11 Podcasts To Listen To This Month

Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen

For the past six years, someone – or some group – has been terrorising a certain class of Hollywood workers. Strivers – day players and physical trainers and make-up artists and security guards – receive a phone call or email offering the job of a lifetime. This offer comes from a powerful woman – one of the biggest producers or studio executives in the industry. All these ‘strivers’ have to do is get on a plane, for Jakarta, immediately. But when they land, there’s no producer. There is no movie. It’s all a fraud. This is the incredible true story of one the longest and strangest cons in history. Tag along as two long-time journalists untangle the story of the Hollywood Con Queen scam, and embark upon an obsessive quest to figure out who’s behind it.

Episode Highlight: Cat and Mouse

In episode four of this mini-series, hosts Josh and Vanessa are joined by Nicole, the private investigator, who begins to chip away at some of the scammer's defences. That work also uncovers one incredible secret.

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Sex, Lies And DM Slides

In this new podcast, Gizzi Erskine and Sydney Lima explore the weird, wonderful and sometimes disturbing world of sex and love in the age of social media. Each week, celebrity guests such as Rose McGowan, Ruby Wax, Munroe Bergdorf and Jon Ronson are invited to open up their social media DM boxes to see what lurks within. From extremely inappropriate trolls and niche porn, to extremely awkward sexual encounters, this is a no-holds-barred celebration of the world’s favourite pastime.

Episode Highlight: Lily Allen

To coincide with the launch of her own vibrator, British pop icon Lily Allen talks to Gizzi and Sydney about orgasms and her recent Vegas marriage to Stranger Things star David Harbour. Not one for the faint-hearted.

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Beauty From The Heart

Encouraging warm, meaningful conversations with some of the most inspiring people in the beauty industry, this podcast comes highly recommended by our own beauty ed Becky. Hosted by make-up artist and IT Cosmetics brand ambassador Rose Gallagher, she’s had everyone from Bobbi Brown to Trish McAvoy join her on the airwaves. Most episodes come in around the half-an-hour mark – which makes them the perfect length for your daily lockdown walk.

Episode Highlight: Tales of trusting your gut instinct with Ruby Hammer

In this episode, Rose is joined by one of the world’s most recognised make-up authorities (and friend of SL) Ruby Hammer MBE. Having honed her craft for more than 25 years, she shares some of the most interesting stories from her impressive career – as well as the importance of finding balance and value in our lives.

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Bumble’s ‘My Love Is…’

Dating app Bumble has launched a new podcast hosted by Irene Agbontaen of TTYA London. Each week, Irene is joined by a couple of celebrity guests to discuss dating, relationships and love from a Black British perspective, including Ovie Soko, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Vick Hope. With a new episode every Thursday, the five-episode series will offer relationship advice and address topics around self-love, maximising pleasure, family and societal pressures and how to dodge unrealistic #couplegoals.

Episode Highlight: Fall in love with yourself first with Ovie Soko & Ms Banks

The first episode, available now, features south-east London rapper, singer and songwriter MS Banks and ex-Love Island contestant Ovie Soko. Together, they discuss how a lack of Black representation impacts them, cultural appropriation and perceptions of Black beauty on self-love.

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Ghost Tape

Sad Halloween is over? Horror enthusiasts should tune into Ghost Tape, a fictional story which follows Tessa Dixon at a remote army base in Texas as she deals with the psychological and physical trauma of basic training. When she finds a tape of her grandfather’s labelled ‘Ghost Tape’ and plays the haunting audio, she unknowingly unleashes a deadly manifestation of her own family’s horrible misdeeds. Starring Kiersey Clemons (Antebellum), LA audio firm QCode is behind the series – the same team that brought you The Left Right Game, produced by and starring Tessa Thompson, which was recently acquired by Amazon to be adapted for television.

Episode Highlight: Session 1

In her first session with army psychiatrist Oscar Martinez, Private Tessa Dixon reveals the circumstances surrounding her grandfather's death and why she enlisted in the army.

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Untold Killing

Over the course of a mid-summer week in July 1995, more than 8,000 men and boys were systematically killed in a small Bosnian town called Srebrenica. Untold Killing tells the little-known story of genocide and ethnic cleansing right in the heart of Europe, through the voices of those who survived it. It’s a tale of betrayal, injustice, and what the world’s wilful ignorance towards ethnic persecution leads to. Hosted by Aleksandra Bilić, Untold Killing marks the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.

Episode Highlight: The Siege

During the first episode, listeners are told how the story of the last European genocide started with the Bosnian War in 1992. Tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims fleeing from persecution found their way to Srebrenica, a town where they were meant to be protected. And before genocide was carried out in that very town in 1995, the Muslims survived a siege that lasted for years.

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My Life In Seven Charms

Jeweller and friend of SL, Annoushka Ducas MBE, has been collecting charms for as long as she can remember. Now, in this new podcast, she explores their unique ability to evoke memory and meaning with seven inspiring women, as they reveal their Life In Seven Charms. Featuring some of the biggest names in fashion (think ex-Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman and designer/editor Caroline Issa), tune in to hear never-before-heard stories and behind-the-scenes gossip from one of the world’s most fascinating industries.

Episode Highlight: Alexandra Shulman OBE

An icon in the world of fashion journalism, Alexandra Shulman was British Vogue’s longest-serving editor-in-chief, as well as a successful author. In this candid chat, she reflects on life after Vogue, and unpicks how she balanced that with her other role as a mother.

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Strictly Come Dancing: The Official Podcast

If there’s one thing that might get us through a second lockdown, it’s the glittery goodness that is Strictly Come Dancing. Mega-fans should make sure to tune into the official podcast, where hosts Joe Sugg and Kim Winston share the latest backstage action on the UK’s favourite dance competition.

Episode Highlight: The Class of 2020

This year’s competition is still in its early stages, and you’ve missed out on the action so far, the podcast could help you catch up. In this episode, Joe and Kim chat to presenter Claudia Winkleman and judge Shirley Ballas about the class of 2020, and which contestants they predict could go all the way to win the coveted glitterball trophy.

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The Prime Ministers

It’s almost been 300 years since Sir Robert Walpole arguably became the first holder of the office of prime minister in 1721 – an office which today is under scrutiny like never before. In this astonishingly in-depth series, 55 episodes aim to bring to life all 55 of Britain's PMs through interviews with the authors of all 55 essays in Iain Dale’s new book The Prime Ministers: Three Hundred Years of History. From obscure 18th-century figures like the Earl of Shelburne and Henry Pelham to 20th-century titans like Churchill and Thatcher, the show provides a much-needed reminder about their motivations, failures and achievements.

Episode Highlight: William Ewart Gladstone

In the first episode, Iain Dale talks to historian and Telegraph columnist Simon Heffer about the life of one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, the Liberal William Ewart Gladstone. He served as prime minister for a total of 12 years in four separate terms between 1868 and 1894.

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The Secret Life Of Teachers

At a time when professional educators have never been more important to the progress of a nation, step inside Mehreen Baig’s virtual staffroom to hear what the UK’s teachers really think. Listen in to a weekly discussion about what life is like behind the school gates, and what they really think about your children and parenting skills.

Episode Highlight: Parents’ Evening

Mehreen is joined by three teachers to talk about coming face-to-face with sweary dads and badly-behaved mums and breaking the news to them that their precious child may not be the angel they believe them to be. Would you want your parents’ evening to be conducted via Zoom? Are they still an essential part of the teaching – and parental – experience? Or are they just a waste of time? Here, the experts share their thoughts.

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Who Feeds Us?

As the first Covid-19 lockdown hit the UK in early 2020, our nation – and many others – suddenly looked very different. Supermarket shelves were empty and, for the first time in most people's lives, we started to question how we were going to feed ourselves, and our families. Almost overnight, localised food systems went from being niche fantasies to a vital source of sustenance for many people around the country. In this new podcast series from the team at Farmarama radio, names from all corners of the food industry – from high-end restaurants to the people on the frontlines of the emergency food response – share what the lockdown has meant to them and their communities, as well as how what they are doing helps feed us every day.

Episode Highlight: The Hungry Gap

Featuring insights from some of our favourite foodie names, including chef and cookbook author Skye Gyngell, listen as the experts share their concerns about our modern-day food system – from the strength of close farm-restaurant relationships, the difficulties dairy farmers have faced in the last few decades, the health benefits of local honey, and the need for culturally appropriate food.

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