Best podcasts of the week: Kick off 2024 with a self-help show free from ‘delusional positivity’
Scottee: Self HelpWidely available, weekly from New Year’s DayCabaret artist and activist Scottee has tried many mental health solutions over the years. Now he promises “an amateur’s guide to staying alive … fuelled by class, queerness and fatness”. His podcast is an antidote to what he describes as “delusional positivity”. Framing sanity as a house of cards, looking at how selfpity could help with healing, and showing how capitalism has exploited sadness, it’s thoughtful, helpful and forthright. Hannah Verdier
The Pirate of PragueWidely available, episodes weeklyIf you’re in need of a holiday binge, this Apple Original about a charming Czech conman who persuaded the wealthy to invest in an oil company has been a true-crime slowburner. In six episodes there are Aspen parties, suitcases full of cash and rich people trying to get richer, ripe for exploitation by smooth-talking Viktor Kožený. HV
Trace of DoubtAudible, all episodes availableTwenty-three years ago, author Samantha Weinberg was on her way to interview a murder suspect – of whose guilt she was certain. Now, she’s looking back into the case where a British DNA scientist was murdered in her Californian garden. It’s a twisty, slick series, in which her views are turned on their head. Alexi Duggins
MoonkartaWidely available, all episodes availableThis surreally inventive children’s podcast has an almost Mighty Boosh-like quality to its daft character voices, whimsical comic moments and oddball references. No wonder, given that its chronicle of the adventures of a character called Splott was created by a duo whose credits include Toast of London and Motherland. AD
Who Killed JFK?Widely available, episodes weeklyOne of America’s most enduring stories as told by one of America’s greatest storytellers. Filmmaker Rob Reiner investigates the assassination of President John F Kennedy
(above) 60 years after it happened. He teams up with journalist Soledad O’Brien, and they speak to CIA officials and a secret service agent, to follow the new leads that continue to be discovered. Hollie Richardson
There’s a podcast for that
This week, Hannah Verdier picks five of the best podcasts hosted by families, from welcoming chefs to inclusive drag queensStirring It Up with Andi & Miquita OliverWho wouldn’t want to pop round mother-and-daughter duo Andi and Miquita Oliver’s house for dinner? Their warm and welcoming podcast has gone from strength to strength, with glorious guests including Kathy Burke, Lemn Sissay and Elizabeth Day sitting down for a chat around the dinner table. While Miquita mixes the drinks, Andi brings the food, with honey-baked chicken and panfried seabass among the dishes on the menu. It’s a comforting cue for easy conversations that switch from vulnerable confessions to lovable cackles in each episode.
The Therapy CrouchIf lovingly bickering is the key to a successful marriage, then Abbey Clancy and Peter Crouch are in it for the long run. As podcasting couples go, these two need no script – they’re funnier than some comedians. They also have a knack for letting enough slip about their celebrity marriage to grab a headline or two. Ralph the puppy, their latest addition, unites them in love and divides them in a crate-training debate, with Crouch being relegated into ninth place in their family’s priorities. From moustache styling to beige flags, these two never run out of things to talk about.
SistersKaitlin Prest’s The Heart is one of the finest podcasts out there and Sisters, a five-part examination of her relationship with her sibling Natalie, is intimate, warm and highly nuanced. Their sisterly bond is realistic and relat