Podcast Corner: New shows offering horror fiction and marriage insights
Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley (right) and her conductor, composer, musician husband Stephen Barlow promise affectionate, engaging, and funny conversations about their 40 years of marriage.
A horror fiction anthology podcast from a darker Ireland, Petrified tells the chilling tales of ordinary people encountering the supernatural and their terrifying fates. Written and directed by Peter Dunne and with production and sound design by the prolific Liam Geraghty (Meet Your Maker), there are 16 episodes across the first two seasons that are easy to dive into, all coming in around the half-hour mark. The season-three opener, entitled Coming Up On Your Left and released last week, is like a game of Cluedo on an increasingly nerve-wracking horror mystery bus tour involving tourists, hosted by a Graham Norton as Fr Noel Furlong-style guide. This season, Petrified features guest voices including Cecil Baldwin (Cecil Palmer on Welcome to Night Vale) and filmmaker Larry Fessenden.
A three-part series about yoga teacher and influencer Guru Jagat, who died suddenly in 2021. She had become a “famous Kundalini yoga girl boss, whose no-bullshit teaching style got her a fashion line, a book deal, and celebrity clients including Alicia Keys. But as the global pandemic grew, she started talking like a far-right coronavirus conspiracy theorist.” Exploring themes like misinformation and a regular topic in podcasts, the dark side of the wellness industry, there’s two episodes so far, with the finale dropping on January 25.
British journalist and broadcaster Charlie Webster completed a 3,000-mile charity cycle from Europe to South America ahead of the 2016 Olympics, but became critically ill and was put on life support. While in the coma she experienced a near-death experience. Over eight episodes, the first two of which were released on January 11, Charlie shares her experience of being in a coma. She offers an inspirational outlook on how to approach death as well as living in the here and now.
Launching on Tuesday, January 17, Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley and her conductor, composer, musician husband Stephen Barlow promise affectionate, engaging, and funny conversations about their 40 years of marriage, with music performed by the ‘maestro’ himself.
Hosted by actor, comedian, and writer Omid Djalili, Please Tell Me A Story sees him joined by five other comedians — including Seán Burke, star of RTÉ sketch show — each of whom get an episode to themselves to, yes, you guessed it, tell their story. “The premise of the show is simple: Six comedians have one funny story to tell. But can they pass the story along the chain without completely twisting the tale? Can they resist their comedic urges and tell it to us straight?” Djalili started the chain on the first episode last week.
