What’s new to listen to

Ximena Smith rounds up what podcasts we’re tuning into.

Narcissa

The narrative fiction podcast studio QCode is back again with a new audio thriller set in a dystopian Los Angeles, where the skill of mind-reading is banned. The show’s protagonist, Sid (played by Glee’s Dianna Agron), has successfully kept her abilities secret for years, but this secrecy is threatened when a series of murders by a suspected mindreader takes place. Like most of QCode’s other narrative fiction stories, Narcissa has an interesting premise and the sound design and voice acting are both outstanding. Halfway through, I’m just hopeful that Narcissa doesn’t go the way of QCode’s recent thrillers Listening In and Last Known Position, which both started out so promising, but ended disappointingly. New episodes are out every Wednesday for free or you can listen to the full series now by subscribing to QCode+ on Apple Podcasts.

The Followers

Broadcaster Shelagh Fogarty tells the disturbing story of how she was stalked for nearly two years, in this new, five-part series which uses an intimate first-person narrative style to create spinechilling reconstructions of encounters with the stalker. Fogarty also talks through her mental responses to the situation, ranging from minimisation at the start to horrific recurring nightmares and a feeling of complete powerlessness. She also speaks to experts and other victims about the issue of stalking more broadly in society, and the problems victims often experience when trying to seek justice. The statistic that one-infive women in the UK will experience stalking is a sobering reminder that what Fogarty went through is sadly far from rare. New episodes every Monday, or listen to all five now by signing up to Global Player for free.

Fed Up

Tanya Zuckerbrot is the Instagram-famous founder of a trendy diet called F-Factor, and this new series from Wondery explores the social media crusade that took place against her. Leading the charge against Zuckerbrot was the Instagram influencer Emily Gellis, who heard rumours about people experiencing terrible side-effects and decided to expose Zuckerbrot by launching an online campaign warning people about the diet. What followed was a high-profile feud and court battle. Episodes released so far detail more from Gellis’ side of the story than Zuckerbrot’s, but host Casey Wilson has hinted that will change. Episodes are drip-fed or you can listen to new episodes one week early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery+.