I love a podcast and recently I have been going through quite a heavy spell of podcast listening. There are some long regulars like The Archers – I know! Had you told me when I first moved to the UK and learned about The Archers that I’d start listening to it several years later and then never stop, I wouldn’t have believed you either! Lol. I still avoid the theme tune like the plague, hence I love listening to the podcast. As soon as the announcer starts to intro it and says “You’re listening to…” he then says the day of week. The whole intro goes, “You’re listening to Sunday’s episode of The Archers from BBC Radio 4” (Sunday just being used for example purposes). So, just as he gets to the day of the week, I hit the forward button and miss the theme music altogether. YAS! Lol. Dunno what it is about the theme tune but it gets on me wick. (Guess what’s playing in my bloody head now! Goddamnit!)
Other regulars are the Friday comedy stuff. Whatever is on rotation for the Friday night comedy for Radio 4, be it The News Quiz, Dead Ringers or The Now Show…or whatever else may be given an airing – usually topical news and/or political satire. Likewise BBC Radio Scotland do Friday comedy as well. I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve been to a recording of Breaking The News. There’s another one for your Holyrood High alumni tick box, Jim – Des Clarke. I think he’s probably as sick of seeing me as you are now. Even saw him out Christmas shopping on Buchanan Street last year. I was out with Birdy but we’d got separated for a bit. Reunited, I said to her “I just saw Des Clarke standing outside Princes Square”, and she was like “who?” Lol. Never mind! Mark Nelson’s The Good, The Bad and The Unexpected is grand too. Pretty sure I saw Mark Nelson in Anniesland one day too. ANYWAYS, I digress!
UPDATE: Thursday – post Breaking The News recording. Continuing this sense of signs hinting to me in no uncertain terms that people are tiring of me – Des wasn’t even hosting it this week! Sorry, Des. You should be fine for the rest of the season. There’s only one for week I’ve applied for and I might be unsuccessful so…I’m sure you’ll be safe to return.
I like a lot of history based things too – You’re Dead To Me and In Our Time have been two regulars, but I have added others to my list recently – The Rest Is History and Why Do We Do That?
I also like a lot of true crime stuff and real life/factual documentaries too. Two of the most compelling true crime podcasts I have been listening to of late have been, bizarrely enough, Glasgow and Australian based. The first is Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer and the other is called Chasing Charlie – which hooked me in by its promise of being quite saucy! Lol. Ding dong – hello!
I also recently listened to The Boy In The Woods – the story of the murder of six year old Rikki Neave near his home on a housing estate in Peterborough and the near 30 year search to find his killer. It was harrowing and riveting in equal measure.
Just to backtrack momentarily on the Bible John podcast. I really knew nothing of the history of the case, other than the name the murderer was given and the link to the Barrowland Ballroom – that was all I knew. The podcast doesn’t concentrate on what we know about the killer (what very little IS known) and that aspect of the case, but looks into the lives of the victims, Patricia Docker, Jemima MacDonald and Helen Puttock, and talks to their family members and paints a picture of their lives. In the most recent episode, the investigation led by Joe Beattie is looked into. There is a very human and real way Audrey Gillan has looked into the case. It’s very poignant and not sensationalist. I’m sure Simple Minds probably didn’t really consider or even realise what a change in the fortunes of the Barras they would bring about by filming the Waterfront video there, that this thing wasn’t really foremost in Jim’s mind when they chose it – not necessarily when it comes to Bible John and the ballroom once again being a force for good and for positivity but it is FANTASTIC that hardly ever does that association of the Barrowland Ballroom and Bible John ever happen now. The venue is such a force for good these days. No stigma attached. No thought of it being used as a serial killer’s hunting ground.
Finally, Monday nights are “spooky night” with the latest episode of The Witch Farm being available. From the team who gave us The Battersea Poltergeist and Uncanny – Danny Robins presents us with the story of Liz and Bill Rich and their young family who settle in for a new life in the Brecon Beacons in Wales in the late 1980s at a farmhouse called Hael Fanog. What happens to the family in the proceeding years is pretty damned scary!
I find podcasts absolutely wonderful and much better than TV. I’ve added links where appropriate. Let me know what you guys are into right now – all three of you that visit regularly. ??