Picks of the week
Deep Cover: The Drug Wars
The Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern is your host for the story of an FBI agent who went undercover and unearthed more than he bargained for. Agent Ned Timmons made friends with a wannabe country music star and infiltrated a gang of bikers, spending years in their midst. As the story unfolds, there’s a chilli cook-off, a boat full of marijuana and a trail that will lead to Panama. It’s an incredible story and one that’s told well with witnesses from both sides. Hannah Verdier
My Dad the Spy (from 28 Jul)
Stewart Copeland, formerly the drummer of the Police, begins his new podcast by spinning a meandering yarn about his childhood as an American in Beirut (a “spoiled” existence, according to his sister Lennie), with occasional tangents about hummus. Slowly, another subject comes to the fore: politics, and the truth about his CIA operative father (“he was James Bond, or so I thought”). Bringing together readings from Copeland Sr, now-declassified government records and Copeland’s own eccentric memories, it offers an offbeat, personal take on history. Hannah J Davies
Guardian Pick: Innermost
In the fifth episode of our Innermost series, Leah Green hears from Felix*, who has struggled with addiction, and bird-loving Francine* about how they have experienced recent bouts of loneliness. (*Names in this week’s episode have been changed.)
Producer pick: The Bellingcat Podcast Season 2 – The Executions
Chosen by Max Sanderson
Bellingcat is a collective that includes citizen journalists from around the world who use open-source journalism and a “sum is greater than the parts” ethos to investigate some of the most shocking global stories – think arms sales, drug cartels and serious human rights abuses. The stakes are high.
In their podcast they have teamed up with the audio company Novel to shape their reporting into true-crime-like narratives that take you deep into the drama and emotion of their unique style of investigation. The first season dealt with the grisly story of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). When it came out last year, it was one of the first UK-made serial podcasts I had heard that got close to matching the production and storytelling slickness of the big US podcast series.
This new mini-season, also narrated by the Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, tells the story of how Bellingcat’s open-source approach enabled them to search for the truth behind a video that appeared to show a massacre. Season two is no less dark than season one, but also no less compelling, and you can hear how, in Bellingcat’s approach to investigations, every single clue has a value no matter how small, as they move ever closer to uncover the truth.
Talking points
The New York Times has splashed out $25m (£20m) on the production company behind the hugely successful Serial and S-Town podcasts. Serial Productions is led by Julie Snyder, Sarah Koenig and Neil Drumming and was spun-off from NPR’s This American Life, which the NYT has also entered into “an ongoing creative and strategic alliance”. Sam Dolnick, assistant managing editor at the NYT, told Hot Pod: “We’re thinking about Serial Productions as being adjacent to the Times newsroom … Operationally, they’re going to be distinct for a while; as the partnership unfolds, I think we’re all excited about different kinds of collaborations that we can do, but that’s not day one.”
Why not try: Nice White Parents | Hay festival: Season Two | Mama Knows Best
