Pick of the week
Judgemental
The freshly announced Strictly Come Dancing hosts have been generating huge online chatter, but this podcast will ensure that (half of) the judging panel isn’t totally overshadowed. Judgemental sees Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood prove they have strong opinions on more than just an ex-soap star’s pasodoble by trading verdicts on everything from pop culture to sartorial dilemmas to listeners’ workplace dramas. Rachel Aroesti
Widely available, episodes weekly from Tuesday 9 June
Manosphere Messiahs
Toxic masculinity in the west has been documented extensively over the past couple of years; now this podcast from BBC World Service looks at the manosphere on a global scale. To begin, reporter Jacqui Wakefield investigates the influencers preaching misogyny in Mexico and Kenya, getting insight from their fans as well as the women personally affected. RA
Widely available, episodes weekly
Who’s With Me? With W Kamau Bell
In what may be an early example of a new trend, US standup comedian W Kamau Bell is turning his popular Substack into a video podcast. While his newsletter mainly deals in opinion pieces, Who’s With Me? invites guests including Delroy Lindo and Misty Copeland into the fold. RA
Widely available, episodes weekly
Love What You’ve Done With the Place
Interior design hasn’t been a major theme in podcasting – could this chatshow from Homes Under the Hammer host Owain Wyn Evans change that? Like many a food- or leisure-based pod, the series focuses on a niche topic to mine anecdotes from celebrity guests. RA
Widely available, episodes weekly from Wednesday 3 June
Fighting Crime
“There are a bunch of ways to prevent crime that nobody’s talking about,” says journalist Cristina Quinn in this series that takes her across the US – from prisons to universities – to find out more about them. She speaks to inmates, police chiefs, economists and more to probe claims such as “wind direction can make your community more violent or peaceful”. Hollie Richardson
Audible, episodes weekly