From a spirituality podcast hosted by Lee Mack to Chameleon, No Passion No Point and Goodbye To All This, the best podcasts to listen to this week
Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen
I love podcasts about glamorous scammers, and this is one of the best. Hosted by two American investigative journalists, the show is about a conwoman who impersonates high-powered figures in the film industry.
Each scam starts similarly: a victim is called up and offered the Hollywood job of a lifetime, with one condition – that they fly to Jakarta to accept it. Gripping and addictive.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha
This isn’t the podcast I would have imagined Lee Mack hosting, but it’s a pleasant surprise. In each episode the comedian chats to his old friend Neil about Buddhism, from the difficulties of meditation to veganism.
In each episode the Lee Mack chats to his old friend Neil about Buddhism, from the difficulties of meditation to veganism
For a spirituality podcast, it’s not unbearably woo-woo, and Mack’s vigorous humour cuts through the mist.
No Passion No Point
Legendary sports promoter Eddie Hearn has a recent season out of his smashing BBC podcast, in which he meets top sportspeople. The chat with sprinter Dina Asher-Smith is a total joy, and Hearn is a natural: funny, personable, curious, though he lacks tech skills.
Legendary sports promoter Eddie Hearn (above) has a recent season out of his smashing BBC podcast, in which he meets top sportspeople
In the interview with Dina, his laptop dies suddenly, and the conversation never quite recovers.
Goodbye To All This
Nine years ago, Australian journalist Sophie Townsend lost her husband Russell to lung cancer. In this new 12-part podcast from the World Service, she explores how she survived such grief and raised her and Russell’s two daughters without their dad.
The 12-part series – with deep feeling and dark humour – is lyrical, beautifully made and an exceptionally moving study of loss.