The podcasts worth starting this month

There are too many podcasts. That's the honest starting point. So rather than another list of forty shows you'll never open, here are three, each doing a different job, each easy to start from the beginning without a homework list.

For the commute: a good interview show

The best interview podcasts aren't the ones with the biggest names — they're the ones where the host actually listens and follows up. You can tell within one episode. Look for the show where the guest says something they clearly hadn't planned to.

For a long walk: a story told well

Narrative shows live or die on the edit. A well-made one will make a forty-minute walk feel like ten. Start with a self-contained season rather than an open-ended one, so there's a satisfying end in sight.

"I don't want another podcast that makes me feel behind. I want one that's nice to walk with." — a reader in Galway, and honestly, same.

For the washing up: pleasant company

Not everything needs to be improving. There's a whole genre of two friends talking about not much, and on a grey Tuesday evening with a sink full of plates, it's exactly the right amount of company.

A note on starting

Don't start at episode one of a three-hundred-episode back catalogue. Start with whatever the show itself recommends, or a recent episode that sounds good. Podcasts are not novels; you're allowed to walk in halfway.

Three shows, three jobs. Add them, delete the forty others guilt-tripping you from your library, and enjoy the quiet.