The British Podcast Awards, the biggest day in British Podcasting, is just around the corner. Whilst the awards, which are powered by PodPod, are now closed to new entrants and are currently being whittled down their team of independent judges, there’s one big award that is yet to be decided – the coveted Listeners’ Choice Award.
It is the only award where the winner is entirely chosen by the British listening public (that’s you!) Last year, more than 220,000 individuals put forward their favourite, with the winning podcast being true crime series RedHanded for the *second* year in a row.
This award is a real opportunity for fans of a podcast to show their appreciation and help their favourite podcast gain further recognition, so if there is a podcast that you believe deserves more attention, now is the chance. All you need to do is head to the British Podcast Awards website and type in your recommendation. That’s it!
Little T&Cs: The podcast must have been available by the 1st June 2023 and must be available to search through Apple Podcasts. You have until the 5th September to enter.
NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
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- Brydon &, a podcast hosted by Rob Brydon, have released new episodes with Charlotte Church and Greatest Hits Radio’s Ken Bruce.
- Michelle Heaton is on the latest episode of Stompcast with Dr Alex George. The former Liberty x singer talks about her experiences of addiction and recovery, and the impact that both have on the people that surround you.
- Carl Fogarty is on Learning As I Go, a podcast full of lessons on self-development. Fogarty, a successful superbike rider, talks about his mindset that allows him to be so successful in the sport.
- Songwriter Angeline Morrison is on Folk on Foot this week, talking about her album “The Sorrow Songs – Folk Songs of Black British Experience” and how she turned Black British history into folk songs.
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
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Into The Dirt – Tortoise have kept listeners glued with interesting investigative storytelling series over the past couple of years, from Hoaxed (which looked at how conspiracy theories wrecked lives in a Hampstead community) to Londongrad (which explored how Evgeny Lebedev became so connected with Boris Johnson).
Three years in the making, this new series follows the life of Rob Moore. After years working in television, Moore was offered a job as a spy. “Not for MI5 or the CIA, but for one of the biggest players in the corporate world: a private detective agency,” says host Ceri Thomas. “A lot of what these people are above board but some of it is real spying, deceitful and underhand stuff, sometimes illegal.”
You’re thrown into the world of double agents, undercover work, deception and whistleblowing. Who is telling the truth, and why?
Dua Lipa: At Your Service Series 3 – Intelligent and in-depth discussions are all the rage in podcasting. Pop singer Dua Lipa and her podcast At Your Service lead from the front, with her insightful series where guests share experiences that we can all take lessons from. This week the podcast returned for a third series and it has a new home, with new episodes also premiering on BBC Sounds.
Dua’s first guest in the new series is Amelia Dimoldenberg, host of the Chicken Shop Date interview series. Their discussion is all about getting the confidence to be shooting your shot (not in the DMs, but in your career) and how to deal with those unexpected setbacks. The most important lesson? “Things might not happen in the way that you have planned them to,” says Dimoldenberg.
The podcast is made by Persephonica, the team behind The News Agents, the news podcast fronted by Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel. This week they announced a new economics podcast fronted by former chancellor George Osborne and the ex-shadow chancellor
Legends of the Ashes – I am not a big follower of cricket, but my *sense* is that things in the Ashes aren’t exactly going to plan for England at the moment. Or they are, in which case ignore that previous sentence and focus on this one: my sense is that things are exactly going to plan for England at the moment.
So if you are in need of a bit of inspiration there’s a new documentary series, hosted by Stephen Fry, looking back at iconic moments from one of the longest lasting international sporting contests, starting with a look at the greatest years of all: 2005.
Lobster Brain – Our final podcast recommendation might have an odd title, but trust me on this it makes sense. “Lobsters fight to see who becomes top lobster,” says host Lisa Morton. “If they win, their brains change to embrace their new status. And if they lose their brains change too, to cope with that change in hierarchy.”
In each episode of Lobster Brain, Morton and Danny Donachie speak to someone who they deem to have reached ‘top lobster status’ aka. someone who has changed and developed themselves to achieve great things. Guests so far include Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, who hardly needs an introduction and The Times Sports Writer Henry Winter.
Winter talks about a skill that people at the top of their game appear to have, is an ability to remain cool under pressure: “I find that people who get to the top have a certain grace about them. There’s a certain calmness and maturity and humility. There’s definitely that with [Gareth] Southgate.”
