Top 10 Podcasts for 2015

My prediction for 2015 is that it is going to be the year that podcasting finally takes off in a more mainstream way.  I’ve been an avid podcast listener for several years and now my regular podcast collection has pretty much covered my commute to and from work.  What follows is ten of my regular podcast downloads, not necessarily my favourites, nor the most popular but ten that I feel are well worth listening to for various reasons.  Enjoy.

Mark Kermode & Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo Podcast
Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode

This podcast is the one that got me started on the medium and is a must listen for anyone interested in films, and a should listen to everyone else.  The three hour radio show on a Friday afternoon is edited to remove news, weather and traffic reports to give listeners just the show content. It’s top and tailed with some extra material and brings the running time somewhere just under two hours.  Mark and Simon have been presenting this show for over 10 years now with great success.  A quick rundown of the current top ten movies is followed by movie reviews, the occasional interview and then the movie and dvd release of the week.  The show has it’s own style, that of two middle aged men arguing and wittering on like only two middle aged men can, it’s become know as wittertainment! Some of Mark’s reviews can quickly enter ranty territory, notable ones are his reviews of  Pirates of the Caribbean, Eat Pray Love, Transformers 3 & 4 and of course Sex and the City 2. Podcast Page – updates every Friday

Serial

Serial Podcast Episode One
Serial Podcast by This American Life

Serial has taken the podcast world by storm.  A twelve episode investigation into the murder of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee in 1999 is presented by Sarah Koenig and is a spin-off podcast from This American Life.  It’s an amazingly compelling listen as Koenig interviews Hae’s former boyfriend Adnan Syed who was convicted of the murder on seemingly thin evidence.  Great production values bring the story back to life and took the show to number one in the podcast charts.  It’s a must listen podcast and is touted as bringing the format to life.  Thankfully for fans of Serial a second series is already in the works. Podcast Page – series completed