The Today Podcast
You might wonder if the Today programme needs its own podcast. Haven’t news junkies had enough after a three-hour show each weekday on Radio 4? In fact, the show’s podcast has managed to carve out its own unique niche. On each episode, Today hosts Nick Robinson and Amol Rajan pluck the most important story from the swirling amorphous mass of the week’s news. Then they take a deep dive into the topic with forensic analysis and interviews with experts.
Take one week of the Gazan conflict. While the Today programme gave us blow-by-blow accounts – a missile that hit Iranian generals, humanitarian aid workers killed, arms embargo discussions – its podcast took all these stories and asked what they meant for the war’s bigger picture. Former chief of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, discussed where he thought the war was headed and what each side was trying to achieve. And an Israeli analyst gave her view on the conflict. The result would give even the most devoted Today programme listener a deeper understanding of the issue.
RADIO
House of the Dragon
SKY ATLANTIC The bloodthirsty fantasy epic returns with Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans joined by newcomers Simon Russell Beale and Freddie Fox. Fiery stuff!
ON THE BOX
Kate Garraway
ITV1
SMOOTH RADIO If you’ve never listened to Smooth Radio, just imagine Classic FM but with the likeable and inoffensive classical music replaced with likeable and inoffensive pop music. Abba, Whitney Houston and Chicago would make up a typical morning playlist.
It’s soothing, nostalgic and… smooth!
At breaking point in a traffic jam? Stressed after an hour in a phone queue? Switch to Smooth and receive an aural dose of dopamine, especially on weekdays from 10am-1pm when you’ll hear the lovely Kate Garraway. The Good Morning Britain host has had a traumatic time recently, but her listeners would never guess it. Kate is warm and jolly; she reads out listeners’ messages with genuine empathy and joyfully relays anecdotes from the day’s news. It’s a happy place for her as well as her listeners.
Douglas is Cancelled
For better or worse, we live in the age of cancel culture, where an off-the-cuff comment or ill-judged tweet can spell career suicide. Bafta-winning screenwriter Steven Moffat’s uproarious new four-part satirical comedy-drama follows the developing maelstrom surrounding a middle-aged news anchor, Douglas Bellowes (Hugh Bonneville), after he makes an ill-judged joke at his cousin’s wedding that is exposed on social media.
our pick
With an unimpeachable 20-year career at the top, Douglas finds his national treasure status under threat in the ensuing digital storm, to the dismay of his newspaper editor wife Sheila (Alex Kingston). Meanwhile, his social media-savvy co-anchor Madeline (Kare
