1. Out of Frame
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Entertainment
It takes a city to make a movie: thousands of people whose main recognition comes from the tiny type in the credits that whizz across the screen while you’re dusting the popcorn off your lap.
The Out of Frame podcast turns the spotlight around and shines it on the vital cogs that make the stars look so good on screen.
Hosted by British radio and television presenter Yinka Bokinni for Warner Bros. Discovery and CrewHQ, an initiative dedicated to nurturing the next generation of production talent in the UK, the backstage heroes are encouraged to open up on how they got their jobs and what the work involves.
In the opening episode, Lydia Currie, a first assistant director who has worked in film and TV, explains that the first AD isn’t the person who steps behind the camera when the director needs a coffee – instead they are the organisational leadership behind the creative genius.
Currie is fascinating as she outlines how complex but rewarding it is to plan the shooting schedule, manage the set and everyone on it, and solve problems when hold-ups could cost thousands of pounds every minute.
Such as the time a snake handler delayed a shoot by taking his wife’s lunchbox to work instead of the dead mice his slithery charge needed to perform on cue.
(By Amy Crowther)
2. It’s Your Hormones!
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Health
Dr Sohère Roked launches season 2 of the health and wellbeing podcast, It’s Your Hormones!, which delves into how hormones affect every aspect of our lives and – most importantly – what we can do if things go wrong.
The new season brings holistic solutions to the forefront, as a host of incredible guests who have healed their own hormones tell Roked their unique and powerful stories.
This season, Roked brings holistic solutions to the forefront of the podcast and in this episode, she speaks with a former university classmate called Kate.
The two women met at university recently while taking part in a course that has some focus on psychedelics. In this episode the women share their opinions, thoughts and research on how psychedelics may help with mental health, reconnecting with nature and, in particular, how it could help women in mid-life or going through menopause.
The two speak about the importance of taking time to engage with nature, the idea of speaking with rivers and trees and how doing so can reduce loneliness significantly.
They also touch on men’s hormones and how they change over the years, along with the idea of women trying to regain that sense of identity post-menopause, and what it was like growing up as a brown woman in a majority-white area.
This episode brought new ideas to the forefront of listener’s minds and explored what could happen if these became mainstream, to help with people’s overall wellbeing.
(By Sara Keenan)
3. The Wellness Scoop
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Health and wellbeing
Our phones and social media feeds are often flooded with conflicting messages about food and the latest health trends, which can feel a tad overwhelming, so listening to The Wellness Scoop podcast is a great way to cut through all the noise.
In this week’s episode, British food writer and entrepreneur Ella Mills, best known for her plant-based blog and brand Deliciously Ella, alongside her podcast co-host, registered nutritionist Rhiannon Lambert, delve into a variety of topics, including crash diets, whole grains, and raw milk.
Lambert’s approach to these subjects is particularly engaging. She uses her expertise as a nutritionist to explain what these foods and trends are, what they do to our bodies, and presents a balanced perspective about their pros and cons. She educates listeners in a way that doesn’t come across as patronising, but rather as caring and informative.
The duo also touch on how certain foods are demonised in the press, and how discussions around diet often encompass questions about morals and status.
While many health and wellness influencers use their platforms to promote products, it’s refreshing to see Mills and Lambert using theirs to raise awareness and provide valuable insights.
(By Camilla Foster)
4. The Girlfriends: Spotlight
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: True crime
When The Girlfriends started, it set out to tell the story of how a group of women came together to bring down one bad ex-boyfriend and seek justice for the murder of Gail Katz.
And in season two, they dug up the truth about a torso that was washed up on Staten Island, which helped to give Heidi Balch the memorial she deserved.
Now the true-crime podcast produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts and hosted by Anna Sinfield, is back with a new series, The Girlfriends: Spotlight, to highlight some of the stories of eight women, from both the past and present day, who have forged their own paths.
Often these women – also from around the world – have overcome some difficult odds and barriers, and the first one up is American Paralympic athlete Tracy Otto.
Otto competed in the Paris 2024 Paralympics and was the only woman on Team USA’s archery team. But before that remarkable journey, in 2019 an ex-boyfriend broke into her home and attacked her with a gun and knife, leaving her paralysed from the chest down and blind in one eye.
Over the months that followed, Otto was forced to come to terms with how much her body changed but found hope after she decided to pick up an archery bow.
Listening to Otto and Sinfield narrate her story was moving and inspiring, in addition to it being a poignant way to encourage more women to embrace sisterhood.
(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)
Spotlight on…5. Confessions of a Female Founder
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Business
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s new podcast, is an ode to female entrepreneurs. In the first episode, she talks to the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd.
In tandem with the launch of her lifestyle brand, As Ever, Meghan discusses the ins and outs of starting your own business as a ‘female founder’. But it’s not all spreadsheets and Excel: Meghan and Herd discuss navigating media scrutiny, spreading kindness and prioritising family while shaping a brand.
Herd discusses her experience of leaving Tinder, the dating app she co-founded, following a sexual harassment suit filed against the company. She then discusses how she overcame a harrowing media storm before founding Bumble.
On media scrutiny: “Maybe because you understand it, and to whatever degree, you know how to show up for me,” Meghan told Herd.
When it came to balancing family life, Meghan, who works from home, said her daughter Princess Lilibet would sometimes visit her office after a nap: “She knows where to find me, even if my door is closed to the office,” said Meghan, “But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t want to miss those moments.”
Meghan also spoke about suffering medical complications after childbirth, and having to cope with the “world” not knowing.
She said she had been diagnosed with postpartum pre-eclampsia following the birth of one of her children.
The condition is similar to pre-eclampsia, which affects women during pregnancy – and involves high blood pressure, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation charity.
All in all, the podcast has the hallmarks of a personal yet informative chat and is well worth a listen.
(By Lara Owen)
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