Only one show usually comes to mind when you think Adam Buxton plus podcast – and all you need to do is add a the to get its title. But one of the format’s big beasts is about to branch out …
Well, sort of. Buxton’s upcoming drama Up in Smoke is done in the style of a true crime show but is actually a work of fiction, in which he plays a detective on the trail of a missing person. Its “host” is actor Mei Mac (currently starring in the glorious Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of My Neighbour Totoro), who is supposedly presenting an audio investigation of the mysterious incident. It feels like an exercise in genre and reality blurring that could either be spectacularly effective or … a bit odd. Which will it be? By this time next week, all should be revealed.
In the meantime, we’ve got plenty of other great listens for you. Read on for everything from a staggering history of breast cancer treatment – and the role an ex-president’s wife played in revolutionising it – to a tear-packed exploration of midlife fresh starts hosted by a 90s icon. They’re joined by a roundup of the finest shows to delve into if you need a comfort listen, and a new show that solves listeners’ most difficult problems, including helping a thirtysomething New Yorker learn to drive. What a public service.
Alexi Duggins
Deputy TV editor
Picks of the week
Begin Again
Widely available, episodes weekly
Nothing sparks an existential crisis like a 90s icon being an expert on midlife, but Davina McCall is the OG of the genre. Now comes a new podcast about fresh starts, pivots and life’s “wiggly lines”. McCall is the usual ball of empathy, unafraid to cry with her guests, the first of which is Fearne Cotton, who talks about her challenges. This is not your average celebrity chat podcast, as McCall listens hard and digs into her guests’ answers. Hannah Verdier
Hyperfixed
Widely available, episodes weekly
This perky podcast bills itself as a help desk for life’s most intractable problems. Alex Goldman, the “overconfident idiot” (his words) is as entertaining at helping a woman try to convert American cups to grams to make the perfect cake as he is investigating why driving in New York is so awful. HV
Less Radical
Widely available, episodes weekly
Dr Bernie Fisher was pivotal in improving the way breast cancer patients are treated – women might still be having disfiguring surgery without his work. Here, Dr Stacy Wentworth takes us from the operating room to the White House to show how Fisher, the women’s movement and science radically changed breast cancer treatment. Hollie Richardson
Elon’s Spies
Widely available, all episodes out now
Does Elon Musk use covert investigators to gather intelligence on people with whom he has an axe to grind? That’s the suspicion this series digs into, featuring an extensive interview with the British diver he called “pedo guy” after his astonishing underwater cave rescue of a trapped team of young Thai footballers. Alexi Duggins
Lost Notes: Groupies – Women of the Sunset Strip from the Pill to Punk
Widely available, episodes weekly
This podcast opens with teenage girls being pursued by the likes of Led Zeppelin and David Bowie in the 70s. It’s startling yet shallow; there’s no shortage of tales of wild parties – and it is a compelling listen – but judging by the first episode, it should do far more to interrogate the ethics of the power and age dynamics. AD
There’s a podcast for that
This week, Rachel Aroesti chooses five of the best comfort listens, from a wedding mystery that went viral to Elizabeth Day’s seminal show on failure
Perfect Day with Jessica Knappett
There are a slew of “perfect” podcasts, covering everything from dream meals (Off Menu) to ideal holidays (Life’s a Beach) to fantasy funerals (Where There’s a Will, There’s a Wake) – but this relatively recent addition to the genre is hands down the most comforting of the lot. That’s partly thanks to the subject matter – hearing all the nice, relaxing things guests put on their perfect-day schedules is a rather meditative experience – and partly our drily hilarious host, who radiates matey energy (it helps that she actually is friends with her guests, including Tim Key and Emerald Fennell) as she helms a meandering conversation that isn’t afraid to go off on weird tangents.
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Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?
The rise of podcasting and the rise of true hand in crime have gone hand in hand, and no wonder: an immersive, detailed, cliffhanger-heavy investigation is the perfect fuel for the audio format. But what if you want all the satisfaction of crime solving but none of the depressing violence or global corruption? The answer is this podcast, which sees amateur sleuth Lauren Kilby attempt to uncover the culprit of a defecation that occurred at her friends Karen and Helen’s boat-based wedding. The resulting pod is a very funny and soothingly low-stakes addition to the true crime genre. Even better, the team have recently returned with another gratifyingly lighthearted mystery titled The Case of The Tiny Suit/Case.
How to Fail
Elizabeth Day’s hit podcast isn’t exactly an exercise in schadenfreude, yet by inviting celebrities (Kate Winslet, Bonnie Tyler, Richard Osman and many more) to divulge their top three failures, How to Fail certainly helps listeners feel a bit better about things that have gone wrong in their own lives. Often the show acts as a reminder that nobody’s life is entirely great – a necessary corrective in the Instagram age – but when guests come bearing stories of shocking adversity, it also provides proof that it’s possible to thrive after a period of turmoil.
Green Wing: Resuscitated
Comfort is often inextricably bound up with nostalgia – it’s why shows like Friends had a renaissance during the pandemic. In fact, there’s something about 00s TV that looms particularly large in the collective comfort zone. For comedy fans of a certain age, hospital sitcom Green Wing definitely fulfils this brief – and for those after more than a straightforward trip down memory lane, this podcast revival will be gratefully received. Green Wing: Resuscitated stays very true to the original show, with the vast majority of cast members – including Stephen Mangan (pathetic surgeon Guy Secretan), Julian Rhind-Tutt (swoon-worthy Mac) and Michelle Gomez (crackers staff liaison Sue) returning. Tune in for familiar strangeness and uncompromising silliness.
Watch What Crappens
For anyone in need of mindless comfort, reality TV should be extremely high on the agenda – especially the nonstop festival of bickering and trivial drama that is the Real Housewives franchise. This podcast, presented by aficionados Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam – and released five times a week – recaps all 11 US Housewives programmes (plus other shows on the reality network Bravo). It’s an exhaustive guide to all the characters, storylines and feuds, plus a chance to gossip, joke and air grievances about the most irritating cast members. It’s all delivered with the kind of mounting hysteria such a relentless schedule is bound to generate.
Why not try …
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How to Save It, a hopeful series about conservation campaigns getting results – from saving manatees to curing the coral reefs of Papua New Guinea.
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Away Days with Woody and Piers, in which two indie musicians talk to fans about the trials and rewards of following your team around the country (or indeed the world).
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Young America with Dylan Douglas, a bold effort to understand the political wants of ucAmerica’s gen Z.
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