Podcast Corner: Dua Lipa, Serial, the 2 Johnnies Catfish — what to catch up on from 2022
Podcast Corner Jan 2
We’ve covered our favourite Irish and international podcasts of 2022 in the past couple of weeks, but here’s the best of the rest - the shows to listen back to before the new ones start arriving in 2023.
Trojan Horse Affair, We Were Three As well as the Serial capper we were all hoping for - ‘Adnan is out’ - the production company put out a couple of series last year.
Trojan Horse Affair is a hard sell - an alleged racist/Islamophobic plot at a school in Birmingham, England - and mildly infuriating, but since it’s half-told by S-Town’s Brian Reed, it’s worth sticking with.
We Were Three is a three-parter telling a story of lies, family, America, and what Covid revealed, as well as what it destroyed.
Kim Kardashian and Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson can add true crime podcast hosts to their CVs (The System and Surviving El Chapo, respectively) while model and West Cork visitor Emily Ratajkowski delves into dating and gender power dynamics on High Low with EmRata.
At Your Service with Dua Lipa was the superstar show that stood out most though. The two seasons to date saw Dua go in-depth with an interview list the envy of the biggest of chat show hosts: Pedro Almodovar, Charli XCX, and Elton John all feature, though no story can top that of the inaugural guest, designer Olivier Rousteing.
The World Cup may be in the can but Brian Philips’ 22 Goals will live on. A brilliant essayist, the American scripted offbeat storylines about some of the most revered goals of all time, from Pele to Bergkamp to Owen to Maradona. Away From Home is another football show altogether, as reporter Adam Croften joined Shakhtar Donetsk on their Champions League journey amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Episodes 222 and 223 of the 2 Johnnies formed one of the biggest stories of the summer - it seemed like it was all we wanted to talk about.
Johnny B’s complex web of messages with a woman he met online led to further stories from other men alleging they had also been catfished by the same woman under myriad aliases.
If getting a tattoo is on your list of resolutions, Beneath the Skin, a conversation show between two experts, discussing the history and cultural associations, is well worth listening to.
If you’re still catching up on the best TV of 2022, chances are Bill Hadar’s hitman dramedy Barry is on your list. On the Ringer’s Prestige TV Podcast, Hadar talked through each episode of season three, with nuggets and extra details galore.
And if you need even more of a true crime hit try these: Scamfluencers, Wild Things: Siegfried and Roy, Sympathy Pains, and Hoaxed.
