Yahoo News Crazy in love with Beyoncé? Here's the show for you – podcasts of the week
Talking points
As podcasting gets more starstudded by the week, expect to see more of the big events you might usually expect from big TV and film launches. Glenn Close hosts a listening party for musical podcast Anthem: Homunculus on 24 November in New York, where all eight hours of the show – featuring Laurie Anderson, Marion Cotillard and experimental South African singer Nakhane among others – will be played to attendees.
Meanwhile, Pods Up North comes to Manchester on 23 November. The one-day conference for podcasters features speakers including BBC Sounds controller Jonathan Wall and actor-cum-pod-maker Craig Parkinson, with sponsorship from Spotify, who continue to make their presence known in the podcasting world.
Picks of the week
From WBEZ Chicago – the network behind Serial and, latterly, Making Obama – comes a new three-part biographical series about the chart-topping, Beyhive-leading, Sasha Fierce-embodying superstar. But just who was Beyoncé Knowles before she was simply Beyoncé? While her father Mathew Knowles feels too strong a presence in this opening episode on her childhood, Making Beyoncé is assured in its storytelling, aided by the fascinating pop-cultural figure at its heart. Hannah J Davies
Cautionary Tales
Economist and journalist Tim Harford’s new podcast looks at the lessons to be learned from history’s biggest mistakes, linking Galileo with the financial crash and the Oscars La La Land blunder along the way. The opening episodes focus on the Torrey Canyon oil-tanker spill and why fixating on goals can lead to disaster, then looks at the psychology tricksters use to win the public over, via Wilhelm Voigt and the Trump-Clinton debate. An impressive cast brings the tales to life, including Russell Tovey and Alan Cumming. Hannah Verdier
Guardian pick: Science Weekly
Everybody loves a David and Goliath tale. And that’s exactly what last week’s episode of Science Weekly is all about. More specifically, we hear from Professor Anthony Pelosi about his close to 30-year journey to have one of psychology’s most influential – and controversial – researchers discredited for work that claimed personality played a bigger part in people’s chances of dying from cancer or heart disease than smoking. The Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, also features in this thought-provoking instalment.
Producer pick: The Latest
Chosen by Max Sanderson
As pioneers of the daily news podcast (well, almost – the Guardian actually pipped them by a decade or so), the New York Times are known for setting precedents with their audio output. It might come as a surprise, then, that their newest podcast isn’t overly original: The Latest is one of a glut of pods following the impeachment proceedings of Donald Trump.
Even so, it rises above the surfeit. With The Daily host Michael Barbaro at the helm, the setup will be pretty familiar to listeners of their other output; a one-on-one interview with a Times journalist plus a healthy dose of archive material. The one difference is that the interview is done ‘on the road’ or, more accurately, in the Times’ Washington Bureau, meaning it feels a little rough around the edges. But at a bite-size six minutes, the first episode gives non-US listeners the necessary overview needed, as well as a sense of the excitement that comes with reporting on such a unique political event.
