10 New Podcasts Our Lifestyle Editor Is Loving
Dr. Death: Bad Magic
Series one of Dr. Death had me hooked when it dropped three years ago. It told the story of Christopher Duntsch, a psychopathic neurosurgeon who took life and death into his own hands. Now, series four explores another criminal in the medical world – a young charismatic doctor who claimed to have discovered treatments for cancer and HIV. As patients around the world turned to him for their last chance, medical experts praised his genius. The company he co-founded rocketed in value to over half a billion dollars, but when a team of researchers made a startling discovery, his story unravelled. It’s another podcast that asks the question: how has yet another phony entrepreneur (see Elizabeth Holmes) managed to deceive so many?
The Upshot
Interested in the personal lives of sportsmen more than the sport itself? Think David Beckham’s alleged cheating and Kyle Walker’s off-pitch antics. The Upshot is a weekly newsletter that pulls back the curtain on sports personalities and dives into everything Sky Sports wouldn’t touch with a bargepole: drunken antics, dressing room squabbles and more. The team’s podcast gives the most entertaining topics the airtime they deserve. After watching Beckham on Netflix, I was keen to listen to The Upshot guys chat about the controversies that didn’t make it into the doc. Then I binged the episodes on Tiger Woods, Wayne Rooney and Shane Warne – full of hilarious stories, all ‘allegedly’ of course.
Smoke Screen: My Fugitive Dad
Smoke Screen is an investigative series about people with complex motives and morals. It follows people on the edge of society: con artists, cult leaders, corrupt politicians. In the eighth series, journalist Jonathan Hirsch interviews Ashley Randele about her dad – a man who would become Ohio’s most infamous fugitive. To Ashley, he was the loving father who drove fast cars and sold them for a living. But at 38, she found out he wasn’t who he said he was. Inspired by his favourite movie The Thomas Crown Affair, he had pulled off a robbery in Cleveland then disappeared. It turns out he evaded the authorities for half a century, living in a sleepy Massachusetts town. Another story that sounds too crazy to be true…
Courtroom Drama
If, like me, you find celebrity court cases fascinating, this podcast will be right up your street. Broadcaster and presenter Jackie Adedeji speaks to barristers and other experts to dive into high-profile cases, dissecting the drama in and outside the court. Current episodes cover Johnny Depp vs Amber Heard, Gwyneth Paltrow’s notorious ski crash case, and Rebekah Vardy vs Coolen Rooney – surely the UK’s most bizarre and entertaining celebrity case of the last decade. Plus, don’t miss the episode in which Jackie dissects Kate Winslet’s 2009 libel trial against the Daily Mail.
Noted
Journalist and presenter Mary Mandefield’s series makes sense of the biggest talking points in news and culture. From unregulated surgery to buying weapons on TikTok, she investigates the topics circulating in group chats and on social media. Mary is joined by experts who offer insights on each topic – we particularly enjoyed the episode on Ozempic, the ‘skinny jab’ A-listers like Oprah Winfrey have recently used for weight loss. She asks whether it’s safe, what the long-term effects are, and how trends have changed how we think about our bodies.
Catching The Kingpins
A few months ago, I became fascinated by a story that sounded like something straight out of Line of Duty. In 2020, police in France penetrated an encrypted phone network called EncroChat that was used exclusively by criminals. For months, police forces across Europe were reading the secret communications of major criminal networks, with the Met working to take down the biggest kingpins. This series includes exclusive interviews with police officers at the heart of the operation, detailing how they used the gangsters’ messages to uncover arms dealing and expose murder plots as well as major drug trafficking and money laundering operations.
Vision of Health
2024 is the year I want to take my health more seriously, so I’ve been dabbling in various podcasts on the topic, including this new series by Dr Frankie Jackson-Spence. Each week she’s joined by an expert to chat about various topics, including nutrition, sleep, the immune system and mental health. This might sound broad, but think of each episode as a good place to start on some of the industry’s biggest topics. Don’t miss the ep with Alice Liveing on the difference between a good body and good health, in which she debunks diet myths and explains how to achieve balance and a positive mindset.
What a Combo!
If you like Grace Dent’s Comfort Eating, this podcast follows a similar format, but with even more bizarre food confessions. Comedian Fern Brady interviews some of her famous pals while tucking into a feast of good (and very bad) food combos – think fries in a milkshake and Bombay mix over ice-cream. She chats to each guest over three dishes: their perfect snacking combo, a wild combo (the bizarre one they’ve never admitted) and a ‘twisted combo’ cooked up by food scientists. Guests so far have included chef Big Has, Nadiya Hussain and comedian Ivo Graham.
June: Voice of a Silent Twin
Not all true crime podcasts are worth the listen, but this series is truly gripping. It tells the story of identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons. Growing up in 1970s Wales, they only spoke to each other and quickly became isolated from the outside world. After a short infatuation with some boys, they were driven by heartache and revenge to a five-week crime spree. Aged just 19, they became the youngest women in Broadmoor Secure Psychiatric Hospital. This is the story of their crimes and their release that ended in tragedy.
Nothing to Wear
Aussie journalist and beauty fanatic Leigh Campbell hosts this fashion series featuring guest appearance from experts and some of her celeb pals. Each episode is based on a different fashion tip or question: ‘How to wear sneakers with everything’, ‘Shopping hacks that actually save you money’ and ‘What not to buy in the sales’. With useful tips and takeaways, it’ll help inform your 2024 shopping habits and let you know where to save – and splurge. I particularly enjoyed like the episode with Trinny Woodall on fashion mistakes and wearing colour with confidence.
DISCLAIMER: We endeavour to always credit the correct original source of every image we use. If you think a credit may be incorrect, please contact us at info@sheerluxe.com.