The Women’s World Cup kicked off this earlier week, so let’s look at some podcasts that will be covering the tournament.
For the latest on the tournament, The Athletic Women’s Football Podcast has just launched a World Cup edition, fronted by Michelle Owen and The Athletic’s own reporters. There’s also The Guardian Women’s Football Weekly hosted by The Guardian’s football writer Suzy Wrack and sports broadcaster Faye Carruthers. Carruthers is clearly going to have a busy few weeks, as she’s also on The Women’s Football Show Podcast by TalkSport. And there’s Football Daily, by Radio 5 Live.
On Jill Scott’s Coffee Club you can hear interviews with well known football players and athletes, including Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman and Dame Kelly Holmes. And there’s After The Whistle: An Unofficial World Cup Show, fronted by Rebecca Lowe and Brendan Hunt (from Ted Lasso!)
I also recommend the podcast Quite Unsuitable for Females. Women’s football was banned in 1921, with an FA directive saying that “the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged.” It was only in 1971 that the ban was lifted. This podcast, from the National Football Museum, looks at the pioneers and how the sport got to where it is today.
NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK
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- Green Party politician Caroline Lucas is on The Two Matts (that’s the new name for the podcast by The New European)
- The comedian Jenny Eclair is on the latest episode of Off Menu with Ed Gamble and James Acaster
- Mhairi Black MP (Deputy Leader for the SNP in the House of Commons) speaks to Nish Kumar and Coco Khan on Pod Save the UK
- Journalist Sali Hughes talks to Anna Richardson about dealing with divorce on It Can’t Just Be Me.
- Crime writer Mark Billingham is on The Failing Writers Podcast, talking about how to keep his ideas fresh and dealing with criticism from fans.
- The comedian Ken Bruce is on Brydon & this week, a podcast where the actor speaks to a good friend for well over an hour.
- Broadcaster Melanie Sykes is on Alan Carr’s Life’s A Beach this week.
Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead
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They Like To Watch – Now that Succession has come to an end (don’t worry, no spoilers) the popular Firecrotch & Normcore podcast, hosted by the broadcaster Geoff Lloyd and the comedian Sara Barron, has reinvented itself to explore the world of television with a similar level of obsession. Their first episode featured an interview with Black Mirror’s creator, executive producer Charlie Brooker and Bisha K. Ali, who co-wrote a (completely fantastic) episode called Demon 79.
Charlie and Bisha both talked about their collaboration, what Netflix thought of the streaming service Streamberry (and why it wasn’t their first choice) and emetophobia, which is the fear of vomiting. A real range of topics, there.
On The Mend with Matt Willis – Matt Willis, from the band McBusted, has started a new mental health podcast talking with notable names about how they were able to navigate choppy waters. In the first episode he chats to his friend Dougie Poynter from the band McFly, who he has known since the age of 15, who talks about being in recovery and his two experiences in rehab.
Dougie’s hope is that by talking about his experiences, he can help change perceptions: “Both times I felt they were huge life-changing things. They were the worst times in my life and the best, for some reason. I still reference my last stint in rehab whenever I’m not feeling quite right,” he says. “I was in the safest place.”
“I know he was nervous about talking about his stuff, but there’s something about owning your narrative, that I think is really really powerful,” says Willis.
Oh What A Time… – There’s been an unstoppable rise of history podcasts. This new addition, presented by podcaster Chris Scull and the comedians Elis James and Tom Craine, takes this format in a slightly different direction. Using a mixture of wit and research, they explore the history of marriage, holidays and fashion, all around the central question “was the past as awful as it sounds?”
The first episode looks back at the history of fashion, starting with why not all Romans wore togas. It turns out only the richest ones did, who were immortalised in statues, hence why we think they all were.
The Banksy Story – Why has Banksy become a household name whilst other graffiti artists hardly get a mention? It must be more than just the fact that very few people know exactly who he is. In this new ten-part series, superfan James Peak charts his rise, by speaking to people who love him, have worked with him or have stumbled across him working by accident.
However, making a series about Banksy doesn’t come without obstacles. “Banksy is entirely anonymous and he doesn’t confirm or deny anything,” says Peak in the opening episode. “So verifiable facts are few and far between. We can’t check if anything anyone tells us about him is true or not and because he is of interest to millions of people, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one making things up.”
