5 new podcasts to listen to this week
These are our top podcast picks.
From live trials, to scientists discussing addiction and others bringing awareness to breast cancer awareness month, there are a great selection of listens this week.
1. Fame Under Fire
Streaming platform: BBC Sounds and all podcast platforms
Genre: Documentary series
Fame Under Fire follows the trial of comedian and actor Russell Brand, who denies seven sexual offence charges involving six women.
Hosted by Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, the series takes us through daily coverage of the Brand trial from Southwark Crown Court, where she brings us what the jury hears and explains what it means.
The newest episode – which covers the prosecution’s opening day in court – starts with a warning of strong language and graphic descriptions of alleged rape and sexual assault. Mutanda-Dougherty tells how Brand, 51, is accused of forcing women into sexual acts and kissing and groping them in what has been called an “obsessive” campaign to sleep with 5,000 women.
Although a difficult listen, Mutanda-Dougherty reports the trial in a neutral and understandable way – keeping to the facts of the court case.
Despite not being in the room for the case, it is explained and detailed in a way that gives listeners all the key details and information.
Throughout, she gives the suitable trigger warnings before detailing the accounts that Brand has been accused of and proceeds with caution.
The podcast explains how jurors have been warned not to conduct research on Brand or look at past reporting of allegations of sexual misconduct, which he firmly denies.
It is a hard, but informative listen that helps keep listeners up to date on what is going on. The trial and podcast series continues, bringing daily updates from Southwark Crown Court.
(By Sara Keenan)
2. Bedside Manners
Streaming platform: All podcast platforms
Genre: Health and wellbeing
The Bedside Manners podcast, sponsored by HCA UK, shines a light on how people navigate, overcome and adapt to life’s health challenges.
In this week’s episode, host Dr Oscar Duke speaks with fellow BBC Morning Live doctor and friend Dr Punam Krishan about how the incredible high of competing on Strictly Come Dancing was followed by a devastating breast cancer diagnosis.
In this deeply personal conversation, Krishan opens up about the pain and discomfort that prompted her to seek medical advice and her reasons for only sharing the news with a small circle of friends and family initially.
Duke’s thoughtful questions and compassionate approach throughout the episode allows Krishan to explore all the emotions, difficult conversations and complex decisions she faced during this incredibly challenging time.
Krishan highlights how everyone’s experience of cancer is different and explains how her own medical knowledge didn’t remove the fear and uncertainty that follows a cancer diagnosis.
She also shares how she is still learning to rebuild trust in her body and find a sense of normality following treatment and encourages listeners to trust their instincts when it comes to health.
The episode is further enriched by the contribution of Professor Peter Schmid, a breast cancer specialist from HCA Healthcare, who discusses the different treatment options available for breast cancer. His expert insights add an informative and practical dimension to an already powerful conversation.
Raw, moving and insightful, this episode offers an honest look at the realities of breast cancer, the emotional challenges that accompany a diagnosis and the often-overlooked journey of recovery.
(By Camilla Foster)
3. A Question of Science
Streaming Platform: BBC Sounds and all podcast platforms
Genre: Science
A Question of Science is hosted by professor Brian Cox as he sits with a panel of the world’s top scientists and experts as they tackle questions about some of the biggest science challenges facing society today.
In this week’s episode, Cox is joined by Professor Sally Marlow, musician Matt Willis, Dr Nicky Kalk and Professor David Nutt as they have an open conversation surrounding addictions.
The episode swiftly opens with Willis speaking about his own experiences with addiction, explaining that he started drinking and smoking weed around ages 12 and 13 before finding ‘the holy grail’, in alcohol and cocaine. Willis, who is has been sober for over 16 years and clean from drugs for nine years, speaks to the others about the shame often involved with addiction, relapsing and what can be done to help those battling with it.
The panel explains what the exact definition of addiction is to which Nutt says it’s ‘behaviour which is repetitive’, usually destructive and often difficult to stop. Marlow also adds the phenomena of tolerance, whereby you find yourself needing more of the substance every time you take it, for example going from smoking once a day, to 20.
They also discuss what makes recovery so hard, the topic of social media addictions and what it actually looks like in the brain, along with potential new treatments.
Overall, it is a really insightful episode for both those who may need answers and are struggling to those who want to help a loved one or friend.
(By Sara Keenan)
4. HEART
Streaming Platform: Apple Podcasts
Genre: Documentary series
What are the chances of two men sharing the same heart, marrying the same woman and dying in eerily similar circumstances – by suicide? That’s the extraordinary story at the centre of Heart, a new true crime podcast hosted by My Favourite Murder’s Karen Kilgariff.
The series explores the deaths of Terry Cottle and Sonny Graham, whose lives became intertwined when Graham received Cottle’s heart in a life-saving transplant in 1995.
But things take an unexpected turn when Graham falls in love with Cottle’s widow, Cheryl, raising the bizarre question of whether a transplanted heart could somehow carry memories or emotions from its previous owner.
Through interviews with those closest to the men, the podcast pieces together a story of love, grief and unanswered questions. Particularly chilling is the recollection from one family member: “My dad always said if somebody says he killed himself – to have it investigated.”
Kilgariff’s engaging storytelling makes this an intriguing listen, balancing the emotional impact on the families with the mystery surrounding both deaths.
It’s a fascinating and unsettling story that leaves you questioning just how much we really know about the human heart.
(By Sara Keenan)
5. Severed Minds
Streaming Platform: Audible
Genre: Investigative series
Beginning with a rather extensive content warning, it’s soon clear that Severed Minds is not a podcast for the faint-hearted.
The six-part investigative series, narrated by Irish podcast and academic researcher Niall Breslin, explores the troubling history of lobotomies in the U.S. throughout the story of Gretchen Reb, who underwent the procedure in 1950.
The series begins with a focus on Walter Freeman, the doctor who popularised the procedure, his disturbing rise and determination to make a mark on medicine, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, pioneering brain surgeon Dr. William Williams Keen Jr.
It’s extraordinary to hear how such a barbaric procedure came to be a considered a legitimate medical treatment, particularly given how little was understood about the brain throughout the fist half of the 20th century.
Breslin’s narration is complemented by atmospheric audio and sound design, giving the storytelling a cinematic quality without distracting from the facts. Interviews with Reb’s daughter Roberta also give a welcome personal perspective on what could otherwise become a somewhat clinical history lesson.
At around 45 minutes each, the episodes are well-paced, with enough left unresolved to make listening to the next one almost inevitable.
It’s disturbing stuff, but the historical detail makes it difficult to switch off.
(By Lara Owen)