This week we thought it important to have a really close look at the plethora of podcasts that can help you get in the mood for Christmas.
BBC Good Food Podcast with Tom Kerridge at Christmas (which surely must win an award for having the longest title of any podcast this year) is a special series featuring lots of recipes and ideas to have a seamless Christmas dinner, with vegetarians and vegan offers optioned.
In You’re Dead To Me, Greg Jenner and the team explore how the work of Charles Dickens became such an intrinsic part of our Christmas celebrations. Meanwhile, The Calm Christmas Podcast does what it says on the tin, with recommendations of how to prepare a peaceful Christmas. Presented by Beth Kempton, each episode features tips and advice she’s sourced from the best writers and wellbeing experts.
Before we crack on with the recommendations for this week, I thought it was worth mentioning that Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall’s News Agents has clearly built a substantial audience, with 10 million downloads since its launch at the end of August. Congratulations to the team.
And this is your last opportunity to tell us about your favourite podcast of 2022. We’re going to be releasing a two part special edition of this newsletter featuring some of your favourite shows of 2022 during the Christmas spread.
All you need to do is head to this page, select your podcast and add your reason why you think it should be included in our roundup. Thank you so much for all your entries.
NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
If you have listened to a great guest on a podcast, let us know by filling in this form and it might get featured in an upcoming newsletter.
- George Takei is on Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did this week, talking about Star Trek (obviously) and his upcoming debut on the West End.
- Joe Lycett is on The Line-Up, where guests talk about their imaginary music festival with Shaun Keaveny and Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake, where guests talk with Kathy Burke about their quirky funeral plans.
- Joseph Kosinki, the director of Top Gun Maverick (Top Gun Maverick!) is on The Filmmakers Podcast this week to talk about the making of the film.
- Alan Rusbridger, former editor of The Guardian and current editor of Prospect Magazine, is on the Better Known podcast. It is a show where guests talk about the things they wish were better known.
- Dean Baquet, the former executive editor of The New York Times, is on Dua Lipa: At Your Service to talk about their reporting that led to the downfall of Harvey Weinstein.
- Rose McGowan is on The Divorce Social this week, talking about her experiences of divorce and five engagements.
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
If you want your podcast featured, or you have a great recommendation, all you need to do is fill in this simple form and might get featured in a future newsletter.
Bad Women: The Blackout Ripper – A true crime series brought to you by historian Hallie Rubenhold and the criminologist Alice Fiennes. Their latest set of episodes looks at a spate of murders that took place in London during the Blitz and why the murders of five women were swept from public view. The series is a mixture of excellent storytelling and sound production and well researched material from an archive.
Sleep Sound with Jamie Dornan – Never has a title of a podcast made me want to listen to a podcast more. I mean, where do I start? JAMIE DORNAN. A podcast that helps you go to SLEEP. In each episode you’ll hear the actor and the man who has the softest voice in the entertainment industry guiding you to sleep with a calming story, weaving in travel from places around the world, from Budapest to the Namibian Desert.
Just so you know, although this podcast is free to listen to, you’ll need to be a paid Audible subscriber to listen. However, this podcast does not use up any existing credits.
Stacked – Last week we featured in this newsletter a great new books conversation podcast hosted by the broadcaster Pandora Sykes and the author Bobby Palmer called Book Chat. I thought this week to recommend another great podcast that delves into books, presented by friends Ziporah Banda and Amanda Kingsley.
Two friends who connected through their love of books, in each episode they talk about the books that left an impact on them. Recent discussions include the short stories of Alice Munro and “Beloved” by the American novelist Toni Morrison.
Stopping to Notice with Miranda Keeling – Life can pass us so fast that we don’t even notice the beauty of the world around us. This lovely nugget of a podcast by Miranda Keeling reminds us all of the benefits of slowing down. All she does is walk around a well known busy area and points out the little things that might pass you by.
