Warning, the podcast I am about to review may seriously affect your bank balance…

I don’t know what it is about Simon Mayo, but he is probably one of THE best presenters on British radio. He is funny without forcing it, offers intelligent conversation without dominating it and is a very skilled interviewer. The Book Panel podcast (originally broadcast on BBC Radio’s 5 Live) is probably one of his best shows.

The format is usually set around the review of two books (announced in the previous week’s show) with a panel of reviewers, the two authors in question and a phone-in review from a listener. The team seem to gel well and the quality of discussion (as you would expect) is in depth and excellent covering everything from what the book cover looks like to character dissection and background information.

The book genres and topics are varied and well chosen – since I’ve been listening, they’ve reviewed children’s books, graphic novels, true life accounts, historical fiction… there’s something there for everyone, and quite often even those you didn’t expect to be interesting make for gripping listening.

The only disadvantage is… every single book they review I end up desperately wanting to read. It could become a rather expensive free podcast for me…

For those who haven’t heard of The Archers before (mainly non-Brits, I would think), it’s a very popular radio soap opera set in a fictional farming community of Ambridge.

It’s also the longest running radio soap, having run for over fifty years now, but only recently been broadcast additionally as a podcast.

There’s a new episode every day (except Saturdays) and each lasts around 13 minutes long.

I subscribed to the podcast as a bit of a laugh, to be honest. I was bored and running out of things to listen to. Hearing The Archers and Woman’s Hour on the radio while my mum did her chores was an integral part of my childhood, but I never really paid it much attention.

I was surprised at how quickly I got involved with the characters and after a few episodes had worked out the main characters just by the sound of their voice – which is quite an impressive feat when the episodes are so short. I have no personal experience of living in a farming community at all (although I spent my childhood in two very different small villages) but that’s no barrier – it’s far more about the interpersonal relationships in the community.

It’s an incredibly well-written soap (well it would have to be to survive that many decades, don’t you think?!) and the plotlines are thought-provoking but not without humour. It’s quickly become the first podcast I have to listen to in the day. If I’d had to concentrate on remembering to switch the radio on at the right time, I’d never have got as addicted as I have, so well done to the BBC for making it much more easily accessible.

I wonder how people will be listening to The Archers in fifty years time?

I’m starting a new feature on the Prattle. A while back I did a Site of the Week with the Blog Explosion rental but that died a death as I had less and less time to devote to the Blog Explosion community. What I do have a lot of time for at the moment though, is podcasts.

Thanks to Dom’s old iPod, I am now completely addicted to Podcast media. It’s an easy way to keep up with content when you can listen while doing general household chores. So I thought I’d share some of my favourite podcasts and hopefully get a few recommendations in turn.

What better way of doing that than via a Podcast of the Week slot?

This very first week, it’s the turn of The Skeptics’ Guide To The Universe, which has the great tagline of “Your Escape To Reality”.

It’s produced by the New England Skeptical Society in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation – and frequently has interviews with Randi himself. It covers a wide range of topics including the paranormal, fringe science and scientific controversy.

The image I had of self-styled “skeptics” before this show, if I was honest with myself, is of dry, boring and very negative people. This show is diametrically opposite to that image. It’s fun, upbeat and intellectually challenging.

It’s presented by Steve Novella, Jay Novella, Rebecca Watson, Evan Bernstein, and Bob Novella, although who’s actually present at the show seems to vary from week to week. It’s obvious that these five get on well together and their camaraderie and enjoyment of the show really shines through.

The podcast is well structured with a professional feel, with regular features including news items with a skeptical bent, email questions, Science or Fiction (my favourite part – I love to “play along” and try and guess which news item has been invented), interviews and a puzzle. At the same time, it doesn’t feel overly scripted or forced.

It also has an atmosphere of humour and light-heartedness which helps to avoid the heavy aggressiveness present in some of the other skeptical podcasts I’ve tried since.

I really look forward to the release of each week’s broadcast and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoys science or who just would like a closer look at some of the more dubious claims in the media from week to week.