[TobyD]

Cautionary Tales has a great Halloween episode on the statistics of trick or treaters being poisoned.

[TobyD]

Disaster Trolls
A really good series of investigative journalism programs, all about 15 minutes long, on the people who spread conspiracy theories about terrorist incidents having been fabricated. Marianna Spring is a good presenter and excellent journalist. It's on BBC sounds.

[Falling Down]

Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark is Rising’ adapted (by Robert McFarlane for Radio. 12 episodes over Christmas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4lzn?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

It started after a great Backlisted episode a couple of years back.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/backlisted/id1063252175?i=1000503447742

[owensum]

Susan Cooper’s ‘The Dark is Rising’ adapted (by Robert McFarlane for Radio. 12 episodes over Christmas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4lzn?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Absolutely loved this book series when I was younger

[SA Chris]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b04fh2sw

These are all good light entertainment, some are hilarious.

[Bradders]

Have a few very long, solo, drives coming up and will need some entertainment. Any recommendations for good comedy shows / podcasts available for free / on Spotify?

Or investigative journalism?

Really enjoyed The Missing Cryptoqueen recently so anything similar would be great. As an aside, this is a pretty incredible story!

Also enjoying The Rest is History atm.

[tk421a]

Have a few very long, solo, drives coming up and will need some entertainment. Any recommendations for good comedy shows / podcasts available for free / on Spotify?

Or investigative journalism?

Really enjoyed The Missing Cryptoqueen recently so anything similar would be great. As an aside, this is a pretty incredible story!

Also enjoying The Rest is History atm.

Empire would be an obvious suggestion as a sister pod to The Rest is History.

[Duncan campbell]

I really enjoyed the series about Shamima Begum recently.

Also apparently the witch trial of JK Rowling is an interesting look into the scene around her Anti-trans comments.

I haven’t actually listened to it yet though

[Fultonius]

Lex Fridman can be good for long drives, some of his podcasts are 4+ hrs!

[Doug]

True crime:
The Lazarus Heist - Season 1 was about North Korean hackers stealing $1bn from Bangladesh Bank.

Drug Ship: The Last Voyage of Pong Su - A North Korean ship tries to smuggle $100m of heroin into Australia.

Quirky investigative:
The Mystery Show - stand alone episodes as Starlee Kine solves a minor mystery which cannot be solved with search engines alone. It was critically acclaimed and then axed after one season for being "unsustainable".

Comedy:
The Parapod - A paranormal believer is questioned by a logical skeptic; both are stand up comedians. Start at the very first episode as the friendship deepens over time and the show finds its feet. It also often includes call backs to previous discussions.

Lengthy:
Hardcore History - Dan Carlin talks for 4+ hours at a time. There's a limited free library of them and then they go behind a paywall but for an example in the free stuff you can get his six episodes on Japan that will last for you nearly 26 hours.

[lukeyboy]

Have a few very long, solo, drives coming up and will need some entertainment. Any recommendations for good comedy shows / podcasts available for free / on Spotify?

Or investigative journalism?

Really enjoyed The Missing Cryptoqueen recently so anything similar would be great. As an aside, this is a pretty incredible story!

Also enjoying The Rest is History atm.

One of the original podcasts, but in case you don't already listen to it then The Bugle is brilliant (IMO). Political satire / absurdism and puns on a frankly shameless level. Andy Zaltzmann hosts with a fairly regular series of guests.

Not comedy or investigative journalism (sorry) but one I started listening to recently and have really enjoyed is Add To Playlist. It's quite a geeky and eclectic music show, with Cerys Matthews of BBC 6 Music and a couple of musician guests, often classical instrumentalists. They go deep into a piece of music and discuss the structure / story of it, then find a link to another (usually very different) piece. If you're into music then I think you'd enjoy it, and it's quite a nice change from other podcasts I listen to.

Finally, Freakonomics is quite a good one, with well researched and produced episodes focusing on a specific topic or phenomenon. Usually quite US-centric.

Report back if you give any of them a try, and let me know what you think!

[joel182]

Lengthy:
Hardcore History - Dan Carlin talks for 4+ hours at a time. There's a limited free library of them and then they go behind a paywall but for an example in the free stuff you can get his six episodes on Japan that will last for you nearly 26 hours.

Carlin is really great. It's a shame that his Blueprint for Armageddon series is no longer free. An incredible deep dive into the First World War that really contextualised a load of vague memories from school and left me with a really love for history. Well worth the price if it sounds of interest.

His episode on the transatlantic slave trade is great too.

I think Hardcore History is a terrible name for the podcasts, making them sound kind of sensationalised when they are actually very deep and empathetic dives into really challenging parts of history.

Or investigative journalism?

Really enjoyed The Missing Cryptoqueen recently so anything similar would be great. As an aside, this is a pretty incredible story!

 


Maybe The Last Days of August by Jon Ronson? A very typically Jon Ronson style investigation into the pr0n industy and the suicide of actress August Ames. It feels like it brings together his work on both The Butterfly Effect and on his book on public shaming.

[slab_happy]

Thirding the Hardcore History rec, and it will fill as many hours as you have!

I remember The Assassination (on the murder of Benazir Bhutto) as being great:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05r6cgx/episodes/downloads

Londongrad (on the Lebedevs) is shorter but fascinating.

[seankenny]

Have you tried “Conversations with Tyler”? US economist Tyler Cowen asks interesting people some very good questions. Warning - they aren’t that long! But they aren’t full of boring guff either and there are plenty to choose from.

[Bradders]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Showing my podcast naivety I'd never heard of The Bugle! Enjoy Andy Zaltzmann on The News Quiz so that's perfect. Loads of others to go at to. Cheers!

[Stabbsy]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Showing my podcast naivety I'd never heard of The Bugle! Enjoy Andy Zaltzmann on The News Quiz so that's perfect. Loads of others to go at to. Cheers!

If you end up enjoying the Bugle, I’d recommend going back to the older ones where it was Andy and John Oliver hosting. The current stuff is good, but the older stuff was often excellent.

[andy moles]

Really enjoyed The Missing Cryptoqueen recently so anything similar would be great. As an aside, this is a pretty incredible story!

This kept me gripped for a 10 hour drive recently, so good. I didn't realise when I started listening that events are still unfolding and that the latest episode is well overdue. I wonder if the FBI or other authority has pressed them into not broadcasting?

[Duncan campbell]

Have you listened to the one about Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos?

It’s called the drop out. I listened to it at a similar time to the missing cryptoqueen and it felt similar sort of vibes.

[Bradders]

Have you listened to the one about Elizabeth Holmes and her company Theranos?

It’s called the drop out. I listened to it at a similar time to the missing cryptoqueen and it felt similar sort of vibes.

Good shout, cheers!

Really enjoyed The Missing Cryptoqueen recently so anything similar would be great. As an aside, this is a pretty incredible story!

This kept me gripped for a 10 hour drive recently, so good. I didn't realise when I started listening that events are still unfolding and that the latest episode is well overdue. I wonder if the FBI or other authority has pressed them into not broadcasting?

I mean let's face it, she's surely swimming with the fishes by now!

[andy moles]

I mean let's face it, she's surely swimming with the fishes by now!

I assumed that for quite a while, but then some of what was said in the more recent ones made it sound like the Feds believed she was alive. Though that in itself could have finally done for her, who knows.

[Bradders]

Quite a scary thought really isn't it; someone, somewhere, knows where she is / what happened to her.

[duncan]

A trio for the 20th anniversary of the Iraq invasion.

Shock and War: the background to, conduct and legacy of the Iraq invasion presented by Gordon Corera who was the Today programme's foreign correspondent and on the ground at the time: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001k0ch

This covers some of the same territory as The Fault Line: Bush, Blair and Iraq, previously recommended on the run-up to and 'selling' of the war. https://somethinelse.com/projects/the-fault-line-bush-blair-and-iraq/

Alistair Campbell's perspective on The Rest is Politics: https://shows.acast.com/the-rest-is-politics/episodes/iraq-20-years-on

[tommytwotone]

True crime:
The Lazarus Heist - Season 1 was about North Korean hackers stealing $1bn from Bangladesh Bank.

Just to say thanks for this one, it's kept me going over the Bank Holiday!

[csl]

True crime:
The Lazarus Heist - Season 1 was about North Korean hackers stealing $1bn from Bangladesh Bank.

Just to say thanks for this one, it's kept me going over the Bank Holiday!

If you liked this then give Darknet Diaries a go - presenter is a little irritating but the content is very good. Episode 101: Loteria is a good starter.

[Teaboy]

I’ve really enjoyed Season 25 of British Scandal (I’ve not listened to any other season of this) about the Cambridge spy ring.
Although it’s hard not to get annoyed about a group of people promoted to positions where they can do immense damage to the country based on nothing more than an old school tie and people believing they are ‘the right sort’ and then having their misdeeds excused by a network of friends of a similar ilk. Glad those days are behind us….