The best podcasts and radio to listen out for in 2026

Podcasts and radio shows are cheaper and quicker to make than many other art forms, which means us audio reviewers are often given less than a day’s notice about new releases. This keeps us on our toes but makes predictions a little tricky.

Still, there are a few bankers. First, the Luigi Mangione trial: the BBC World Service and the Daily Mail, among others, have already produced shows analysing the pre-trial hearings. Mangione, 27, is accused of shooting dead UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December 2024, and federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. At the moment, the judge is deciding whether or not the contents of Mangione’s backpack are admissible evidence (police officers seized the bag without a warrant, and did not read Mangione his Miranda rights until 20 minutes after they started questioning him); there will be shows covering the judge’s decision. The day-by-day, in-depth programming won’t start until later in 2026, when the trial proper begins. Personally, I’m hoping for some fashion analysis too: Mangione’s loafers-no-socks look has attracted attention in pre-trial court appearances.

In spring we can expect a new Global Original podcast series by The News Agents host Emily Maitlis on the infected blood scandal in which more than 30,000 people in the UK were given blood contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C in the late 1970s and 1980s, resulting in thousands of deaths. This horrifying story has already been covered by Cara McGoogan in the excellent eight-part series Bed of Lies: Blood back in 2021, but the public inquiry’s final report was published in 2024. It concluded that doctors, the NHS and the government tried to cover up what happened by “hiding the truth”. Diligent reporting should help to expose it to a new audience.

And hooray! We can expect great creativity and entrepreneurship in the comedy and drama area of audio. Joel Morris and Will Maclean, the team behind the brilliant Broken Veil, released the single-episode Tond before Christmas. The comedy writers are planning to release the occasional one-off show while making a second series, so I would follow their podcast feed for more sporadic weirdness.

I am also excited about the imminent launch of Smelt, a new scripted comedy podcast channel. Lead Mojo, the award-winning production company behind Sound Heap, NonCensored and Green Wing: Resuscitated, have created a platform that turns listeners into commissioners through pledges. Scripted comedy is notoriously difficult to fund – advertisers aren’t keen, because of the extended breaks between series – and Smelt enables listeners to pre-fund a show they think will be good: all the money raised goes directly towards making it. The various projects will be announced on 19 January, and there are some well-known names in the mix, including Andy Hamilton, Ian Martin, Deborah Frances-White, Amna Saleem, Kelechi Okafor and (him again) Joel Morris.

Some shows have no need of fundraising, and here it seems appropriate to mention Goalhanger. The biggest name in podcasting is set to host its own festival, The Rest Is Fest, at London’s Southbank Centre in September. The lineup will include live recordings of The Rest Is History, Football, Entertainment and Politics, but also (more interestingly) performances of an episode of audio drama Sherlock & Co and We Have Ways of Making You Talk, the second world war show hosted by Al Murray and James Holland. Tickets are scarce. Goalhanger have also told me they’ll be releasing a new show in mid-February; no details as yet, but it will be themed around books and is “a spinoff from an existing Goalhanger show”. I’m guessing cosy crime author interviews with Richard Osman, but who knows.

Excellent presenters leave and move around all the time, but I’m looking forward to hosts Tyler West and Chloe Burrows taking over Kiss Breakfast Show. West, a lovely chap, is familiar from Celebrity Race Across the World; Chloe Burrows was on 2021’s Love Island and has her own successful podcast, Chloe vs the World. The sweetly upbeat combo of Jordan Banjo and Perri Kiely will be hard to follow, but West and Burrows have the chops.

Meanwhile, Zoe Ball has left her last regular Radio 2 gig, her Saturday 1-3pm show, to be replaced this month by the sunny, experienced Emma Willis. The winner of many best presenter awards, Willis is a safe pair of hands. Ball, of course, can be found on the excellent Dig It! podcast with Jo Whiley, as well as the Eras series for Radio 2. She will no doubt have a plethora of broadcasting projects to choose from. We’ve all heard the Strictly rumours, but the respected, much-loved Ball can do whatever she likes. I hope she does.

Photographs by Spencer Platt/Getty Images