Podcasts of the week: The Last Days of August, Football Weekly and My Mother’s Murder

Classical Fix

Available on BBC Sounds, review by Yvette Huddleston

This excellent series is hosted by the hugely knowledgeable and engaging BBC Radio 3 presenter Clemmie Burton-Hill and is designed to open up the world of classical music to those who feel perhaps it is not for them.

It’s a simple format – Clemmie invites a guest to come along and chat to her. Before they do that, she puts together a playlist of classical music tracks that she thinks they might enjoy. The guest then joins her in the studio to talk through each track and how they responded to it – what they liked and didn’t like and why.

The conversation is free-ranging and covers the guest’s general music tastes, what they look for and when they listen to music. The one thing they all have in common is that they are classical music “newbies.”

Alongside the responses of the guests – who have recently included comedians Rob Delaney and Phil Wang, food writer Jack Monroe and journalist Daisy Buchanan – Clemmie provides some extremely informative commentary on the composers and music featured.

Available on popular podcast sites, review by Chris Burn

This extraordinary series by Tortoise reporter Paul Carunana Galizia investigates the circumstances and corruption surrounding the killing of his mother, Daphne Carunana Galizia who was Malta’s top investigative journalist.

He questions how her political assassination through a car bomb in 2017 was possible in an EU country and examines how involved the the highest echelons of Maltese society and government were in the murder.

Football Weekly

Available on popular podcast sites, review by Yvette Huddleston

With the suspension of Premier League matches, and all other leagues around Europe, many will be missing their weekly fix of football.

The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast has adapted well to the current situation by, for example, analysing some of the all-time classic matches, including the England v Argentina 1986 FIFA World Cup confrontation which featured the notorious Diego Maradona ‘hand of God’ incident.

The Last Days of August

Available on popular podcast sites, review by Chris Burn

Journalist Jon Ronson investigates the circumstances around the suicide of 23-year-old adult entertainer August Ames, who took her life shortly after being targeted for widespread abuse on social media.

But this seven-parter paints a more complex and nuanced picture of her life and what happened towards its tragic end. Ronson has said the strain of making the painstakingly-crafted series led to him having panic attacks and needing therapy.

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