5 new podcasts to listen to this week

If you are looking for podcasts that cut through the noise, then look no further.

1. Dressed: The History of Fashion

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms

Genre: Fashion

With more than eight billion people in the world, there’s one universal ritual: every day, we all get dressed. This is the idea that the hosts of Dressed: The History of Fashion lead with every week.

Dressed is a podcast for those wanting to unpack the stories and politics behind what we wear and why it matters.

In this catch-up episode ahead of season nine (launching in May), hosts April Calahan and Cassidy Zachary offer a glimpse of what’s to come, while revisiting some of fashion history’s most intriguing figures.

There are detours into Elsa Schiaparelli’s unconventional rise in the late 1920s – launching a fashion house without formal training – and charming details from Jane Austen’s era, where the word “gown” could refer as much to fabric as to a finished dress.

The new season promises a more immersive approach. Expect on-the-ground reporting from major exhibitions, from Paris to Versailles, and explorations of how fashion intersects with power, etiquette and even national identity –including Queen Sirikit of Thailand’s blending of Thai silk with Western couture.

What makes Dressed such a compelling podcast is its ability to make fashion history feel alive and relevant today. Whether you’re a devoted follower of style or simply curious about the stories stitched into everyday clothing, season nine looks set to be well worth tuning in for.

(By Lara Owen)

2. Not My Best Moment Podcast

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms and YouTube

Genre: Life and entertainment

Everyone makes mistakes or has periods of their life when they struggle, but basketball wife turned media mogul Shaunie Henderson explains how feeling uncomfortable drives her creativity as she chats to Kevin Fredericks, better known as comedian KevOnStage.

Henderson created the hugely successful reality show Basketball Wives in 2009, at a time when she was feeling uncertain and desperate as her marriage to basketball great Shaquille O’Neal floundered.

Henderson says she had not prepared for the possible failure of her marriage, but credits her father for instilling her with the confidence to pitch the reality show with little experience or preparation, telling Fredericks that “it had to work” at that difficult time in her life.

Twelve seasons later, Basketball Wives is coming to an end, and Henderson now hosts a relationship podcast with her husband, pastor Keion Henderson, whom she married in 2022.

Henderson lives under a different type of spotlight now but tells Fredericks that humans are not perfect and people should not expect them to be, during a relaxed and engaging conversation.

(By Beverley Rouse)

3. Beware Book

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms

Genre: True crime

When journalists Collette McGonigle and Callum McQuade learned of a series of unsolved murders from over 20 years ago, they joined together to see if they could shed any light on the killings that remain a mystery to this day.

Following the 2024 conviction of Iain Packer for the murder of Emma Caldwell in 2005, this podcast focuses on the spate of murders that occurred in Glasgow between 1991 and 2005.

Eight women, entangled in the world of prostitution, were killed during that time, with many cases remaining unexplained.

McGonigle and McQuade illustrate just how ruthless Glasgow was during those years, and what these women endured daily – some of whom were struggling with drug addictions.

Their high-risk lifestyles put them low down the list of police priorities, and instead, they were left to protect each other. This need for self-preservation resulted in the Beware Book – a leather journal where they shared warnings about dangerous clients.

The book, believed to include the names of high-profile lawyers and police, has since gone missing, adding to the shroud of mystery.

The first two episodes cover the tragic stories of Diane McInally and Marjorie Roberts, with the presenters talking to friends and relatives of the victims, painting a deeply personal picture of their lives, and the belief that corruption and a wider web of crime were instrumental in the cases remaining unsolved.

(By Rachel Howard)

4. The Cultural Tutor’s Grand Tour

Streaming platform: Audible

Genre: Travel and history

In Georgian times, aristocratic young gentlemen would embark for the Continent on their grand tour – a rite of passage where they hoped to have adventures, meet fascinating people, dally with ladies outside the strict high society ‘Ton’ rules, and then come back with souvenirs and a lifetime of stimulating conversation starters.

In The Culture Tutor’s Grand Tour podcast, Sheehan Quirke is our guide, ready to educate and illuminate. Get past the soundscape at the start of the opening episode in Paris, and you’ll pick up fascinating bon mots about the city and five others – Barcelona, Naples, Vienna, Sarajevo and Istanbul – that were key way markers for tourists.

This Audible production goes beyond what you find in guidebooks with esoteric tales, from medieval stone heads found in the Seine, to what might be the first blogger recounting the eruption of Vesuvius in real time, almost 2,000 years ago.

Narrated first-person accounts add to the depth of a podcast that explains why art, architecture and literature were so important to how these young men came back and shaped Great Britain.

A great listen for holidaymakers who want to go a bit deeper on their city break, but also for anyone who wants a few fascinating anecdotes for their next soirée.

(By Amy Crowther)

5. The Bottleneck Podcast

Streaming platform: All streaming platforms and YouTube

Genre: Business and culture

On this week’s episode of The Bottleneck Podcast, hosts Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy UK, and Elfried Samba, former global head of social at Gymshark, are joined by the founder and CEO of Omaze, Matt Pohlson.

True to the podcast’s name, conversations don’t shy away from uncovering the obstacles that hinder our success, and the practical solutions that help business leaders, marketers and culture-shapers break through.

Pohlson opens up about the genesis of his career – he used to be a filmmaker – the difference between impact and awareness, and why he decided to go to business school.

He also speaks with Sutherland and Samba – also the CEO and co-founder of marketing agency Butterfly Effect – about how a near-death experience changed the trajectory of his business and why community brings a sense of joy.

The Sassy+ original bi-weekly podcast series cuts through the noise and does a great job at blending behavioural science, creativity and real-world experience.

(By Yolanthe Fawehinmi)