I don\u2019t know about you, but I found the return of Eurovision this surprisingly emotional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know I know<\/em>. It is easy to look down on the contest, with its ridiculous performances<\/a> and its ludicrously complicated points system<\/a>. Yet the fact that at its heart it is not just a televisual but an actual event, with an actual live audience, makes me feel that the life we have yearned for so long is likely coming back for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are still emotionally recovering from the contest last night (and not just the hangover), there\u2019s some great podcasts dissecting the competition. Nul Points<\/strong><\/a>, by Laura Cress and Martyn Williams, will be releasing two episodes \u2013one with immediate reaction on the night and one later on with a bit more depth later on the Sunday. For a detailed dissection of the points awarded from the heart of the contest, make sure you listen out for Wiwibloggs: The Eurovision Podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The history of the competition is also a rather fascinating one, because it intricately reflects the complicated history of the continent itself. We Are History<\/strong><\/a>, the popular history podcast presented by the writer John O\u2019Farrell and the comedian Angela Barnes, did an interesting special on the contest<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>last year, containing lots of interesting bits of history. One story is that Eastern Bloc got envious of Eurovision during the Cold War so did their own, called Intervision. \u201cPeople in the country were told to turn on their lights if they liked a song and turn off their lights if they didn\u2019t,\u201d <\/em>explains Angela. \u201cIt would be measured on the National Grid as to which songs were the most popular.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n NEXT WEEK: <\/strong>It\u2019s a Great British Podcast Newsletter special as we\u2019ll be announcing the nominees of the British Podcast Awards 2021 (supported by Amazon Music). All of the nominees will be featured in a special edition of this newsletter, but if you want to find what they are a bit earlier, head to the @britpodawards<\/a> Twitter on Friday 28th May at 1pm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n GUESTS ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have heard a great guest on a podcast, please let us know! Fill in <\/strong>this form<\/strong><\/a> and it might get featured in an upcoming newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want your podcast featured, or you have a great recommendation, all you need to do is fill in this <\/strong>simple form<\/strong><\/a> and might get featured in a future newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Spicer\u2019s It Happened To Me<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>You might recognise Michael Spicer from those ridiculously viral \u2018Man Next Door\u2019 videos, where videos of politicians and well-known figures are spliced together with an advisor in another room slowly losing it<\/a> that the lines they are feeding them are being completely ignored. He\u2019s now launched a new comedy podcast, intricately taking the mic out of those heartfelt personal interviews you often find in podcasts, starting with a (obviously fictional) story of a man who rescued his vinyl collection before he saved his family during a house fire. It\u2019s full of jokes that you\u2019ll find painfully relatable if you know someone like the interviewee (or if, perish the thought, you are like the interviewee themselves).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ballad of Anne & Mary<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>This full-blown swashbuckling musical, exploring the lives of infamous pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, is impressive when you realise that it sounds like a proper recording of a West End Musical. It\u2019s even more impressive when you learn that it was recorded during the recent national lockdown and<\/em> that all of its musical stars (which include Christina Bianco, Le G\u00e2teau Chocolat, Karl Queensborough and Sooz Kempner) were recorded separately and were intricately edited together.. Made by the same team as Mockery Manor, the British Podcast Award 2020 \u2018Best Fiction\u2019 nominee, this podcast series just shows to me the sheer ambition so many podcasts have these days. Also the care and attention paid into every second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spotify Podcast of the Week – <\/strong>Decode<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>We’re up to the fifth episode of Decode and this week host Kayo Chingonyi looks at Dave’s collaboration with Burna Boy on ‘Location’, the most streamed track from Psychodrama and a certified dance floor banger. This and the other episodes of Decode examining tracks from Dave’s Psychodrama are available exclusively on Spotify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Frank Film Club with Maisie Williams<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>What did Arya Stark do next when she sailed west from Westeros? Well, she launched her own podcast of course. Since the end of Game of Thrones Maisie Williams has gone into producing, launching her own production company, Rapt. She\u2019s now launched a new film club podcast too, where four women talk about films and expand their knowledge by watching a lot of new ones, including black and white films and films not in the english language. \u201cI wanted to start this film club because in order to make a lot of good films, you have to watch a lot of good films,\u201d Williams explains at the start of her very first episode. The emphasis is to create a space where everyone can chat freely, without facing judgements. In a world where film boffins can make you feel inadequate about your film knowledge, all of this feels like a breath of fresh air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Three Bean Salad<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>Finally, one of the daftest names for a podcast at the moment but also one of the most enjoyable. In each episode comedians Mike Wozniak (fresh out of Taskmaster), Henry Parker and Benjamin Partridge choose a theme chosen by their listeners (lizards! submarines!) and exhaust us on all that they know about it, with many anecdotes thrown in too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What they\u2019ve created is a rarity in comedy podcasting: three guys talking about something without them all constantly interrupting each other or attempting to be the funniest one in the room. Other podcasts should take note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, we should let you know that one of Britain\u2019s biggest podcasts, the awfully smutty, often surreal and delightfully silly My Dad Wrote A Porno<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>returns tomorrow (that\u2019s the 24th May). <\/p>\n\n\n\n