Podcast Corner: The 10 best Irish shows of 2025
Icelander Jón Jónsson has been missing since February 2019. Photo: Jon Jonsson
Icelander Jón Jónsson was attending a poker tournament in Dublin in February 2019 when he disappeared. The Garda’s first missing persons alert was not made until more than 48 later — those 48 hours, as we hear repeatedly during the series, are crucial in such a search.
Blending Irish and Icelandic reporting, the seven part series from the RTÉ team is a tense, ongoing mystery that scrutinises alleged Garda missteps and a family’s long fight for answers.
The School of Celtic Studies’ warm, conversational podcast, its conversations explore Medieval Irish kings and the English invasion, early Medieval Irish philosophy, and storytelling and Irish manuscripts.
Narrated by Roz Purcell, is about the manhunt for Ireland’s "first serial killers", John Shaw and Geoffrey Evans, who had recently been released from prison. With extradition back to the UK looming over them, they had a savage plan: Kidnap, rape, and kill one woman a week for as long as they could get away with it.
A three-part series headed by Irish Examiner reporter Sean Murray, he travelled across the US, from New York to Chicago to Boston to find out how the Irish were feeling as Trump took office. Things have likely gotten a lot bleaker since.
Hannah Donelon gathers stories from the Irish diaspora in Manchester, tracing migration from 1945 to around 1975 through everyday voices, music, and memory. An intimate portrait of ordinary lives shaping a city.
Aoife Barry and Lauren Murphy revived their culture chat podcast after a two-year break in September. This smart, weekly show covers everything from TV obsessions to cultural trends.
Hosted by Eolan Ryng, has released 17 episodes across the year. As he explains: “It’s simply a journey through history, through language, through culture, mainly around Irish and Irishness, sometimes national and sometimes international, sometimes stories, sometimes ballads — a little bit of everything." A playful, thoughtful series.
Mark Graham and Ellie O’Byrne document their two-year bike journey across continents, recording from the road with all the chaos and charm intact. A gentle, atmospheric travel diary full of mishaps, kindness, and adventure.
Created by a trio of artists, this seven-part series weaves together voices of fishers, surfers, sauna owners, conservationists, food-growers, business owners, and visitors with those of climate, ecology and biodiversity experts, to reflect on past and future challenges and celebrate what they hold precious about the Maharees in the Dingle peninsula.
Kate Demolder and movie expert and journalist Rory Cashin say tackles lowbrow things in a highbrow way and highbrow things in a lowbrow way. You’ll enjoy the banter and easy laughs — and learn plenty along the way.
