16 best podcasts to listen to in 2024

The world of podcasts can seem a daunting space to enter, but with the help of the wider RadioTimes.com team, we’ve narrowed it down to the best 16. Happy listening!

By Laura Wybrow

Published: Friday, 10 May 2024 at 09:15 AM

With thousands of podcasts in the podcast universe, with different genres for varying moods and intents, if you’re looking for a new podcast to listen to, it can be a difficult space to navigate.

That’s why the RadioTimes.com team have narrowed down the top podcasts to listen to in 2024. We’ve given each podcast suggestion a ‘best for’ award to help you navigate which podcast is perfect for you, and we’ve even included some top tips to aid you in your podcast search.

In our guide, you’ll also be advised on where to listen to the podcasts. As we know your streaming service of choice can be quite precious, we’ve included links to Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and more.

While the RadioTimes.com team’s speciality lies within film and TV — and you’ll certainly see our interests coming out with podcast recommendations like Kermode & Mayo’s Take and The Radio Times Podcast — the team have wider interests and hobbies outside of media.

For example, you’ll find below podcasts to help you hone your gardening skills, new recipes and cooking tips to try, brush up on popular culture, and dive into the world of storytelling. No podcast is off limits in our guide!

So without further ado, let’s find your next podcast.

Looking for a streaming service to listen to podcasts, music and more on? Take a look at our Apple Music vs Amazon Music, Amazon Music vs Spotify, and Spotify vs Apple Music guides.

Plus, take a look at the top Apple Music offers for this month.

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Best podcasts to listen to at a glance:

The 16 best podcasts to listen to in 2024

Woman on her commute with headphones on
Eternity in an Instant via Getty Images

9 Lives by Cassia Tierney Clarke

Best for: Self-help

How many lives does it feel like you’ve lived? We all know that life can be unpredictable — at the best, exciting, and at the worst, distressing — and it can often make us feel like we’ve lived many courses in our short time on earth. 9 Lives by Cassia Tierney Clarke shares real life, gritty stories with actionable tools to help you write your own story.

Tierney Clarke covers everything from mental health to marathon training, and to give you a flavour of what to expect, just take a look at the podcast episode titles ‘how to be brave — building the courage to make lasting change’ and ‘tips for becoming alcohol free and embracing adventure’.

Shameless by Zara McDonald and Michelle Andrews

Best for: Popular culture insights

Naturally, the RadioTimes.com team are immersed in popular culture, covering everything from reality television and Doctor Who to viral products like Loop Earplugs and the most Instagram-worthy immersive experiences. This podcast, which RadioTimes.com’s Digital Writer Joanna is currently enjoying, takes a deep dive into celebrity scandals from the past and chats about what’s happening in modern day popular culture. Shameless is both informative and hilarious – the perfect combination!

Kermode & Mayo’s Take by Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo

Robert Redford (R) is interviewed by Simon Mayo (L) and Mark Kermode (C) at BBC Radio 5 Live
Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo.
Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for Sundance/AEG Europe

Best for: Film reviews

What was the last film you saw at the cinema that got everybody talking? For the RadioTimes.com team, it was Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things starring Emma Stone — we can’t remember when a film was so divisive!

In Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s podcast, Kermode & Mayo’s Take, the film critic and radio DJ review movies and TV shows that are being released that week. If you’re a keen cinema-goer, it’s a great way to get new recommendations of what to watch, and it’s informative about movies, too.

Digital Writer Natalie, who works over at our friends on Good Food, particularly loves this podcast because of the friendly community which surrounds it.

The Fast and the Curious by Greg James, Betty Glover and Christian Hewgill

Best for: Sport

If you’re looking to get into the world of Formula 1, we’d recommend listening to The Fast and the Curious. Often when you’re a ‘new fan’ of a sport, there can be a lot of stigma around not knowing enough or having come into it too late — generations of our family have supported Nottingham Panthers and Nottingham County FC, but if we’re honest, we’ve watched Drive to Survive, and would like to become a F1 fan instead!

The Fast and the Curious is hosted by BBC Radio 1’s Greg James, sports reporter Betty Glover, and journalist Christian Hewgill, with guest presenters such as F1 drivers and strategists. For F1 newbies, the podcast explains the technical elements simply, and for veterans, there’s plenty of behind-the-scenes access and interviews with drivers to keep you entertained.

Here are the best F1 experience days. Plus, here’s how to get F1 Drive tickets for the new karting experience at Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

Sentimental Garbage by Caroline O’Donoghue

Best for: Easy listening

We’ve been challenging the notion of ‘guilty pleasures’ in our personal lives for quite a while now — yes, we like to sing along to Kylie Minogue’s Slow and pretend we’re in a music video, and yes, we still watch Love Island, but no, we’re not going to feel guilty about it

In a similar vein, Caroline O’Donoghue’s Sentimental Garbage chats about popular culture topics that society, sometimes, makes us feel ashamed of, such as chick-lit and TV shows like Sex and the City.

Across the office at our Good Food friends, Digital Writer Imogen enjoys this podcast because it reminds her of a chit-chat with friends, and it always makes her laugh.

Looking for somewhere to listen to your audiobooks? Then check out these top Audible deals.

Prefer to read an e-book? We have the top Kindle deals for this month.

Good Food podcast with Tom Kerridge

Best for: Foodies

Are you looking to improve your cooking skills? Then the Good Food podcast with Tom Kerridge could be the perfect podcast for you.

In this podcast, professional chef and BBC presenter Kerridge and his guests reveal insider tips, behind-the-scenes kitchen gossip, and explain the dos and don’ts of the world’s most inspiring dishes to boost your cooking skills. You’ll thank us later!

Off Menu by Ed Gamble and James Acaster

ed gamble james acaster comedian off menu podcast live uk ireland how to get tickets
James Acaster and Ed Gamble.
Paul Gilbey

Best for: Comic relief

The Off Menu podcast is a similar concept to your last death row meal — on your last day alive, what would be your final meal? Digital Writer Olivia would have sushi for starters, steak and chips for her main course, and sticky toffee pudding for dessert (with a side of cheesecake).

Hosted by comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble, celebrity guests are invited onto the podcast to share their dream menu: favourite starter, main course, side dish, dessert and drink. There’s a wide range of guests, from Paul Mescal and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard to Strictly Come Dancing’s Johannes Radebe.

Plus, if you’d like to see comedian Gamble on tour, be sure to check out our Ed Gamble tickets article for re-sale tickets.

Working Hard Hardly Working by Grace Beverley

Best for: Entrepreneurial

You might have seen Grace Beverley on social media sites YouTube, Instagram and TikTok or heard of her brands TALA, Shreddy and The Productivity Method, and this podcast by the 27 year old sees her break away from the conventional business rhetoric to chat to inspirational people about their own entrepreneurial journeys.

From housing campaigners to investors, the guests share insights, offer advice, and are honest about the things that didn’t go quite right. As well as work-related stories, Beverley also invites guests to speak about social issues and women’s health, too, as seen in podcast episodes ‘all the fertility questions you’ve been scared to ask with Dr Helen O’Neill’ and ‘Alice Liveing on the dark side of social media, influencing and diet culture’.

Search Engine by PJ Vogt

Best for: Nailing a pub quiz!

Search Engine by American journalist PJ Vogt strives to answer the questions you find yourself thinking of at 2am, such as ‘should I not drink aeroplane coffee?’ and ‘why don’t we eat people?’. It sounds intense but it’s very interesting! Search Engine was also named the best podcast of 2023 by Vulture, Time, The Economist and Vogue – an impressive feat!

Looking for some new earbuds to listen to your podcast? Check out the best AirPods alternatives and the new Nothing Ear release date page.

The Radio Times Smart TV Podcast by Kelly-Anne Taylor and Caroline Frost

The Radio Times Smart TV Podcast
The Radio Times Smart TV Podcast.
RadioTimes.com

Best for: TV recommendations

Earlier this week, we received an email with a shocking statistic as the result of a survey by Currys: Brits waste seven days each year deciding what to stream — that’s a whole week of our lives spent sitting in front of the TV, flicking through channels and scrolling through apps.

Well, not anymore! TV critics and Radio Times journalists are on hand to offer TV recommendations for the week ahead. In The Radio Times Smart TV Podcast, you’ll learn the TV hits and misses for the upcoming week from channels such as BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, and popular streaming services like Sky, NOW, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Netflix and Apple TV.

The Moth Podcast

Best for: Storytelling

This RadioTimes.com Digital Writer was lucky enough to attend a live storytelling evening hosted by The Moth in April. During the event, four storytellers came one by one to the stage to share an anecdote. We listened to stories about mental health, Jackie Kennedy’s watch, a Travis Scott diss track, and a romance set in Russia.

In a similar vein, The Moth Podcast features re-airs of all new episodes of The Moth Radio Hour, as well as additional stories from The Moth’s vast (almost two decades’ worth) archive.

To give you an example of what you can expect to hear on The Moth Podcast, the most recent episode was centred around the impact of Star Wars. Hosts Brandon Grant-Walker and Edgar Ruiz, Jr visited the galaxy far, far away to listen to stories about someone confusing a man in a costume for the real Darth Vader, falling in love with science-fiction, and translating Star Wars: A New Hope into Navajo.

May the 4th may be over, but you can still treat a Star Wars fan to one of the best Star Wars gifts.

How to Fail by Elizabeth Day

Best for: Relatability

Elizabeth Day is a novelist, journalist, broadcaster, and creator of the podcast How to Fail. Each week, Day invites a different guest onto the podcast (the most recent being Richard Osman) and asks them to share three failures, then encourages them to rethink how they’re considered failures. The end result of this sharing and reframing is words of wisdom on how to succeed. Remember, a fail shared is a fail halved!

The Adam Buxton Podcast by Adam Buxton

Comedian Adam Buxton of 'Adam and Joe' during a special 20th Anniversary Show 2016.
The Adam Buxton Podcast.
Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

Best for: Interviews with your favourite celebrities

Good Food’s Lydia recommended this podcast to us, and if the Apple Podcast description is anything to go by, it sounds like a light-hearted listen, which is right up our street: “British comedian Adam Buxton talks with interesting people. The rambly conversations are sometimes funny, sometimes more serious, with funny bits.”

With 224 episodes under his belt (and still counting), Buxton has dedicated his time to conducting brilliant interviews with a wide range of people such as Joe Lycett, Zadie Smith, Charlotte Gainsbourg and musician Blindboy Boatclub.

BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast

Best for: Green fingers

Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or working on your green fingers, the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast has top tips to care for your garden throughout the whole year, as well as plenty of inspiration and advice, too.

The BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast is hosted by BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine team alongside your favourite gardening personalities, like Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh, Adam Frost, Frances Tophill and Arit Anderson.

No topic goes uncovered in this educational podcast, from sowing and growing flourishing flowers to getting the most from your vegetable plot, plus the podcast hosts ‘Sowalongs’ and Tea Break Tutorials, too.

The History Extra Podcast

Best for: Learning something new

Produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine, History Extra is an educational podcast which offers fresh takes on stories from the past. In the podcast, you’ll learn about historical figures like Cleopatra, Anne Boleyn and Winston Churchill as well as famous events such as the Salem witch trials, the battle of Waterloo and D-Day.

The Blindboy Podcast by Blindboy Boatclub

Blindboy Boatclub of the Rubber Bandits during Electric Picnic 2018
The Blindboy Podcast.
Photo by Kieran Frost/Redferns via Getty Images

Best for: Variation

This Digital Writer’s housemate will not stop talking about this podcast, so we had to listen for ourselves. Hosted by artist and author Blindboy Boatclub, this eclectic podcast contains short fiction, comedy, and interviews with people such as Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Spike Lee, Sinéad O’Connor, Emma Dabiri, Colm O’Gorman, Cillian Murphy, as well as other comedians, activists and academics. The Blindboy Podcast focuses on topics such as mental health, politics, culture, music, and history, and there’s room for plenty of personal anecdotes, too.

If there was an award for the strangest podcast titles, The Blindboy Podcast would certainly win a gold medal, just take a look at titles like ‘The History of Whales who wear dead salmon as hats’ and ‘The tumescent glans of Ronald McDonald’…

How do I find a good podcast?

Woman scrolling on her phone
Olga Rolenko via Getty Images

Finding the perfect podcast for you isn’t a science, it’s an art, meaning that there might be a few trial and error listens until you find one that hooks you.

A good place to start is to think what you’re looking to get out of a podcast. For example, are you looking to learn or nurture a skill such as cooking or gardening? Do you want to find out more about a particular topic, such as popular culture or certain historical events? Would you like an easy listen while you do household jobs or commute? Or, simply, do you want friendly voices and to laugh?

Then, think about where you’ll be listening to the podcast. When the RadioTimes.com are choosing which podcast episode to play next, we have different podcasts for certain scenarios, for example, podcasts we can feel engrossed in and podcasts that are nice as background chatter while we do things such as wash the pots.

Looking for a great deal? Then check out the best Disney Plus offers for this month.