Podcasts that helped us survive lockdown
Podcasts have been one of the defining mediums of recent years, evolving from an online alternative to live radio to a thing all of its own, intimate and confessional, beamed into bedrooms, gyms and underground carriages across the world.
In the last year we’ve relied more than ever on our favourite hosts talking quietly into our ears, whether they’re informing us about the weird and wonderful world outside our covid bubbles, reassuring us that our failures are what make us human, or delving into esoteric fictional universes. Here are some of the very best podcasts that have kept us going through lockdown.
The City View
Let’s get the nepotism out of the way first. The City View is Morning Wire’s very own podcast, relaunching earlier this year with a new host – our new editor Andy Silvester – and a very special guest in the Chancellor Rishi Sunak. It’s an excellent distillation of the Morning Wire tagline, business with personality, covering everything from politics to business and working life – if you’re not already a subscriber then you’re doing podcasts wrong.
Intelligence Squared
One of the behemoths of the podcasting world, Intelligence Squared says its aim is to “promote a global conversation that enables people to make informed decisions about the issues that matter, in the company of the world’s greatest minds and orators”. With a sweeping range of topics and speakers, think of it as a less toe-curling alternative to TED talks.
13 Minutes to the Moon
A BBC World podcast expertly and thrillingly chronicling man’s mission to reach the moon, this is a slick, dramatic and wonderfully in-depth analysis of the history of lunar exploration. With a soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, the production values are as high as the caliber of its expert guests, which include NASA engineers and even a mission commander. You’ll learn more details about space flight than you ever thought you wanted to know.
Sport Unlocked
It would be easy for a review of the week’s sports news – the weighty stuff like governance, business, media rights and doping – to veer into po-faced territory. But host Rob Harris and regular guests Martyn Ziegler and Tariq Panja strike the right note with this well-informed, digestible and pithy podcast that doesn’t take itself or its subject matter too seriously. Essential listening for anyone interested in what is really going on in the industry.
George the Poet
Describing himself as a “London-born spoken word performer of Ugandan heritage”, the George the Poet podcast is a brilliant examination of inner-city life, weaving together a combination of the artist’s poetry, music, true stories and fiction into a beautifully cohesive whole that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. A must-listen, essential take on modern life.
Code Switch
In a medium often associated with middle class white dudes – there’s even a joke: “What did one white guy say to the other? Want to make a podcast?” – Code Switch has long been exploring what it means to be a person of colour in contemporary society. It’s a smart, incisive and, especially since the world-changing events of the last year, essential take on race, racism and modern life.
Literary Friction
Perfectly suited to the intimate nature of podcasts, this “conversation about books and ideas” hinges on the wonderfully geeky chemistry between hosts Carrie Plitt, a literary agent, and Octavia Bright, a writer and academic. They fly the nerd flag for the books they are reading as well as pulling on the threads of contemporary life, from living in lockdown to the joys – and otherwise – of 21st century sex.
Utopian Horizons
A podcast about utopias in all of their forms, whether described in literature, philosophy, film, TV or video games. Focusing more often than not on the inverse of utopias, the podcast examines the ways various creators critique society through their imagined dystopias. Featuring well-informed special guests, it’s an academic yet accessible take on where we’re going wrong and how, maybe, we can try to fix it all.
Diane
One for all the Twin Peaks fans out there, this is an absurdly in-depth analysis of the seminal David Lynch show and its themes, picking apart virtually every scene from every season of the 30-year-old programme and frequently breaking out into tangentially related topics. Delivered by three academically minded friends and siblings from Brighton, it’s an upbeat and laugh-out-loud funny analysis of one of the greatest shows ever made. If this is up your street also check out In Our House Now, another nerdy, academic take on the Peaks universe.
Imaginary Worlds
NPR veteran Eric Molinsky looks at the various ways humans imagine worlds for themselves, whether it’s through playing Dungeons and Dragons or creating vast extended universes like Star Treck or the Marvel comics universe. Combining the slick delivery of a This American Life alumni with a quiet and empathetic delivery, this is a perfect way to escape from life as you listen to people talk about escapism.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Novelist, journalist and broadcaster Elizabeth Day asks guests to talk about their perceived failings, and through these cements the life affirming message that these setbacks are often the things that make us. A deft and perceptive interviewer, Day makes intimate connections with guests as diverse as Kazuo Ishiguro and Alexandra Burke. Electric podcasting.