Talking points
Good news for those who listen to the soundtrack for The Little Mermaid on repeat: Disney are launching a podcast series about their composers. For Scores will feature interviews with many who have composed for the cinema giant, as well as Marvel, Pixar, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox. Host Jon Burlingame promises a ‘magical journey’ through the world of composition and its untold moments.
Good news also for parents planning to embark on long car journeys, with the launch of a new UK children’s podcast network. FunKids Podcast has branched out of the London-based children’s radio station Fun Kids, aimed at youngsters aged 6-12. As well as including the station’s own host of podcasts, the network will include The Week Junior Show (an extension of The Week magazine’s junior edition) and Storynory, a kids’ storytime podcast.
Picks of the week
“I didn’t even know what a podcast was!” Gemma Collins promisingly proclaims at, er, the start of her new podcast. The reality star’s debut audio offering is reliably inane, with meandering stories about The GC’s diva antics and even her close bond with her young nephew, Hayden, which could be right out of a Julia Davis imagining. But it’s also kind of brilliant, too – part deadpan ramble, part motivational voice note from a pal, albeit a pal with designs on Hollywood. Hannah J Davies
30 for 30: The Sterling Affairs
In addition to making some game-changing sports documentaries, including Oscar-winning epic OJ: Made in America, ESPN franchise 30 for 30 has proved rather good at podcasting. This five-part series traces the rise and remarkable fall of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who, after 30 years in charge, was ousted from his role in 2014 when a tape in which he made racist remarks was leaked by his mistress. Los Angeles sports journo Ramona Shelburne recalls a grubby affair that ultimately changed basketball for good. Gwilym Mumford
Guardian pick: Chips With Everything
Refuge, the domestic violence charity, supports around 6,500 people each day. Research it conducted with Google suggests that technology plays a role in around 95% of these domestic abuse cases. In this episode of Chips With Everything, The Guardian’s technology podcast, Jordan Erica-Webber and MIT Technology Review journalist Charlotte Jee discuss the damage so-called ’stalkerware’ apps can do to a person’s life and discusses what individuals and big tech companies can do to better protect potential victims from this kind of abuse. Worryingly, they explore how the use of seemingly harmless apps and technology can be repurposed to facilitate domestic abuse; could apps or smart devices which control lighting or heating, for example, be used to turn a home into a prison? The episode features an interview with “Anna” whose ex-partner surveilled her every move by using spyware. It is a warning to us all. Geoff Jein
Producer pick: The Receipts Podcast
Chosen by Hodan Elmi, Positive Action Scheme participant
Audrey (AKA Ghana’s finest), Milena and Tolly T of The Receipts podcast have become the friends you never had, and the older sisters you’ve always wanted. And this summer they have become familiar faces thanks to the billboards that have been popping up since their recent transfer from BBC 1Xtra to Spotify this summer. Exploring pop-culture, social issues affecting women of colour and random thoughts that capture the humour in the mundane, The Receipts podcast is a must for your morning commute. Their bi-weekly “ your receipts” episodes gives the listener a chance to send personal dilemmas, covering relationships, sexuality, mental health, money, and self care – although every now and then the ladies receive dilemmas that are beyond help with episodes hilariously titled He Keeps Giving Me STIs and I Cheated on My Boyfriend With a Pastor” .New episodes are released every Wednesday.
