Podcasts are high on my hierachy of needs, somewhere below food and shelter, but above unbroken sleep, which I've basically given up on now. They are the only way that I can get through a run, through the school run and through the endless task of sorting out our house after a year of building and thatching work (yes, I know, boo hoo for me, but it's boring as hell after a year!) With the help of many like minded friends, here's my definitive list of the best podcasts with which to grace your ears...
MY TOP TEN
1) Serial - Series One: This one is the Mummy of them all. If you haven't listened to this yet, why?! What are you doing here? Go off and listen to it, right now, then come back and we can talk: https://serialpodcast.org/season-one/1/the-alibi
2) Reply All - This series has just celebrated a second birthday, but for me its the gift that keeps giving. The least you can expect is a fun, diverting half hour. The most is to have your doors of perception thoroughly cleansed. Two funny, smart, waspish, charming and occasionally irritating, but ultimately loveable, American gentlemen guide you through the thickets of the interweb. Given the nature of the subject this means it can go anywhere, but they curate it beautifully, so you never feel like they've strayed far from the path they set themselves. Its a fantastically useful way for an old lady like me to actually try to understand some things (eg: Reddit, Pepe, Gamergate) which would otherwise baffle me. It's also bloody funny. And often moving. Here are a few of my favourites, but it is consistently strong, so you could start anywhere: https://gimletmedia.com/uncategorized/where-to-get-started-with-reply-all/
This is my very favourite episode, but its better after you've got to know PJ and Alex a bit: https://gimletprod.staging.wpengine.com/episode/36-todays-the-day/
3) Start Up: This is a fascinating insight into start-ups, business and even podcasting itself - in fact, it gave birth to three of my other favourite podcasts. Series One is brilliant radio, so many heart in mouth moments and genuinely educative about starting a business. The second series didn't do so much for me, but Series Three is back on form and included an amazingly moving and insightful story about parents and the patterns we repeat in our lives at home and work which moved me to tears. Start at the very beginning, a very good place to start: https://gimletmedia.com/show/startup/all/page/6/
4) This American Life - If Serial is the Mummy, then the is the grandpappy of all podcasts; its so good and so consistent you might almost forget about it sometimes, but you'd be wrong to. It was the training ground for almost every other good podcaster out there, the whole back catalogue would probably be my luxury on desert island discs because, Ira Glass. Favourites are almost too numerous to list, but here's one that really stands out for me: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/557/birds-bees
5) Invisibilia - Hosted by two, then three, enthusiastic, super smart and engaging women this is about the worlds inside us. Each episode is layered like a tapestry and it stretches you and entertains at the same time, so it feels like a stimulating treat. If you like knowing what makes people tick, this one will tick all your boxes (groan, sorry) I recommend you start with Entanglement from Jan 2015, about half way down the page: http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibiliahttps://gimletmedia.com/episode/2-gregor/
6) The Mystery Show - This is like the podcasting version of a brilliant comedy that you fall in love with, tell everyone about and then feel totally crestfallen when it disappears after a single series. I'm still hoping that Starlee, who is an incredibly talented storyteller, will keep digging after her intriguing domestic dramas in her own time and it will flower back into life at some point: https://gimletmedia.com/episode/case-5-source-code/
7) Heavyweight - A new favourite, mostly because of the laconic and misanthropic Jonathan Goldstein who feels like a really annoying best friend almost immediately. Another TAL alumni, his stories are sometimes small, even slight, but packed with emotional punch that belies their featherweight feel: https://gimletmedia.com/episode/2-gregor/
8) Radiolab - Another one of the well established greats. For me the story of baby Juniper, born at 23 weeks and 6 days, is one of the most moving things I've ever heard. It is very similar to the story of my own daughter's arrival in the world so it makes me cry like one of those water hydrants you see in films about New York on a hot summer's day, with kids running in and out of it. Disclaimer: you will need ALL the tissues: http://www.radiolab.org/story/288733-23-weeks-6-days/
9) Adam Buxton: I love this man. I want to be his best friend. I saw him at End Of The Road this year and wanted to go and say hi, but I was afraid I might scare him with my DEEP AND ABIDING LOVE, so thought it best to not risk it: http://adam-buxton.co.uk/ad/2016/09/12/ep-29-louis-theroux/
10) Brian Eno - The John Peel Lecture: A bit of an anomaly as this is a one off, but it had a very powerful effect on me and my view of creativity. As a person who likes, indeed has, to create, this really helped me to understand myself a bit more and to help me to justify my need to make and do. Fascinating stuff: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06dcmxl
BUT WAIT, THEN THERE'S ALSO ALL THESE AND THEY'RE ALL REALLY, REALLY GOOD!
The Moth - I'm so late to this classic show that it's embarrassing. I asked for recommends and several people cited this one. I'm now a few weeks into mainlining it and they were right, it is fantastic, often very moving and feels special as many of the storytellers aren't used to telling their tales. I hardly feel qualified to recommend as I'm still on a deep dive, but here's a list of some of the best to make you feel happy, which is no bad thing, what with the world sucking so very much at the moment: http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/things-to-do/tv-and-film/the-7-best-episodes-of-the-moth-podcast-to-make-you-feel-good-20160563509
Song Exploder - There are many things I love about this show, here are two; one Hrishikesh Hirway is such a comforting presence, he makes it all feel good and I feel safe with him in my ears. Two, it doesn't matter if you don't love all the songs, because if you love music then it is always fascinating to hear how that process developed. And if you do happen to love the song or the band (or in this case the theme song and the tV show it accompanies) then it is just, wow: http://songexploder.net/transparent
Serial Series Two - Series One was always going to be a hard act to follow, so I have nothing but admiration that Sarah Koenig and the rest of the gang still made this so compelling. The case of Beau Berghdahl is a thorny one, there are no straight answers for it, but I am very glad that there are investigative journalists out there doing such an incredibly important job. I'd like Series Three to explain the 2016 American election to me next, please: https://serialpodcast.org/2015/12/season-two-welcome
The News Quiz - These are the people who made Brexit nearly manageable. Can't we just replace PMQ's with this and make everyone listen to it? Plus, I loved and miss Sandi, but I SO heart Miles Jupp, my new middle class, middle aged crush: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pc9pj/episodes/downloads
Infinite Monkey Cage - I do hope that science teachers have cottoned on to this and that science lessons now just consist of them playing these to kids in school. I am so thoroughly right-brained that listening to this is the closest I have ever got to even approaching a vague understanding of physics, let alone being entertained along the way: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes/downloads
The Reith Lectures - I would say the mark of any good podcast is that requires your brain to be engaged while your body is doing something else. It's why I love it for cooking, driving, painting etc - things that require a steady concentration, but not the full capacity of you head. The Reith Lectures are this and then some, but please, please, please don't be put off - it certainly doesn't mean they're inaccessible, it just means they are giving you so much food for thought that you need to be sat at the table, knife and fork at the ready. Both Atul Gawande and Kwami Anthony Apia, who lectured in 2015 and 2016 respectively, are incredible thinkers and communicators - treat yourself. They're all good, but this one was so good it made me late for work: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bsgvm
Women Of The Hour - If you don't like Lena Dunham then you are just wrong. To paraphrase Hannah Horvath, she is the voice of her generation and its an important one. If she was male she would be grandly and roundly praised, but she's a woman and so loads of people love to shoot her down instead. She makes me feel so positive about our future in the hands of the millennials - she's fallible, imperfect, but such a force for good: https://soundcloud.com/womenofthehour
My Dad Wrote A Porno - Filthy, funny, pomegranates: http://www.mydadwroteaporno.com/
Revisionist History - At the opposite end of the spectrum comes Malcolm Gladwell's tour de force. He's a forensically bright and charismatic character who uses history in a way that makes you look at it in a completely new light. This episode looks at peer pressure from an entirely unexpected angle: http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/03-the-big-man-cant-shoot
Five Thirty Eight and NPR Politics Podcasts: Both essential listening, but I'm cutting myself off for a few weeks as it is all too depressing and the world is going to hell in a handbag!
http://fivethirtyeight.com/tag/politics-podcast/
http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510310/npr-politics-podcast
Death, Sex & Money: Such a crush on Anna Sale - her voice is a warm bath and it makes people feel safe enough to talk about the truly hard stuff: http://www.wnyc.org/story/anna-chlumsky-death-sex-money
WTF: So, Marc Maron. Egotsist, self involved, self important. I find him so annoying, but he has the best people on and, when he can get over himself he can be a great interviewer. Highly recommend the Paul Thomas Anderson ep and the Joanna Newsom one, but always best to fast forward through Marc's self indulgent rants. Louis CK explains... http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/louis_c.k._from_2010
In Conversation With Jeff Garlin - Jeff loves Larry, Amy P and Wilco. What's not to love? http://www.earwolf.com/episode/jeff-tweedy/
Sampler - A very good show if you're a podcast addict like me! Brittany Luse is very sweet and insightful and just about to go on to bigger things with Gimlet. This felt a bit slight, on occasion, but it introduced me to some really me amazing storytellers and voices: https://gimletmedia.com/episode/22-im-an-obliger/
In The Dark - If Podcasting begins and ends with Serial Series One for you, then you'll probably love this too: http://www.apmreports.org/in-the-dark