattchin For fans of The Football Ramble
Athletico Mince
Ostensibly a football podcast, this is, in reality, a vehicle for Bob Mortimer’s brilliant and surreal comic mind. It’s some of his best work. Start with Meet Barry Homeowner For fans of Adam & Joe
That Peter Crouch Podcast
Crouch and friends talk football banter, dressing room etiquette, and the dos and don’ts of goal celebrations. Start with That Houses Episode For fans of Top Flight Time Machine
Quickly Kevin; Will He Score?
Comedian Josh Widdicombe and friends Michael Marden and Chris Scull interview footballers from the 1990s. Start with John Moncur For fans of The Last Leg Writers: Ed Cumming, Catherine Gee, James Hall, Ross Jones, Ben Lawrence, Eleanor Margolis, Mark Monahan, Tom Nicholson, Poppie Platt, Ali Shutler and Ella Whelan
To hear how the Telegraph audio team made their award-winning investigative podcast, “Bed of Lies”, or how to make your own show, visit The Podcast Show, Business Design Centre, London N1, on May 25-26. Delegate day passes cost from £55, or £30 if you’re aged 30 and under. Book now at thepodcastshowlondon.com