Barack Obama has become a podcast mainstay, and his latest Audible show, produced through his and Michelle's company Higher Ground, is a six-part series about the books that have inspired him, from James Baldwin to John le Carré. The first guest is Tom Hanks, who joins him for a frank chat on parenting and family, prompted by Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer-winning novel Gilead.
Other Podcast Highlights
Milo Edwards hosts Public Apology, a lively new series with Sophie Garrad and Ed Campbell that explores public scandals. The range of subject matters is illustrated by the first two episodes: the Profumo affair and the boyband Blue. The show asks why some scandals ruin lives while others seem to be forgotten almost instantly.
Investigating a Famous Rumour
Gerbil attempts to apply rigorous journalism to the infamous rumour that Richard Gere arrived at hospital asking for the removal of a gerbil. The show meets Gere superfans, tries to track down ex-doctors, and speaks to a gay rights activist who explains how similar rumours have a track record of being used as homophobic slurs.
Personal Stories and True Crime
Reaching Out, a Futuro podcast, was called "the best new show I've heard in years" by This American Life's Ira Glass. Sayre Quevedo's very personal story of his search for his absent dad is poetic, profound and witty, spiked with pandemic loneliness, sibling love and queer yearning.
Death of an Artist opens with unanswered voicemail messages that get increasingly frantic, until someone picks up the phone and confirms that its owners are dead. Slow Burn host Leon Neyfakh and his journalist wife Alice Gregory tell the tale of Petra and Michael Mathers, a celebrated kids' book creator and photographer whose double suicide in their 70s shocked the world.
