Pick of the week
Bloomin’ Legends
Radio X hosts Johnny Vaughan and Gavin Woods tell the tales of “legendary” historical figures. First up, it’s frontiersman Hugh Glass, who was the inspiration behind The Revenant – an ex-pirate who befriended the Native American tribe the Pawnee and became a professional fur trapper. It’s a banter-packed, laddish ramble that takes in everything from having sex on a pirate ship to why humans are the messiest creature in existence. Alexi Duggins
Episodes weekly, widely available
Close All Tabs
The rise and fall of family vloggers has been the subject of two TV documentaries this year (HBO’s An Update on Our Family, and Devil in the Family on Disney+). It’s just one of the topics covered in this smart internet-themed podcast from tech journalist Morgan Sung, who is “chronically online” so you don’t have to be. Hannah J Davies
Widely available, episodes weekly
Spotlight: Snitch City
This troubling investigation shines a light on the problem the US police system has with confidential informants – and how the secrecy around them lets the cops operate without oversight or regulation. Its journey into the drug war in Massachusetts is a wild ride of illegal searches, police stealing drugs and lives that are totally disrupted. AD
Widely available, episodes weekly
Hidden Histories with Nova Reid
Writer and activist Nova Reid hosts this treasure trove of a podcast, profiling unsung Black women from history. Her subjects include pioneering journalist Barbara Blake-Hannah, civil rights campaigner Olive Morris and Queen Nanny of the Maroons – the freedom fighter whose story takes Reid deep into the origins of Jamaica’s motto, “Out of many, one people”. HJD
Widely available, episodes weekly
Hooligans
“We hated them, we hunted them, we battered them – it was a way of life.” For this scrutinising football podcast, Tony Bellew speaks to “those who fought in the name of the ‘firms’ they believed in” as he delves into the fan hooliganism of the 1970s and 80s – and the darkest night in 1985, when 39 people were killed at the Heysel Stadium. Hollie Richardson
BBC Sounds, all episodes out now
