Talking points
Podcasts aren’t all about lively chat – in fact, an increasing number don’t feature any chat at all. The Archers is the latest series to go ambient, with a new special episode featuring enough chirping birds and grazing cattle to make even packed city commutes feel brilliantly pastoral.
Elsewhere: you’ve heard of TV companion podcasts and the podcast to TV boom, but what about the TV shows becoming podcasts? In the US, NBC News have had a hit with The Thing About Pam, released under the banner of their long-running news series, Dateline, and presented by host Keith Morrison. Could more series follow suit with audio offshoots?
Picks of the week
The stranger-than-fiction tale of a university student who masterminded a tunnel from West to East Berlin is the subject of this new BBC Radio 4 podcast. From a spy inside the tunnellers’ inner circle to an unusual source of funding, this is a story that is genuinely unpredictable. Combined with a measured retelling from journalist Helena Merriman, it makes for a suspenseful yet thoughtful listen, coinciding with this year’s 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. HJD
Dolly Parton’s America
The Dollyverse is a glorious place and this nine-part podcast examines what the iconic figure means to the US. Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad spent two years grabbing interviews with Parton, who is the queen of giving good quotes. Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Rhiannon Giddens are among the contributors who talk about how she appeals to Evangelical Christians, the LGBTQ community and feminists. But Parton’s keen to let everyone else do the navel-gazing. “I would say I give God the credit, I just want the cash,” she says. HV
Guardian pick: Audio Long Reads
Why can’t we agree on what’s true any more? That’s the title of the latest episode of the Audio Long Reads in which writer William Davies (read by Andrew McGregor) gives his take on why ‘the truth’ has become such a slippery concept. According to Davies, it’s not about bots, trolls, fake news, or echo chambers – it’s the technology itself which, he argues, encourages us to believe we all have direct access to the ‘real’ facts. And with the ubiquity of this digital technology continuing to grow, disagreement about which version of the truth is ‘real’ isn’t going anywhere. Max Sanderson
Producer pick: Gossipmongers
Chosen by Danielle Stephens (Guardian audio producer)
Sometimes you just need to laugh – and Gossipmongers is a podcast that will help you do just that. Each week, comical hosts David Earl, Joe Wilkinson and Poppy Hillstead dissect unsubstantiated rumours sent in by listeners. The most recent episode sees the team joined by fellow comic Joe Lycett, who asks them to investigate whether or not a boy he knew had really derailed Jeremy Kyle’s career by telling him about an unfortunate incident he’d had while playing Scalextric naked. Fart clubs and wonky tattoos also feature, which should give you a sense of the show’s overall tone. Not unlike My Dad Wrote a Porno, the perpetual laughter of the hosts will have you giggling at the gossip listeners have sent in. I challenge you not to laugh.
