As I said last time despite being an avid consumer of the news from an early age, currently I can’t be doing with it. One big let down of the whole Corona19vid crisis/pandemic has been the way the media have continued to chase “stories” and look for angles.
Anyway, so rather than having the BBC World Service as an accompaniment to my insomnia I am doing old comedy shows on the BBC Sounds app, podcasts, mostly from iTunes, and other content from Audible. So in no particular order…
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day “is a podcast that celebrates the things that haven’t gone right”. I’ve been a fan of this for a while now and her specials for these times have so far featured Mo Gawdat and Alain de Botton. They have certainly helped me. For lighter relief try earlier ones from a properly diverse range of guests. Surprisingly for me the episode with Frankie Bridge was very good, less surprisingly Tracey Thorn and George Alagiah were interesting, although there is a takeaway from nearly all the episodes.
No Such Thing As a Fish. If you need this introducing to you then you need to catch on quick. Always good value and often very funny. My other old favourite in this corner of the forest Answer Me This frankly sounds like the presenters aren’t really that bothered anymore. The quality of questions has dipped alarmingly recently so it may not be all their fault.
Audible are producing new Podcasts at a rate of knots. If you belong then it is becoming a good source for quality programming. They even have The Goodies.
Other content on Audible beyond the reams of Audiobooks includes some original productions, from The X Files, Aliens and other well known franchises. Apparently there is also a Neil Gaiman book being dramatised at the moment by Hitchhikers director Dirk Maggs. Can’t wait.
Radio Comedy? You can’t beat I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, with Humphrey Lyttleton, not the current pale shadow. I hope they allow Just A Minute to fade with Nicholas Parsons passing. Other good value series that are easily streamed or downloaded on the BBC Sounds app and elsewhere include I’ve Never Seen Star Wars, which depends on your tolerance for Marcus Brigstocke, and Andy Hamilton’s two big comedy series Revolting People, set in the American Revolution, and particularly Old Harry’s Game, set in Hell which I can listen to time and again and laugh every listen.
The Museum of Curiosity combines comedy, science, history and philosophy and is well worth a listen. A new podcast from the makers of Horrible Histories is You’re Dead to Me. Billed as being for those who didn’t like history at school, but actually for those who love it has been great so far. After 20 or so episodes it has found its feet, but the producers clearly insist on Greg Jenner including some “wacky” sound effects and music bursts as clearly we are all too stupid to listen to unvarnished talking.
And that is where the BBC is failing. The fact that the Sounds App only works on fairly recent versions of Android and iOS excludes a big audience who haven’t upgraded. Their chasing of the probably mythical “Yoof” market leaves the rest of us out in the cold as well. Audible and other third party content producers will fill the gap with quality programming that targets a wide range of ages and interests. As the BBC have been one of the big culprits in the news chase going on at present I now feel that the licence fee can’t be justified by the current organisation and they should be cut back to the core public service remit and the more commercial aspects left to sink or swim. Never thought I would say that.
Stay safe, stay indoors.
