to ask for addictive podcast recommendations?

[GoldfishParade]

Podcasts have been around for ages but the concept never really appealed.

Then last week I thought I'd give one a go as a way of making housework less boring and I'm totally hooked! I'm really looking for some more ideas for really good podcasts to listen to. I've only listened to two so far which I can't recommend enough:

• Serial (season one): A teenager in America goes to jail for killing his ex-girlfriend. That was almost 20 years ago now, and he's still there. A journalist sets out to try and figure out whether he really did it. The journalist is so charismatic and fluid, she's a great storyteller. It was just so engrossing.

• S-town: In the deep south, a eccentric genius gets in touch with a New York radio station, asking them to come down and investigate a murder that happened in the local town - a place the man lovingly refers to as 'Shit Town'. The story absolutely doesn't pan out the way you'd expect it to...

I found these podcasts so compulsive and addictive. It was just really fascinating storytelling and a glimpse into different worlds.

Can anyone suggest some new podcasts I can become obsessed with in a similar vein?

I also loved Intrigue (BBC R4), which broadcast The Tunnel

Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helena Merriman tells the extraordinary true story of a man who dug a tunnel into the East, right under the feet of border guards, to help friends and strangers escape.

It was so gripping. My kids (13, 11 & 9) were hooked too, the tension in the telling of it!

Also each episode is short (25 mins or so) & compared to some US ones eg Serial this works really well - succinct, not a minute wasted.

Also part of the same series Girl Taken a what really happened account of the possible abduction of a little girl by her father seeking asylum, and the involvement of a British volunteer is good too, tho a bit over-done in parts.

[quote alwayscrashinginthesamecar1]@EarringsandLipstick I used to live in Cork, and think I need to listen to West Cork again! Do you think Ian Bailey was guilty? I think he is guilty as hell, and apparently most of Schull does too.[/quote]
I have to say yes, guilty even tho the evidence just has not been produced, all these years later & endless investigations being ongoing.

I visit the area a lot - locals stay entirely schtum on it but yes, not a doubt what they think. Ian Bailey runs a stall in the local market & it's just surreal seeing him there.

The podcast does make you really think of both sides!

To be fair, what has to be acknowledged that the man has been investigated in many forms (including a current case where he's been tried in absentia in France) for several decades, and has had a scale of intrusion visited upon him that's hard to imagine. Court proceedings have found in his favour on a number of occasions.

The level of Garda incompetence in the case is staggering tho (it formed part of a Commission of Investigation set up by the Irish Government into matters relating to Garda conduct).

And of course Ian Bailey's own thirst for fame / infamy, underpins it all.

@Moonmelodies if you like Dear Joan and Jericha (which I love) you might also like Gossipmongers. The top 10 of 2019 episode was hilarious. Enjoy.

Is there any recommendations for podcasts that are not true crime?
I've listen to a few History ones that are interesting and would like more

It’s so weird how Ian Bailey has stayed in Schull, but he’s weird altogether. I’d love to know what the podcast creators really think. Is he still with the same woman? Which is just as strange!

On podcasts - The Lady Vanishes is great and still an ongoing situation (sadly).

The other Serial series are good.

I also enjoyed Dirty John and The Crypto Queen.

Escaping Nxium also good!

@HappyHoppy

‘My dad wrote a porno‘ is hilarious!

This. Hands down the best thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t WAIT for the next series, they’re taking way too long! I have cried with laughter so many times.

@tobee

Has anyone listened to Undisclosed on Adnan Syed? If so Is it worth listening to?

Yes - it's much more of a deep dive but I'd also suggest truth and justice

I’ve just noticed tobee said West Cork is a British podcast! Umm, no!
Bookmarking this thread though, some great suggestions.

‘Someone Knows Something‘ is my favourite. David Ridgen, the host, is really good.

Also liked Death in Ice Valley and The Lady Vanishes as mentioned by others.

I love a podcast:

Real dictators: very well researched, engrossing, series about some dictators and their histories. There are lots of podcasts where the hosts get their info on a subject just by a bit of a google. This is more serious than this, but really gripping and fascinAting.

Desert island discs - the David Nott episode is my fave.

The dream - first series - about MLM scams

More or Less - BBC - debunking the statistics behind the headlines. Love it.

Friday night comedy (BBC) - particulaty the news quiz/now show episodes (you have to listen the same week it comes out) - basically a radio version of HIGNIFY

NPR radio do some good podcasts. There are a lot of episodes to choose between. I’d recommend as a one off ‘the Bad Show’ on radiolab (about human nature, and evil).

Casefile.

I tried redhanded but it's like the hosts have only just learned how to swear, I find it really grating.

Another vote for death in ice valley. Very mysterious.

@Shosha1

Depends what sort of history you want

Futility closet and ridiculous history cover odd little stories eg the Boston molasses disaster. Also stuff you missed in history class. These often cover social or more personal history like the match girl strikes rather than battles and conquering.

Sawbones covers medical history

The british history podcast starts right back at prehistory and hes slowly working his way forward. I've got up to the ethelreds and that.

Addictive but in a different vein to the murder mystery ones (which I found depressing with everything going on this year) - looking for escapism from the hideous mess of Britain, I looked for a positive, fun podcast about a life abroad.

“The Earful Tower” with Oliver Gee about life in Paris and France.

It’s a delight. He’s cheerful, humble, intelligent and positive, whilst being ruefully realistic about the challenges of dealing with French admin, or the joys of a beautiful view in Normandy, or the embarrassment of making the odd hilarious mistake in French.

He covers every possible topic imagineable from finding a flat to embroidery of buildings and every single episode is interesting, educational and amusing.

There’s quite a few series going back to 2017 and it’s worth starting from the beginning. I’m up to 2019 now a starting to worry about running out of episodes, but it’s been a wonderful journey so far.

Shagged married annoyed x

Oooh, great thread! Love podcasts.

Revisionist History - Malcolm Gladwell

Table Manners - mum and daughter make food and interview slebs.

The Shrink Next Door - crazy, true tale of controlling malpractice by a psychiatrist in NYC.

The Clearing - true crime, about the daughter of a US serial killer (and him), who seems an inspiring woman.

David Tennant. He has a nice, gentle way. The one with Gordon Brown especially good IMO.

Radio 4 desert island discs, great lives and life scientific.

Mob Queens - a woman in the mafia and early drag/gay bars in NYC.

Nice White Parents - race and an NY state school.

Fiction:

• Homecoming
• Passenger List
• Gossip (frivolous fun)
• Alice Isn’t Dead - sci fi

Also enjoy You’re Wrong About, mainly on US 90s historical/cultural events. Eg OJ Simpson trial.

Not crime, but still addictive: Rabbit Hole (about You Tube) and Nice White Parents (about the Brooklyn public school system). Both great imo.

Oh, also: The Eleventh (about the dismissal of the Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam; very evocative)

Homecoming
Limetown
Grovers mill
The black tapes

@Shosha1
Revisionist history is excellent

Dr. Death - a surgeon n US is investigated for the trail of carnage he leaves in his wake.

Not strictly a podcast but if you love Serial...Making a Murderer on Netflix. Wrongly convicted of rape, did US justice system wrongly convict Steven Avery & his cousin Brendan of murder to avoid huge payout?

YY to the previous poster who recommended Shreds. Awful that this shit can still happen.

I have just finished 13 Alibis. They are only short episodes, but it is another terrifying situation which is so hard to comprehend. How do some of these people sleep at night?

@framboisier yes about James P voice, I've found myself listening to him rather than my Calm at night to relax!

I tried listening to My Dad Wrote a Porno but the presenters cackling all over each other is really off putting.