Nihal Arthanayake (BBC 5Live) | BBC Sounds
Drive (BBC 5Live) | BBC Sounds
Iain Dale (LBC)
30 Animals That Made Us Smarter (World Service) | BBC Sounds
What with Brexit morphing into a never-ending story, you can tune in and out as you wish. Click on to Nihal Arthanayake’s afternoon show and hear the prime minister in parliament “giving way” and “being grateful” to various honourable ladies and gentlemen, as they make varied points of various Brexity significance: “Is it his and the government’s intention that we will negotiate on the basis that Northern Ireland will be treated exactly the same as… Kent?” (Thanks, Iain Duncan Smith!) Check in again at teatime and Tony Livesey on Drive will inform you that there are going to be two important parliamentary votes, the first at 7pm: “We’re led to believe that arm-twisting, arm-pulling, hair-pulling, whatever you want to call it, will go on right up to the last minute.”
Go out for dinner and hop on to LBC when you get back for Iain Dale talking to callers about what’s been going on: “This is embarrassing for your country, Europe and the whole world is looking on and we’re wondering where your bulldog spirit has gone,” says Igor. (Dale tells him off when he uses the word traitor: ”I’ve got my hand triggered over the fade button here, it’s the political equivalent of swearing!”) Then start again the next day…
Anyway, now that Brexit has become the cold war, there are a few ways you can go. You can become obsessed, flipping between Radio 4, 5 Live, LBC and whichever other radio station is hosting a phone-in about how long is too long to consider a Brexit bill (I liked the caller on Nicky Campbell’s Wednesday morning show who said: “Three days is LOADS of time to consider that proposal, have they never worked in business?”). Or you can widen your focus, take in some history (the World Service has an interesting new series, The Cold War Legacy, and there’s the eminently bingeable 10-part Tunnel 29, about a Berlin Wall escape). Or you can go the way of all internet users in dark times and stop checking rolling news in favour of checking on cute animals.
For this last, I can recommend the World Service podcast 30 Animals That Made Us Smarter. This has just come to an end, after – yes – 30 episodes, with a final show recorded in front of an audience. Very different from the previous 29 eps, the live show had presenter Patrick Aryee at the BBC Radio Theatre in London, talking to various guests, including a scorpion and tarantula (OK, not talking to, but describing and talking to their handlers), as well as experts.
He had a nice rapport with the audience, getting them to play obscure animal bingo and sing sounds to be used as music later. Their enthusiasm showed the popularity of the everyday episodes, which are short, clear and straightforward, usually simply an informative script delivered nicely by Aryee, highlighted by music by Dan Pollard and wildlife recording from Chris Watson.
I enjoyed discovering how octupuses have inspired scientists to create a second skin material that changes colour according to its environment. Other episodes talk about how cod inspired antifreeze, how termite mountains gave architects ideas about building ventilation, how mosquitoes have helped us design better injection needles and how sharks aid hospitals to reduce bacterial infection. This is a great show for anyone, but especially for kids in years 3-7.
As a side point, all this Brexit faff has led to a positive uptick in radio listening. Last week’s Rajar showed big gains for Nick Ferrari’s breakfast show on LBC, now with 1.5 million listeners, as well as Eddie Mair (865,000). Greg James’s Radio 1 breakfast show is doing well, as is 1Xtra’s Dotty. Heart’s gamble on Amanda Holden’s partnership with Jamie Theakston appears to have worked, with the show now the biggest commercial breakfast show in the UK (4.6 million weekly listeners). Kisstory is the UK’s biggest digital-only station, up 18% in a year to 2.16 million listeners.
And Oxford’s Jack radio brand had a staggering leap in reach of 80%. Its stations Union Jack and Jack Radio started small but are doing exceptionally well, so congratulations to them.
Three podcasts about addiction and recovery
Hooked: The Unexpected Addicts
Melissa and Jade won the first ever Rachael Bland New Podcast award, an award launched in honour of the 5 Live presenter who died from breast cancer last year. Their idea – to make a series about recovery and addiction – is a strong one, and they’re both natural presenters. The first episode told their own histories, the second, out this week, featured an excellent interview with Richard Bacon that made tabloid headlines. Both Melissa and Jade are early in their recovery and their gratefulness for their sobriety shines through.
Mae Martin’s Guide to 21st Century Addiction
Martin is a Canadian comedian who made a two-part series for Radio 4 in 2017, the year she was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy award. Her standup discusses whether obsession leads to addiction, and why certain people are more susceptible to becoming addicts than others. The shows aren’t really standup, more funny lectures about her life, with Martin interviewing experts and people that she was obsessed with as a child. “You’d send gifts backstage,” says one patient actor. “On my birthday you sent me a poster of vegetables.”
Seltzer Squad
I was going to recommend the sweet Radio 4 comedy Love in Recovery, set in an AA meeting and featuring Sue Johnston, Johnny Vegas, Paul Kaye and John Hannah, but despite its two series, it’s been taken down from Listen Again. So instead I’ll recommend Seltzer Squad – Staying Sober in the City, which is a very US podcast featuring two indistinguishable, vocally fried city girls, Jes Valentine and Kate Zander. They’re annoying – there’s a lot of “squad questions” and “I don’t want to be a bitch but” talk, but they cover all the good stuff in nifty 15-minute episodes.
