While our movements remain curtailed, the new year brings with it a rich harvest of new podcasts to educate, inform and entertain us during our daily walks and extended sofa time. From familiar voices embarking on fresh projects to new names cutting their teeth on the podcast scene, here are the best new podcasts of 2021.
Lawyer, politician and former US president Barack Obama, and singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, might seem like an unlikely duo to host a podcast together. But the pair are real-life pals and, as they explain in the first episode ‘Outsiders: An Unlikely Friendship’, there is a lot that unites them in being two prominent voices of America. The format of each episode is a slow-paced, broodingly philosophical conversation, spanning their lives, music and enduring love of America. The tone is insightful and deeply reflective; there’s a sense that these two significant figures are each descending down their professional mountains with the authority and wisdom to share what they’ve learned.
WHERE: Spotify
We have an insatiable appetite for podcasts about what celebrities like to cook and eat (Table Manners, Out to Lunch with Jay Rayner and Off Menu being three examples). The Filling, by cook and author Anna Barnett, became a new voice of this genre towards the end of 2020. Now, it’s back for a second season, with Barnett invading the kitchens of famous culinary names along with less foodcentric celebrities. Look forward to episodes with Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett, fashion model Jodie Kidd, and founder of Michelin-starred restaurant BRAT Tomos Parry among others.
WHERE: Apple podcasts / Spotify
Radio 1 Breakfast presenter Greg James and best-selling author Bella Mackie go back to school in their first joint project as husband and wife. Each weekly episode sees the couple learn a different lesson by a teacher who has been recommended for the podcast by their pupils. It’s chatty, fun and offers memorable tit-bits on some of life’s most intriguing topics, such as whether humans can be born evil. If you, like James and Mackie, weren’t always on your best behaviour as pupils, this is your chance to revisit the classroom.
WHERE: Apple podcasts / Spotify
If the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s leap across the pond has left a royal hole in your life, you’ll be pleased to learn you can catch up with Harry and Meghan in their new, more relaxed natural habitat, via their new podcast, Archewell Audio. Launched as part of an exclusive partnership with Spotify, the new podcast hears from celebrity pals of the former royals – Brené Brown, James Corden and Matt Haig among them – who in the first episode discuss how they coped in 2020. Prepare to hear more from the guests than Harry and Meghan themselves, but the couple jump in now and again to add context, often when their admired and successful guests are being modest.
Major fashion house Chanel has launched a podcast with a culture slant: Chanel Connects. In it, some of the most celebrated names in the realms of film, art, architecture, dance, music, and fashion discuss the future of culture at a time when galleries, museums and stages are preparing to reopen to a transformed world. The unusual pairings of guests is a highlight of this podcast, which so far has seen Pharrell Williams in conversation with Es Devlin, Edward Enninful speak with TildaSwinton, and Keira Knightley talk to Lulu Wang. Some of the pairs are in fact old friends, but others ‘meet’ for the first time while recording remotely from their homes. Whether you tune in for the big names or to hear how the industry is planning for the future – or both – the conversations are likely to be captivating.
Hosted by London-based New York Times writer Farah Nayeri, Culture Blast features long-form interviews with leading figures from the world of culture. Episode one sets the bar high, featuring one of the most insightful and compelling interviews with special guest Emma Thompson. If you’ve ever wished to dive deeper into the minds and lives of some of the sector’s most influential figures, make this your new listen.
Hot on the heels of her latest book Couch Fiction: A Graphic Tale of Psychotherapy, psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry has launched a new podcast, Families in Crisis. In it, she shines the spotlight on the family members and carers of those suffering from mental health and addiction – those whose voices often go unheard. The podcast takes an interview format, with Perry speaking directly with those bearing the emotional weight of their loved one’s condition, leaning on her expertise in the psychologist’s chair to offer sound advice.
In a time when restaurants are closed and the most exciting fodder landing on our plates is reliant entirely on our culinary skills (save for the odd takeaway), a podcast delving into the thrilling, intoxicating pleasures of food at its best is exactly what we need. And who better to host such a show than the Evening Standard’s restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa, whose silver-tongued descriptions and anecdotal scene-setting has the ability to bring to life dining rooms and kitchens we’re unable to experience first-hand.
Life on a Plate comes courtesy of Waitrose, and is being co-hosted by the supermarket’s food editor Alison Oakervee. Each episode sees the pair sit down with a well-known guest from the food industry to discuss their life in food. Chefs Tom Kerridge and Nadiya Hussain, and comedian Sarah Millican, are among the first guests.
Just days after cult millennial podcast The High Low bid a final farewell to its listeners, co-host Pandora Sykes announced her new podcast series, The Missing, in collaboration with UK charity Missing People. Focusing on a different case each episode, Sykes delves into the 1% of missing-person cases that remain unsolved, interviewing contacts of the ‘long-term missing’, examining evidence and questioning whether these cases could ever be solved – perhaps with the help of listeners.
‘Pandemic puppies’ have become one of the unexpected trends of the year, with many people using lockdown to acquire a four-legged friend. Founder of ‘Doga’ (yoga for people and their dogs) Mahny Djahanguiri has launched a new podcast, Conversations With My Dog, in which she puts the humble canine companion in the spotlight, celebrating their companionship and the positive impact owning a dog can have on mental health. Together with a range of fellow dog-loving guests, Djahanguiri discusses the world of dogs, offering up facts, heart-felt anecdotes about her own pooch Robbie, and tips for those looking to give Doga a try.
Through the lens of the BBC World Service, Project 17 takes its audio audience to 17 countries around the world, meeting as many 17-year-olds along the way, to find out how their lives are changing. Presented by BBC Afghan journalist Sana Safi, and co-produced with the Open University, Project 17 is an opportunity to hear how young people want to shape their future, with each half-hour episode focusing on a different goal: from access to clean water and a decent education, to obtaining a healthier diet.
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