More big news from the world of podcasting this week. Kermode & Mayo ended their film review on BBC Radio 5 Live, but immediately after announced a new twice weekly podcast elsewhere, called Kermode and Mayo’s Take. The new podcasts, which will also include television reviews, debuts from Thursday 5th May. The second episode will feature “under-seen movie and televisual gems” for a fee on Apple Podcasts. 

Essentially they are adopting a Substack style of broadcasting. Make it free for most people, and charge their most loyal fans for more. Meanwhile, The That Peter Crouch Podcast has returned with a new episode this week, but not where you expect. After three years on the BBC, the podcast has left the broadcaster and has made a commercial partnership with a new partnership with Acast. As a result, it appears that the podcast will be on a new podcast feed entirely called NEW: That Peter Crouch Podcast, rather than staying on the old one. 

NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK

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Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead

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Best Friend Therapy with Elizabeth Day and Emma Reed Turrell – Broadcaster Elizabeth Day has joined with her friend and psychotherapist Emma Reed-Terrell to talk about issues that can improve our mental health and overall wellbeing. There are a lot of podcasts that do this, and do it well, but Elizabeth and Emma’s new series stands out merely because of how accessible their discussions are even to the most casual of listeners.

Their first episode looks at boundaries. “I was conditioned to think of others and to put others’ needs first,” says Elizabeth. “And those are all good things.”

“Are they?” responds Emma. “Boundaries did exist when we were younger but they were other people’s boundaries … I think what is more recent is the idea that we are allowed to have boundaries ourselves.” They discuss why we need boundaries and more importantly, how to put them up and keep them there.

Hey Now! Hey Now!I would usually refuse to listen to any podcast that taps into noughties nostalgia, purely because I refuse to believe that the noughties are as far as they are in the past! However, I will make an exception for this series, where friends Emily Sandford and Barney Leigh talk about the era through the lens of a popular film. 

In the latest episode, they are joined by Zoe Sugg to talk about the iconic movie ‘Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging.’

Made in the Midlands – More than 10 million people call middle England their home yet it’s a part of Britain which often seems little understood by our fellow Brits. Northerners are sure we’re southerners, southerners are equally sure we’re northerners and we just seem to have a smaller megaphone than other parts of the UK. 

Made in the Midlands is the chance to set the record straight as Brummie Adrian Goldberg asks famous Midlanders what part the region played in their success. Who are the important people, where are the important places that helped them on their way? And how can the Midlands get greater recognition for its achievements?

Sponsored by Coventry UK City of Culture, guests in Series 1 include Ken Loach, Jess Phillips MP, Pauline Black OBE, Lee Child and Ellie Simmonds with some episodes recorded as part of sold-out shows in the city.

Taking on Putin with John SweeneyOver the past few weeks this newsletter has also recommended podcasts that have been covering the war in Ukraine, or have provided interesting analysis and perspective into what President Putin may or may not be thinking.

Now journalist John Sweeney, presenter of the critically acclaimed Hunting Ghislaine series, has just launched this compelling new podcast that has been recorded from Kyiv. “This is a podcast about Vladimir Putin and what makes him do the things that he does,” Sweeney says at the start of his episode. This series compiles the war crimes the Russian leader has carried out not only in Ukraine, but from previous conflicts under his leadership. Sweeney also tries to answer some of the questions many of us have been having about Putin, including why he is always sitting on a table far away from other people from within the Kremlin. At the heart of this series is this central question: is Putin mad or just bad?

This podcast has been entirely crowdfunded, and you can support it by heading to the Crowdfunder website.

Ologies with Alie WardAnother podcast with a simple concept, but an effective one. In every episode Alie Ward bombards someone who is obsessed with a certain subject with lots of questions. There’s an interview with an expert on carnivorous phytobiology (that’s man eating plants), an interview with an expert on bovine neuropathology (that’s head butting). Basically no matter what your interest, there’s an expert on it. Yes, that’s right. There’s even one on gluteology (that’s butts).

April 1st was a day many of us were dreading. Not just because of April Fools Day (note to brands – please, don’t), but because it was the day that the cost of just about everything goes up.

Personally speaking, I hate that the onus in the news lately is that we’re making poor financial decisions, rather than large companies not doing more to stop passing rising costs onto consumers. However, the Ask Martin Lewis podcast has been all over the topic with a special episode on the energy price cap, full to the brim with questions sent in from listeners. And the latest series of Money Clinic with Claer Barrett has also kicked off looking at all of the ways in which the cost of living is going to get higher, providing tailored advice to a struggling young earner.

Before we go, there’s still time to enter the British Podcast Awards if you haven’t already. The awards, which are powered by Audible, have also joined up with the Podcasting Seriously fund. The movement is there to support and amplify the work by BIPOC, Queer and Trans creators and the fund will be reimbursing the fee for applying for the British Podcast Awards if you are an audio creator and are part of their communities. Head to their website for more information.

Categories: Weekly Picks