Can Bill Nighy solve your life problems? Why are comedians moonlighting as detectives? And what happens when an AI steals your heart? This year’s most addictive podcasts …
Chef Samin Nosrat – author of the cult cookbook Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat – and Song Exploder supremo Hrishikesh Hirway revived their pandemic-era food podcast this year, and it was truly scrumptious. This warm hug of a show – propelled by the clear chemistry between the two friends – centred the communal and cultural power of food, drawing on its hosts’ diverse tastes and respective Iranian and Indian heritage. All that, while also answering listeners’ kitchen dilemmas (among them: what do you do when your partner has a pathological fear of white sauces, from mayonnaise to sour cream?).
The Observer’s Chloe Hadjimatheou has had a big year, thanks in part to her investigation into questions around the honesty of the author of the bestselling memoir The Salt Path. Over in the podcast world, she’s had another success, too: this dark and gripping four-part series about a schoolboy groomed by a female teacher in her late 20s. Lucky Boy swerves any temptation towards the salacious, instead focusing on the vulnerable (and sometimes seething) testimony of Gareth – now in his 50s – whose life was devastated both by the actions of his teacher and the inaction of other school staff.
