“A hell of a lot of fun!” Your favorite podcasts of 2025 | Podcast

Bad advice by Bill Nighy

I found this podcast a few weeks ago and finished the first season in no time. My father recently passed away, and I often feel sad. Bad advice has helped me feel lighter. I laughed out loud at the questions and at Bill’s dry answers. I love the taboo part of words (such as ‘hub’ and ‘like’, when used as fillers in sentences), while the book suggestions at the end are as close to perfect as it gets. Julie Hannaford, 59, librarian, Toronto, Canada

Fela Kuti: Fear no one

This is an immaculately produced, in-depth exploration of the origins of Fela Kuti, his music and the impact it continues to have on West Africa and the world. A wide range of sources and archival materials complete this fascinating journey through a pivotal period of Nigerian history. Pat, 38, Product Manager, South East London

Restoration with Monica Lewinsky

Monica Lewinsky knows what it’s like to be under scrutiny by the media, and she handles these conversations with people with a level of kindness and relatability that’s hard to find anywhere else. I think a lot of people only know Lewinsky for one thing, so it’s nice to see how she presents another side of herself to both audiences and the media. Mac, 27, works in public relations, New York City

Through the square window

This podcast is just a hell of a lot of fun. At first, it seems like it’s just about nostalgia, but the real focus of presenters Graham Cable-White and Samira Ahmed is how we view the world today through the lens of the past. So they talk about what we loved on TV and talk about it around the proverbial water cooler, but also why it worked at the time and why it might still be relevant today. It’s comfortable, but its range is large. The hosts work really well together, and you come away from this delightful listen feeling warmly enlightened. Nick, 60, graphic novelist, UK

wisecrack

Wisecrack grabbed me in a way that I can only compare to the first series of the series. In many ways, it has all the tropes of a regular true crime podcast – a narrator with skin in the game, a quiet town with sinister secrets, and constant, repetitive advertisements. But it completely subverts the genre by constantly questioning how reliable its protagonist (British comedian Ed Hedges) is, and how much we can expect a stand-up comedy routine to tell the whole truth.

It explores an incident that Ed talks about in one of his routines, in which the bully at his old school commits a terrible crime and then knocks on the door of Ed’s family home in the immediate aftermath. When producer Judy Tofay heard his set in Edinburgh, she contacted Edd, and he eventually agreed to let her dig deeper into exactly what happened that night.

The production is excellent throughout, with engaging interviews with many of the key people involved, and there is plenty of amusing banter about the transatlantic cultural clash. I would highly recommend it to anyone who’s a little tired of the countless celebrities chatting over each other, and is looking for something a little more substantive to accompany long car trips or dog walks. Hywel Sedgwick, 37, charity worker, West Yorkshire

Music is none of our business

This is a real, unusual and entertaining conversation between two friends – Dave and Jake, both 60 – who share a passion for music. It’s great if you want to explore something new beyond what’s promoted in the mainstream media. Justina, Derby

Unknown worlds

Alice Fraser and weekly comedy guest talk about sci-fi/speculative fiction and fantasy, the many subgenres (I didn’t realize I was sometimes reading “romance”), what’s new, what old classics need to be discovered, where the genres get a little bad, and all the inevitable tropes. It’s all broken up with quick little fake advertising skits. Fraser is my favorite comedian, he plays with words and meanings in a very literary way. Campbell, 54, works in public health, Melbourne, Australia

Married to the machine

It’s a very human view of the AI ​​revolution, with not a lot of jargon, a lot of clear thinking and a lovely sense of humour. I would recommend anyone looking for a companion to hold your (very real) hand through the maze of confusion. Walter, 52, TV producer, London

Harford: An Oral History

This podcast presents quirky snippets of life in a Welsh town that are strange and surreal, but also really funny. Nicklas, 40, works for the NHS in Swansea

The truth about Joe and James

This prank session between Inbetweeners stars Joe Thomas and James Buckley is silly, but more importantly, it’s very funny! Guy, 58, nurse, Norway