Picks of the week
Dua Lipa: At Your Service
Widely available, episodes weekly
Does the world really need another celebrity interview podcast? If Lipa’s involved, the answer is yes. Not content with being one of the world’s finest pop stars – and launching her Service95 newsletter – we get this thoughtful batch of interviews; a far cry from the interruption-filled rambling of some celebrity pods. First up, the creative director of Balmain, Olivier Rousteing, talking about overcoming obstacles to get where he is today.
Hannah Verdier
The History of Marvel Comics: Black Panther
Widely available, episodes weekly
Nic Stone’s six-parter offers the official history of T’Challa, Marvel’s first Black superhero, starting with his 1966 debut against the backdrop of the civil rights movement. She promises “untold stories, missteps, twists and turns”, plus exclusive interviews with creators and the story of how Kamala Harris gave the Black Panther her approval.
HV
Shamima Begum: The Blame Game
Widely available, all eps out now
Seven years after leaving London to join Isis in Syria, Shamima Begum (now 22 years old) is a figure of hate for many people in the UK. As she remains in a detention camp, ITV journalist Rohit Kachroo unpicks her complicated case from the start, compiling extensive archive, testimonies and exclusive interviews.
Hollie Richardson
Bad Vibes
Spotify, episodes weekly
TikTok’s finest Talia Lichtstein and Alexis Barber are sick of people trying to pander to gen Z, so they’ve launched an unfiltered podcast under the Betches umbrella (which will make anyone born before the mid-90s feel ancient). Their offer to verbally rip Joe Rogan apart is suitably bold, as are their opinions on sex.
HV
Trapped in Treatment
Widely available, episodes weekly
Correcting “troubled teens” is big business in the US but, as Paris Hilton found out, the programmes can involve overmedication and physical abuse. Hilton is fighting for change and the way she describes being dragged out of her bed and taken to Provo Canyon treatment facility in the first episode should be enough to put a spotlight on the issue.
HV
Producer pick: Science Vs: Joe Rogan: The Malone Interview
Chosen by George Cooper
After outrage at Joe Rogan’s controversial interview with virologist Dr Robert Malone, the latest podcast from Science Vs looks to debunk the claims made during the podcast.
Gimlet, itself owned by Spotify, produces Science Vs: a fun, irreverent podcast that combines science with humour. In the episode, Science Vs: Joe Rogan, host Wendy Zukerman quickly addresses the “elephant in the room”, having written to the Spotify CEO, calling the decision to support Rogan a “slap in the face”. From now, Science Vs will only make new episodes that aim to debunk misinformation on the platform. Will it make a difference? Who knows? But it’s an admirable stance regardless.
Rather than doing a deep dive into each of the examples of supposed misinformation that the Science Vs team counted in the episode, they choose a few claims to focus on. Using these, Zukerman and her producer instead explore how data and information can be manipulated and focused to present something very different from the whole picture, from cherry picking your samples to using anecdotal evidence instead of facts. If you’ve ever wondered how to counter some of these kinds of claims, it’s certainly a useful tool to know where they come from.
Talking points
Love a TV companion podcast? The upcoming final season of BBC shows Killing Eve and Peaky Blinders will be accompanied by the return of the Obsessed With ... podcast series. And they’re trying something a bit different this time – BBC Three will air live recordings of the pods after the TV episodes.
Why not try: Conversations with People Who Hate Me | Are you Michelle from Skins?
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