Radio
The problem with podcasts
Can anything serious come from podcasts, asks Sam Kriss
Perfect radio for a nation of grumblers: Radio 4’s Room 101 with Paul Merton reviewed
Welcome back to Room 101, which has returned to the radio – after nearly 30 years on TV – and…
Looking for a male role model? Check out the silverback gorilla
One so often hears about famous people who are horrible when they think no one important is looking – barking…
Prayer for the Day is the best thing to wake up to
As the owner of a radio alarm clock, I could theoretically start listening to the Today programme before I’m even…
The genius of More or Less
In a week of slim audio pickings, I spent time reacquainting myself with some of the BBC classics and can…
BBC radio has excelled itself over the past week
Listening to BBC Radios 3 and 4 over the past week has been like meeting an old friend who, after…
Why we must defend Radio 3 from threatened cuts
Who doesn’t love Eurovision? All that razzmatazz. The ghastly frocks and gloopy pop songs, the false bonhomie and bare-faced bias…
Why is the post-colonial guilt only applied to Western classical traditions? Radio 3's World of Classical reviewed
The blurb accompanying the Radio 3 series World of Classical, inviting us to ‘join the dots between classical music traditions…
Hearing Percy Bysshe Shelley read aloud was a revelation
Last week I heard the actor Julian Sands give a virtuoso performance of work by Percy Bysshe Shelley to mark…
No genre of storytelling is more formulaic or more exhausted than true crime
Nothing new under the sun. Or at least it feels that way these days, doesn’t it? The movies are TV…
Boldly and brilliantly unoriginal: Kermode and Mayo’s Take reviewed
Last April Fools’ Day, Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo wound up their award-winning film review show on BBC Radio 5…
Changing channels: the new war for political broadcasting
The television will be revolutionised
Enjoyably plummy and male: Battleground – The Falklands War podcast reviewed
The Battlegroundpodcast on the wars of the 20th century, said presenter Saul David happily, ‘will have lots of bombs and…
Don’t read Ulysses; listen to it
Don’t read James Joyce’s Ulysses, says John Phipps. Listen to it
Why we drink
‘I like to have a martini,/ Two at the very most./ After three I’m under the table,/ After four I’m…
New Marr is very much the same as the old Marr: LBC's Tonight With Andrew Marr reviewed
Andrew Marr got his voice back this week. That may come as a bit of a surprise to everybody who’s…
If you like First Dates, you'll love This is Dating
The tagline of This is Dating, a new podcast from across the pond, is ‘Come for the cringe, stay for…
Disappointingly conventional and linear: BBC radio's modernism season reviewed
This week marks the beginning of modernism season on BBC Radio 3 and 4, which means it’s time for some…
Radio 4's Moominland Midwinter restores Moomintroll's innocence
Moomins do not like winter. In one of Tove Jansson’s stories, Moomin’s Winter Follies, young Moomintroll bumps his head when…
It's amazing how little insight Paul McCartney has into the Beatles' genius
The Paul people are out in force these days. A New Yorker profile, a book and a new documentary have…
The astonishing stories behind today’s culture wars: Radio 4’s Things Fell Apart reviewed
Martin McNamara, the writer of Mosley Must Fall, a play on Radio 4 this week, must have had a jolt…
The Sunday Feature is one of the most consistently interesting things on Radio 3
The story is likely apocryphal — and so disgraceful I almost hesitate to tell it — but it goes like…
Contains moments of spellbinding banality: Radio 4's The Poet Laureate has Gone to his Shed reviewed
The interview podcast is a genre immoderately drawn to gimmicks, as the logical space of possible formats is gradually exhausted.…
Why do I find sketch shows – even the better ones – so embarrassing and charmless?
On sketch shows, the wisdom once was that you needed a punchline. That is, a slightly hammy, summative sign-off to…
Floods you with fascinating facts: Trees A Crowd reviewed
Listening to Trees A Crowd, a podcast exploring the ‘56(ish) native trees of the British Isles’, solved one of childhood’s…
