This email is all about celebrating the best new podcasts that are out each and every week, so I thought it might be interesting to also highlight the Best New Podcast nominees ahead of the British Podcast Awards (powered by Audible) this week.

Podcasting thrives off great conversations and there are many great conversations here. There’s Off The Beaten Jack, an immersive travel series where the host interviews guests that he meets on his travels. There’s Teach Me A Lesson, where Greg James and Bella Mackie learn from inspiring and interesting teachers, often put forward by listeners. In The Way We Are with Munroe Bergdorf, the activist talks about the major changes and achievements that her guests have experienced. And in Yours Sincerely with Jess Phillips, guests talk about the three people that changed their life for the better.

That’s not all. There’s Call Me Mother, a podcast where Shon Faye speaks to LGBTQ+ elders who were also trailblazers and helped pave the way for the rights we have today. Plus there’s Outcast UK, featuring conversations on LGBTQ+ topics that you don’t tend to get elsewhere.

If you’re into a bit of culture there’s the MUBI Podcast, looking at films that have made a big impact on cinematic history. And Decode, which breaks down the meaning of impact of iconic records, line by line. If you are into a bit of drama there’s also Ignite Climate Shorts, amplifying the work of young creatives and their work about the Climate crisis. And last, but not least Promenade, which weaves together themes around memory with the sound and sights of the coast.

FYI: The British Podcast Awards are just under a week away! You can find more about the awards on their website, and all of the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners will be featured in a future edition of this newsletter. 

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.

  • The Last Bohemians, a podcast that celebrates one-of-a-kind women in our culture, has come back with a new series looking at people who live in LA. Upcoming guests in the new series include feminist surrealist Penny Slinger, performance artist Johanna Went and the fashion disrupter Michéle Lamy.
  • The latest episode of Folk on Foot, the podcast where Matthew Bannister visits folk musicians around the country, has Scottish musicians Karine Polwart, Dave Milligan, Martin Green and more.
  • Joining Grace Dent on Comfort Eating this week is the musician and DJ Goldie.
  • Strictly’s Giovanni Pernice joined broadcaster Nick Grimshaw and the chef Angela Hartnett on the latest episode of Dish, by Waitrose.
  • And finally, manifesting expert Roxie Nafousi is on the High Performance Podcast with Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes this week.

By the way… there are podcasts following the race for Conservative leadership and the future PM. ITV News have launched The Race for No. 10, with regular updates from their politics team. 

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.

Who Killed Daphne?Wondery has a reputation of being the place to be absorbed by immersive storytelling, and their latest series is no different. It explores the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a Maltese journalist who died after a bomb was planted in her own car. Her stories helped expose the notorious amount of corruption in the country, but her tireless work towards justice had also naturally created enemies. This series explores her murder, but also provides context about the troubling direction of the country.

The FollowersWhat makes one person decide to stalk another? It is this question that is at the heart of this new podcast hosted by the LBC broadcaster Shelagh Fogarty, who was stalked by someone for nearly three years. 

Throughout the series she not only talks about the stages as she came to terms with the person she saw on subsequent days, she also speaks to psychologists and behavioural experts about why perpetrators go down this path. There are staggering statistics throughout each episode, including that victims often experience on average 100 incidents before deciding to go forward to the police.

“Anyone who becomes a victim of a stalker,” says Fogarty, “won’t walk away from it the same as they were before. For me, I couldn’t believe that anyone would choose to start stalking me. And of course, I never considered how perilous that this would later become.”

Episodes drop weekly, but if you don’t want to wait a week for new ones, LBC’s Globalplayer has all the episodes available.

A Positive Life: HIV from Terrence Higgins to TodayMarking 40 years since the passing of Terrence Higgins, the first person in the UK known to die from an AIDS-related illness, this informative and engaging podcast hosted by the singer Sam Smith looks at the grassroots activism and tireless campaigning that followed his death, and how such activism led to the scientific breakthroughs that continue to make a difference today.

An excerpt from an interview played at the start of the series makes it clear the impact they gave. “The reason why we have such effective treatment and drugs at the moment is partly due to patient activism in the 80s and 90s and beyond, and that activism hasn’t stopped.”

The first couple of episodes not only looks at the death of Terrence Higgins, but also celebrates his life. And as a result you start thinking about all the other people whose lives were cut short by no fault of their own.

Cultivating Justice – Our final podcast recommendation hopes to change our perceptions of farming and landworkers, by amplifying the work of underrepresented voices. These include women, neurodivergent people, people of colour and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

The six part series is a tapestry of thoughtful conversations and insightful testimony. 

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The British Podcast Awards, powered by Audible, are less than a week away, when podcasters will be gathering in Kennington Park to see who grabs all the Golds! The day before the Awards, on Friday 22nd July, is the new Grow conference – an event designed to help podcasters grow awareness, audience and revenue. Tickets are still available, at just £50+VAT. You can get them on the website.

Categories: Weekly Picks