5 new podcasts to listen to this week
These are our top podcast picks.
New podcasts this week span the worlds of food, nature and history…
1. Ruthie’s Table 4
Streaming platform: Available across all major podcast platforms
Genre: Food and life
Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast is recorded in The River Café, a renowned celebrity honeypot and Michelin-star restaurant in Hammersmith, London. Every week the cafe’s co-founder, restaurateur and cookbook author Ruthie Rogers invites longstanding friends and regulars to The River Café to chat about their personal histories through the lens of food.
This week, she is joined by Nile Rodgers, the legendary composer, producer and co-founder of Seventies disco-funk band Chic, who has been behind some of the biggest hit records in pop music history.
In a nostalgic and candid conversation, the Grammy-winning musician opens up about being placed for adoption as a baby and growing up in New York in a household affected by heroin addiction, and how he learnt to be completely independent from a young age.
Rogers is a wonderful interviewer, asking thoughtful questions while allowing the conversation to unfold naturally. Her relaxed approach makes you feel like a fly on the wall at The River Café, listening in on two old friends catching up over dinner.
Nile Rodgers’s effortlessly chill, warm and composed demeanour shines throughout the episode as he reminisces about his grandmother’s cooking, growing up surrounded by jazz greats and shares fascinating stories about the formation of Chic and working with Madonna.
His wonderful detailed descriptions and remarkable memory bring to life a host of memorable moments from his extraordinary and colourful life.
If you enjoy hearing fascinating stories from fascinating people, Ruthie’s Table 4 is definitely one to add to your podcast playlist.
(By Camilla Foster)
2. Sober Companion
Streaming platform: BBC Sounds and all major podcast platforms, and is broadcast weekdays on Radio 4 at 10.45pm until November 13
Genre: Drama
From the team behind smash hit TV shows Bad Sisters, Motherland, Youth and Catastrophe comes this brand new podcast starring Rob Delaney (Catastrophe, Bad Monkey) and Bel Powley (The Morning Show, A Small Light).
Successfully balancing a fine line between humour and gravity, Sober Companion follows the story of pop star Lucy Green (Powley), whose very public relapse into cocaine addiction aligns not-so-perfectly with her new album launch. Enter stage left Tim (Delaney) a so-called sober companion – all the rage in LA apparently, not so much in Chipping Norton…
It’s Tim’s job to escort Lucy to rehab in Arizona before she spirals further, thus beginning an increasingly fraught journey full of mishaps and revelations. But it’s the unexpected connections that really prove to be the hook of this podcast. Each episode is only 15 minutes long, and I find myself bingeing many of them in one go, eager to find out just what happens on Lucy and Tim’s adventure to Arizona.
Beautifully written by Sarah Simmonds, it’s a funny, sharp and moving take on the battle between addiction and recovery.
By Rachel Howard
3. Talking Common
Streaming Platform: YouTube, Spotify and Apple
Genre: Society
“People like me don’t write poetry,” says spoken word poet and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Sonny Green in the latest episode of Talking Common, “But I’m like, why not?”
It’s a question that runs through his conversation with host Josh Connolly, as Green reflects on his upbringing, parental addiction and the class barriers that can make creative careers feel out of reach.
Green speaks candidly about losing his father, recalling the difficult circumstances surrounding his death, and the feeling that everyone around him had been given a better start in life.
Hosted by bestselling author and resilience speaker Connolly, Talking Common examines the social pressures shaping modern Britain, from masculinity and online extremism to addiction and the decline of community.
Other guests on the podcast include musician Jordan Stephens, actor Nicola Thorp and journalist James Bloodworth, with conversations extending beyond the usual territory of self-help podcasts.
In this episode, Green explores who gets to tell working-class stories, arguing that they are too often written by people from more privileged backgrounds.
It’s an engaging, occasionally uncomfortable conversation that gives much-needed attention to the circumstances shaping people’s lives and their personal experiences.
(By Lara Owen)
4. Gangster Presents: Angels and Outlaws – The Story of the Biker Gangs
Streaming Platform: BBC Sounds and all major podcast platforms
Genre: History and true crime
You might think you know about biker gangs – everyone will likely have an image in their mind of leather jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding members of the Hells Angels. But where did it all begin?
That’s exactly what investigative journalist Livvy Haydock dives into in a new six-part series, Angels and Outlaws – The Story of the Biker Gangs.
She tracks the origins of biker gangs on both sides of the Atlantic, particularly looking at gang rivalries – and how they could often explode into (sometimes deadly) violence.
There’s plenty of colour – particularly when Haydock is discussing the electric Swinging Sixties, with name checks from the Rolling Stones, The Beatles and more. And there’s a global approach to the series, as she tells the story from social clubs in London, to biker gangs in North America and even making her way to Denmark.
It’s an action-packed listen, with violent gang clashes and even murder – all amongst the strong sense of brotherhood often found in these gangs.
Haydock is an engaging presenter who knows how to tell an engrossing tale, and the rock and roll soundtrack adds to the energy of the series. Biker gangs are a fascinating subsection of society with a complex history, making this podcast well worth a listen.
(By Prudence Wade)
5. Naturewatch
Streaming Platform: BBC Sounds, BBC2, iPlayer
Genre: Nature
If you have not thought about conkers, acorns or the roar of a red deer in a while, you are in for a treat.
That and more is discussed and analysed by naturalist Chris Packham, content creator Kyle Thomas and zoologist Megan McCubbin as they take you through the natural world on their new podcast, Naturewatch.
It is a wholesome and knowledgeable podcast that puts together expertise from each of the three presenters in a very accessible way.
The structure does bounce around a little – at one point it feels like a conversation you might have with a friend on a walk, before someone offers up a fun fact which catches on.
It can feel a little sporadic, jumping from whether there is any real scientific merit to conkers keeping spiders out of the house (there isn’t) Packham’s favourite bird (a wood pigeon) to the weight of a Goldcrest (less than a 20p coin).
Despite this, at the end of each episode you will no doubt know more about the natural world then you did at the start – something your pub quiz team or walking group will be very grateful for.
(By Lauren Del Fabbro)