From how Tina Turner became the Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll to some of the wildest British scandals, there are a few podcasts you just may love.
1. Legacy… Margaret Thatcher
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: History
Sometimes the lives and stories of historical political figures are quite dramatised. Still, the Wondery and Goalhanger podcast Legacy, hosted by Afua Hirsch and Peter Frankopan does a great job at getting to the point.
The show tells the lives of the most extraordinary men and women ever to have lived and investigates whether they have the reputation that they deserve.
The previous episode was all about Thatcher winning a landslide victory against Labour’s Michael Foot, but in the third episode, the hosts move the story along and get into her undying and deep-seated hate for the unions – she saw it as a means to restrict and control what the government can actually do – framed by the context of the world war.
Legacy is engaging, informative, and insightful, paired with the nuanced and thoughtful analysis by both Hirsch and Frankopan.
(By Yolanthé Fawehinmi)
2. Everything To Play For
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Sport
Do you ever think about the drama of sport and what is really behind some of the most iconic sporting moments?
Everything To Play For from Wondery and Crowd Network, hosted by Countdown and BBC Radio 5 Live host Colin Murray and comedian, actor and radio host Elis James, is a three-part series which takes listeners behind the scenes of the greatest rivalries, the bravest underdogs and the most astonishing comebacks.
The last instalment – go back and listen to episodes one and two if you haven’t already, which gets into then 18-year-old Wayne Rooney’s epic rise and then the tournament debut – continues to explore the career of an outstanding footballer 20 years on.
If you enjoy listening to how sporting legends became legends, Everything To Play For is a short and sweet podcast series to tuck into.
(By Yolanthé Fawehinmi)
3. British Scandal: Michelle Mone
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Crime
What were you doing at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021? This was when the entire world was summoned to a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also what this season of the Wondery podcast British Scandal: Michelle Mone is all about.
Hosts Matt Forde and Alice Levine tell listeners about some of the murkiest stories that have ever happened in Britain. These scandals can be about anything from money, sex and power, but when they begin to take a closer look, they realise that they are also stranger, wilder and weirder than they remembered.
This season is no different and full of suspense, commentary and great storytelling by the hosts about the story of Michelle Mone, a Glasgow-born woman from a council estate, who left school at 15 without any qualifications.
If you are into high-profile stories that involve a lot of glamour, politics and multi-million-pound business deals, then this is the podcast for you.
(By Yolanthé Fawehinmi)
4. Sport’s Strangest Crimes: A French Football Scandal
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Sport and crime
It’s not often you hear the words crime and sport in the same sentence, but in this 5 Live podcast, Sport’s Strangest Crimes, which is hosted by award-winning comedian Maisie Adam, that’s exactly what happens.
This new eight-part series titled Sport’s Strangest Crimes: A French Football Scandal, gives listeners exclusive access to hear all parts of this gripping story about two Paris Saint-Germain teammates, who become enemies after a terrible assault that impacted both the club and left lives, careers and reputations in ruins.
“As a big football fan myself, this was huge news that sent shockwaves through the industry and I have been following it ever since. I have really enjoyed hosting the podcast and have learnt so much more that I didn’t know about the case,” Adam said.
“It’s an extraordinary story of jealousy, deception and violence that still continues to grip the French public in 2024. As the series develops, we hear many fascinating twists and turns and I can’t wait for listeners to come along with me and discover it for themselves.”
If you like playing judge and jury, check out Sport’s Strangest Crimes: A French Football Scandal, which will be available on BBC Sounds from 12 June.
(By Yolanthé Fawehinmi)
Spotlight on…
5. Killing Justice
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Crime
Innovative. Bold. Necessary. Those are the three words I would use to describe Killing Justice, produced by Crooked Media, hosted by journalist, former Obama staffer and co-host of the Majority 54 podcast, Ravi Gupta.
There’s something about recording audio on location that helps convey both grit and authenticity to listeners. It’s what makes the miniseries about how the death of a judge called Brijgopal Loya, and its impact on the growing political polarisation in India, so compelling.
In the fourth episode, Gupta investigates a trail of documents that experts are still conflicted about what they show. What do these records actually tell us? And how much can we trust them?
But it doesn’t stop there, for all the true crime lovers, as there’s a twist that will get you going. This documentary-style podcast is an insightful offering to the podcast space. I felt like I was right there.
(By Yolanthé Fawehinmi)
6. Class of ’84 : Tina Turner – Private Dancer
Streaming platform: All streaming platforms
Genre: Music
The year 1984 was iconic in pop music and pivotal for many artists, including Tina Turner.
Class of ’84: Tina Turner – Private Dancer is one of a four-part series with Radio 2’s Sounds of the 80s presenter Gary Davies, celebrating the pop geniuses of 1984, including Bruce Springsteen, Prince and Sade, all of which will also be broadcast on Radio 2.
In this episode, Davies takes a look back at the album behind one of pop’s biggest comebacks, the legendary Private Dancer.
It’s an interesting way to talk about how Turner went from finding herself in the pop wilderness after her professional and personal split from her husband Ike Turner in 1976, to inevitably rising like a phoenix from the ashes as the Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll.
The episode produced by Johnny Kalifornia for Listen also features archive news and interview clips and the stories behind such key tracks as What’s Love Got To Do With It, Better Be Good To Me and Private Dancer.
(By Yolanthé Fawehinmi)
