Five Podcasts To Get You Through Lockdown!

​I don't know about you, but I've been using lockdown as an excuse to devour as much media I as I can! From books, to Netflix, to games I'd not yet tried and, especially, podcasts!

Podcasts are the newest form of media to me, but one I took to super fast! In fact, I've become such a podcast fan that I rarely listen to music in my car, not even my carefully curated YouTube Music or Spotify playlists. Instead, I turn to Pocket Casts, an app perfectly tailored to podcasts. Here's my top five podcasts to listen to, but I suspect I'll find many more to enjoy before 2020 is over!

No Such Thing As A Fish

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​This is currently my #1 podcast! I  enjoy the show so much, I've actually seen them perform it live in London twice (and was booked to see them during lockdown for a special 'drive-in' event that sadly was cancelled). No Such Thing As A Fish' is a podcast by some of the fact-finders behind the TV show 'QI', where they each tell you a random interesting fact they've researched that week. I used to love QI, but I much prefer this podcast - it feels far more authentic, rather than relying on comedians, celebrities and performances. Instead, you have four people chatting about their fact of the week, and it feels like you're just hanging out with three friends, bantering in the pub. Which, y'know, is something I've very much missed this year. You can jump in on any episode, they're all great.

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The Adventure Zone

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If you're into Dungeons & Dragons (or any tabletop roleplay game, for that matter), you've probably heard of 'Critical Role', and I'd say 'The Adventure Zone' was its little brother. Originally a spin-off from their 'advice' show' 'My Brother, My Brother & Me', 'The Adventure Zone' began life as a D&D adventure by the McElroy brothers and it has since become so much more than that. It's been running since 2014 and has changed form, game-play system and story many times, but I'd honestly recommend starting at the very start. In my opinion, their first season, 'Balance', is still the best story of the lot, with the best characters of the lot, and it's probably the one you've heard of if you've heard of any of them.

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The Way I Heard It

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I don't really know how I found this one, but I absolutely love it. Dubbed 'True tales for the curious mind with a short attention span', 'The Way I Heard' It by Mike Rowe is a podcast about real life people, and real life stories... though maybe sometimes a little... fabricated. The way he talks and spins his stories is utterly captivating, and each only ten minutes or so long, so it's perfect for a short commute. I absolutely love the reveal at the ending of so many of his tales, and so many times I've been left in awe with honest-to-God goosebumps! You can jump in on any episode, but I really recommend episode 96 - 'The Pilot and the Passenger'!

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Teen Creeps

[listen here]
'Teen Creeps' is a podcast about young adult fiction - or specifically, about those old horror books we all loved as young teenagers. I was a sucker for Point Horror books, and R.L Stine in particular, and Teen Creeps digs right into these as well as a bunch of other books by similar authors in the same creepy vein. Sometimes the hosts are a little chatty and go on slight tangents, but they're nice and enjoyable to listen to and often make me giggle as they reveal just how dumb and silly those old books were.

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Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet

[listen here]
One of my favourite pass times is reading TripAdvisor reviews on places I've been to. I particularly love reading negative reviews on places I love, because it honestly astounds me sometimes how crazy some reviewers can be! When I found 'Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet'. I couldn't believe my luck. A podcast devoted to unfair and often bonkers reviews of places? Sign me up! Their dramatic readings of one star reviews are genuinely a joy to listen to, but you might lose your faith in society a little bit!