Okay, here’s the deal. Everyone (not least me) is always complaining they have run out of podcasts. I listen to podcasts with an intensity that could be termed mildly unnerving. It would be good to translate that into sharing the love a bit. So the proposal is this: every week I will send you one long form documentary series, one great episode from a classic show, and something topical. All things I enjoyed and recommend. No more, no less, for free.
Series
Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen (Campsite Media)
Scamming is very now, isn’t it? Very chic. This is one of the best podcasts riding the coat tails of the new generation of scammers. The real life story of an unspecified someone who is setting up fake Hollywood films and then hiring actual professionals (makeup artists, location scouts etc) to travel across the world to work on them. The weirdest thing is, the scam is on a massive scale but the scammer doesn’t actually seem to make any money out of it, or want to. Proper investigative stuff. One for anyone who enjoyed Inventing Anna, the Fire Festival doc, or anything else from the scamming media industrial complex.
Episode
Creature Speakers (Twenty Thousand Hertz)
Twenty Thousand Hertz is a podcast about the stories behind the world’s most famous sounds. This episode is about the people who make the noises for monsters and other sound effects in video games. Amazingly most of the noises you hear are just people (albeit extremely highly trained, talented people). One of those great stories you would never have stopped to think about, but will be glad you did. You don’t need to play video games to enjoy (I certainly don’t because I am too fun and pretty/have very poor hand eye coordination/delete as applicable).
Something Topical
Inside Chernobyl’s Hostage Crisis (The Journal)
The story of the workers taken hostage by Russian forces in Chernobyl. Stuck inside under armed guard and sleeping under coats at their desks, they are aware that they have some power because the Russians do not know how to keep the plant running. So they play the Ukrainian national anthem each morning and unfurl the flag. Incredible story.
Surely you’re becoming The Podcast Reviewer - on top of your day job. And that’s more than a full time job (!!)