The week in radio and podcasts: Radio Garden; The Archers; Steven Benedict

Radio Garden
The Archers (R4) | iPlayer
Steven Benedict (podcast)

How are you using your time? If you’re not busy writing the new King Lear – and those of us sharing our self-isolation space with quaran-teens and pre-teens are unlikely to be churning out masterpieces – then cooking, or cleaning, or sorting out the drawer of doom are some of your main at-home, busy-busy options. Which is where audio comes in. Podcasts, once the in-ear accompaniment to the commute and the gym workout, can liven up household chores immensely. Radio makes you feel as though you’re in touch with the outside world (if you fancy that). Plus, if you actually have The Virus (I currently do), then you’ll find that going up and downstairs with too much purpose requires a lie-down afterwards. Listening in bed is entirely allowed.

A friend has found a lovely app: Radio Garden. Tap on it and you see a virtual globe with twinkling lights on it. Each light is a radio station and you can listen in. Many are, boringly, in English, French or Spanish (ah, colonialism), most play terrible international pop, but there are several that are more local and broadcast some great music. I can recommend La Voz del Chaco Paraguayo in Paraguay (around 9am our time), Radio RNA, from Madagascar, and Senegal’s RTS Kolda FM92.2. Also, Radio Krokom in Sweden, if weird oompah is your thing. But the joy, really, is in the spinning of the globe and landing who knows where. It reminds me a bit of ye olde radio knob-twiddling in order to hear strange shortwave stations. Plus, if you’re careful to choose places where you don’t understand the language, you don’t get any annoying virus speculation.

Aside from that, if you want to avoid corona-chat, then The Archers is still operating in a world where Covid-19 has yet to materialise. In Ambridge, life trundles on, mostly boringly – much fuss about whether Adam should crack on with “drilling the spring barley” (me neither) – but the saga of the explosion at Grey Gables has taken a suddenly sinister turn. Philip Moss, about to marry the much-liked Kirsty Miller, has revealed himself to be a swine and a rotter.

In a truly horrible scene on Tuesday, Philip, who runs a building firm, smoothly bullied his young employee Blake. Poor Blake is lying in bed, having broken his back in the explosion. It was Blake who caused it, we know, by using petrol as a solvent and turning on a grill. Now it turns out that he was using the petrol on Philip’s son’s advice, and he only switched on the grill because he was hungry and wanted to make toast. “I hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before,” he said to Philip, desperately. Philip wasn’t interested, insisting that Blake “stick to the story” – which is that it was Blake’s decision to use petrol, to save cash. “Yes, Mr Moss,” agreed Blake, sadly.

In a somewhat unlikely plot twist, we now realise that Philip has three workers – Blake, Kenzie and Jordan – who were once on the streets. He’s making them work like dogs for little money, and hardly any food. Boo! Hiss! Suddenly Philip couldn’t be more of a panto villain if his surname were Green. And, yes, it’s strange when contemporary slavery becomes a respite from the real world, but that is where we are. (Did I say the plot twist was somewhat unlikely? How old-fashioned of me.)

Finally, for those of you who are working your way through old DVDs, or trying out movies you never got round to watching, may I recommend a great film podcast, Steven Benedict. Yes, that’s both the title of the podcast and the presenter’s name. Benedict, a lecturer from Ireland, has made 401 shows (he’s just finished), each one only 15 minutes long and based around a classic film, from Wall-E to The Conversation. Benedict isn’t a natural podcaster – his voice is a bit flat – but what he does brilliantly is focus on a single aspect of the film in question, such as walking, or equipment, or failure, or a particular historical situation. Every show reveals a new angle and makes you want to see the film straight away, even if you’ve watched it a hundred times. Happy culturing, isolaters.

Three shows to raise a smile

Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Yes, yet another “celebrity chats to a mate” show. And aspects of it are incredibly annoying: the fact that each celeb has to say “I feel” so-and-so “about being Conan O’Brien’s friend”; the constantly guffawing sidekicks; O’Brien’s slight competitiveness with his guests. But this podcast makes the grade simply because of the David Sedaris episode. Sedaris is a comic genius, and the conversation between him and O’Brien gradually develops into a beautiful, beautifully funny thing. Their discussion around whether Barack Obama is circumcised has the potential to make your day.

Union Jack Radio #standuptocorona
What with all the comedy venues being shut, there are several comedians twiddling their thumbs wondering what they’re going to do for a) money and b) attention. So well done Union Jack Radio, a small station that always punches above its weight. It has set up a standup show at 7pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays offering classic sketches, clips from people such as Ed Byrne, Rhona Cameron, Omid Djalili, mostly recorded at London comedy club Jongleurs in the 1990s, plus contemporary recordings from newer comedians stuck at home wondering what to do.

The John Dredge Nothing to Do With Anything Show
Series five of this engagingly silly podcast begins with John Dredge arriving a little late. His producer lands through the roof. With features such as John Dredge Talks to the Furniture (yes, that), Dredge Daren’t (where he refuses to perform any scary stunts) and, apparently, Frank Sinatra sawing Big Ben in half accompanied by a goat on the piano, this is a very daft listen, for those who like Milton Jones and the Beef and Dairy Podcast. Wonderfully produced and refreshingly ridiculous.