A baffling but brilliant ride through Birmingham’s surrealist scene
Stewart Lee’s Radio 4 documentary on the city’s artistic past is jarring, hard to follow and utterly engaging.
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Why Wimbledon is made for radio
I thought I had to see tennis to believe it – but BBC Radio 5 Live’s commentary has transported me…
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The Crossbow Killer attempts to fathom an unfathomable act
Meic Parry’s investigation into the 2019 murder of Gerald Corrigan is well-researched but unnecessarily gory in detail.
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A history of the world in circles
Radio 4’s In the Loop explores the secrets of things that are round – from particle accelerators to the 5,000-year-old…
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When Justin Welby met John Cleese
In BBC Radio 4’s Archbishop Interviews, the unlikely pair talk about faith, forgiveness, cancel culture – and whether Jesus is…
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What makes a witch?
A new BBC Sounds series explores the tangled roots and modern revival of witchcraft.
Do we need another political podcast?
The Power Test, co-hosted by Ayesha Hazarika and Sam Freedman, will delight Westminster obsessives.
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BBC Sounds podcast Believe in Magic: a dark and strange story of online deception
A new series by Jamie Bartlett investigates a charity and its founders, and becomes a cautionary tale of social media…
The secret history of how we measure time
Did you know the 24-hour day is likely the result of humans counting with their fingerbones?
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The BBC podcast series A Very British Cult is dark and gripping
This deep dive into a supposed life-coaching organisation is an explosive listen. I won’t spoil the ending.
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The true meaning of James Bond
The ultimate GQ snob, 007 more than anything represents consumer goods becoming available to people outside of aristocracy.
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Searching for the “ghost children” missing from schools
Terri White’s new BBC series examines the impact of lockdowns on the children told to “stay at home”, when home…
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The Weigh Up explores life after anorexia
This BBC Sounds podcast is a first-person account of how recovery from the eating disorder is possible.
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A queer kind of poetry
This bittersweet, beautiful programme highlights odes to relationships between two men or two women.
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The UK’s rubbish-dump mafia
Radio 4’s Buried tells the story of “the astonishing crime you likely haven’t heard of”.
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Exposing the internet’s false prophets
Helen Lewis’s Radio 4 investigation charts the rise of today’s tech-led snake-oil merchants.
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Susan Cooper’s land of shadows
BBC Sounds brings to life the folkloric fantasy The Dark is Rising, with vivid and immersive storytelling.
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Why brass music has such a special relationship with Christmas
There is something particularly cheering about horns playing festive favourites as the temperature drops.
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The last bell foundry in Britain
This peek inside the John Taylor bell foundry is a ringing endorsement for BBC radio storytelling.
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The unbearable complacency of the Today programme
Arch presenters, clichéd reporting, soft interviews: no wonder BBC Radio 4’s stale morning show is rapidly losing listeners.
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