THE BEST AUDIO SHOWS TO LISTEN TO THIS WEEK

You can listen to podcasts on a laptop, tablet or phone. Just search in your browser for the name

LOCKDOWN PARENTING HELL The challenges of living with the little ones

Comedians Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe insist they love their children and their wives. All the same they are finding parenting during the lockdown a bit, ahem, challenging. In this weekly podcast, the friends interview comedians who are also having an exhausting time raising their kids during the pandemic. Start with the episode with Katherine Ryan, who is funny about attempting to bond with her teenage daughter by honing her TikTok game.

THE POET LAUREATE HAS GONE TO HIS SHED Soothing words from a hideaway

Simon Armitage (right), the nation’s bard, is spending lockdown holed up in a shed in the Pennines and working on a translation of a medieval poem. On this soothing podcast, he interviews notable people – including sculptor Antony Gormley and actor Maxine Peake – about their lives and views.

HOMESCHOOL HISTORY Kid-friendly romp through the past

Greg Jenner’s wonderful history podcast You’re Dead To Me has taken a hiatus during the lockdown. But the team behind the show are now making a great podcast for children. Episodes are bitesized and romp through a particularly juicy period or figure in history, from Mary Queen of Scots to the Restoration. The podcast is energetic, genuinely educational and packed full of fascinating facts.

MIRIAM AND YOUSSEF Learn about the formation of Israel

If you’re a bit woolly on how the state of Israel came into being, this new ten-part BBC drama will sort you out. Playwright Steve Waters breathes life into this turbulent period of history by telling the story of the Jewish state through the eyes of two characters: a Jewish girl, Miriam, and a young Arab called Youssef. You won’t even notice you’re learning.