Our October 2020 Top 10 Podcast Recommendations!

As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on our social lives, our consumption of Podcasts has reached an all time high. The following are 10 new Podcasts that have been keeping us busy this month.

1. Verified: Dust Up - Hosted By Natasha Del Toro for Witness Docs from Stitcher.

Verified: Dust Up investigates:

“… whether a group of women developed ovarian cancer from dusting their bodies with Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder—an iconic brand associated with innocence and comfort since the 1800s. One woman’s mysterious illness snowballs into thousands of court cases, claiming that baby powder is to blame for their cancer. Verified: Dust Up is the story of a trusted brand’s fight to convince consumers and regulators that baby powder is safe while minimizing the work of the scientists who claim it is not.” (Source here).

The Podcast is hosted by Natasha Del Toro and so far there are just two episodes available and I am waiting eagerly for next weeks instalment already.

2. Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen - By Josh Dean & Vanessa Grigoriadis for Campside Media.

The Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen Podcast investigates the unbelievable story of a “con queen” who, for the last six years, has been targeting key Hollywood workers ‘strivers’, those who assist behind the scenes in the film industry in Hollywood, such as make-up artists, personal trainers, security staff etc. and cheating them out of 1000s of dollars. The target of the con firstly receives a call or email offering them the “job of a lifetime”, then all they have to do is:

“… get on a plane, for Jakarta, immediately. But when they land, there is no producer. There is no movie. It’s all a fraud. This is the incredible true story of one the longest and strangest cons in history. Tag along as two long-time journalists untangle the story of the Hollywood Con Queen scam, and embark upon an obsessive quest to figure out who’s behind it.” (Source here).

You will be picking your jaw up off the floor as the story unfolds in your ears. This is a great Podcast to binge and with five episodes now available you can do just that.

3. Unfinished: Short Creek - Hosted By Ash Sanders & Sarah Ventre - From Witness Docs & Critical Frequency.

The hosts of Unfinished: Short Creek spent four and a half years reporting and investigating the story of Short Creek. It is a:

“… very American story⁠ about the battle between freedom of religion and freedom from religion that asks whether people on two sides of a deep divide can rediscover common ground.” (Source here).

The town of Short Creek is:

“… an isolated community of current and former fundamentalist, and polygamist, Mormons on the Utah-Arizona border.” (Source here).

“Short Creek is a community on the Utah/Arizona border divided by much more than a state line. On one side are fundamentalist, polygamous Mormons who believe the town should be run by God—and his prophet. On the other are ex-believers who want democracy—and the right to believe (or not believe) as they want. When the prophet, Warren Jeffs, goes to prison for sex crimes, the community has to face its painful past…and struggle to define its future.” (Source here).

In the Podcast, the hosts explore how:

“… a group originally centered on sharing food, labor, houses, and land became a cult of personality dominated by the church leader Warren Jeffs, who’s now serving a life sentence for sex crimes.” (Source here).

A very informative, fair and balanced Podcast that really tries to accurately portray the different perspectives of the groups involved and get to the truth.

4. Dr. Death Season 2 - Hosted By Laura Beil for Wondery.

In Dr. Death Season 1 we heard all about neurosurgeon Dr. Christopher Duntsch and his evil escapades. In Dr. Death Season 2 the focus is on a Dr. Farid Fata who was regarded as a specialist in the treatment of cancer, located in Michigan.

“If someone you love is diagnosed with cancer you want them to get the best treatment from the best doctors. In 2013, patients in Michigan thought Farid Fata was that doctor. Between his prestigious education, years of experience and pleasant bedside manner, Fata was everything you could want in a doctor. But he was not who he appeared to be.” (Source here).

This is another Podcast that will have you gripped from the start and anxiously waiting for the next episode to drop.

5. The Nurse - From Pendulum.

This is another excellent Podcast from Pendulum that again deals with a very difficult subject matter that some listeners will find unsuitable, please listen to the warnings at the start of each episode to decide for yourself if you want to listen to this Podcast.

In The Nurse Podcast we follow the investigation of a male nurse who, while based in a paediatric ward of a hospital in a small town in Tasmania, used his respected position to commit paedophilic crimes against the children in his care. As the investigation progresses we learn that his crimes also impacted his friendship group and he also targeted the children of some of his friends and work colleagues. The male nurse at the centre of the investigation was never prosecuted as he took his own life while out on bail awaiting his trial.

There is far more to this story than that which is mentioned above and a lot of it is really shocking, including the hospitals response to the crimes that were committed under their watch.

6. All American: Tiger Woods - By Jordan Bell & Albert Chen for Stitcher.

Even if you are not a fan of golf or sport you probably know who Tiger Woods is and will enjoy this Podcast about him. In All American: Tiger Woods the hosts embark on their own quest to find out how much of what we know and have heard/read about Tiger Woods in the media is true and what is false!

“Tiger Woods is one of America’s most awe-inspiring icons. He’s been world-famous for decades and his story has many chapters: a phenom’s rise, a shocking fall from grace, and debatably the greatest sports comeback of all time. But few people have really gotten to know Tiger Woods - it’s been largely left to the media to define who he is.” (Source here).

A lighter toned Podcast compared to some of the others on this list. I found it very interesting and definitely learned a lot more about Tiger Woods. I even found myself on YouTube checking out some of the historic epic shots that were discussed in the Podcast.

7. Paper Ghosts - By M. William Phelps for iHeartRadio.

In Paper Ghosts investigative journalist and true crime author M. William Phelps recommences his delve into four unsolved missing person cases. Each case involves the disappearance of a young girl (four in total) that went missing (separately) in the mid-1970s. All four girls lived within miles of one another in neighbouring New England towns at the time of each of their disappearances. More about this Podcast:

“… not one arrest has been made in over 50 years. In Paper Ghosts, investigative journalist and true crime author M. William Phelps’ decade-long search for answers is reignited when a call reveals new information that sets the investigation in motion, uncovering never-made-public documents and bringing forth new witnesses and suspects.” (Source here).

Nine episodes in and new leads and information is still coming to light, it will definitely keep you listening.

8. Brainwashed - Hosted By Michelle Shephard for CBC Podcasts.

The first episode of this Podcast was released at the end of September 2020 so the good news that there are now six episodes ready to be downloaded and listened to! The Brainwashed Podcast:

“… investigates the CIA’s covert mind control experiments – from the Cold War and MKULTRA to the so-called War on Terror. It’s the story of how a renowned psychiatrist used his unwitting patients as human guinea pigs at a Montreal hospital, and the ripple effects on survivors, their families, and thousands of other people around the world. It also examines the cultural impact — how the CIA brought LSD to America and inadvertently created counterculture influencers such as author Ken Kesey and poet Allen Ginsberg. It’s an exploration of what happens in times of fear, when the military and medicine collide. And what happens when the survivors fight back.” (Source here).

Give it a go, you won’t be sorry!

9. Even the Rich: #FreeBritney - Hosted By Aricia Skidmore-Williams & Brooke Siffrinn for Wondery.

I actually can’t believe I never included the Even The Rich Podcast series in any of my previous Podcast blogs! I have listened to every single episode from all their different series, they are so good. I absolutely love the hosts, they have such great banter between them, so funny.

In the Even The Rich Podcasts:

“Brooke and Aricia will tell the stories of some of the greatest family dynasties in history, from the Murdochs to the Carters (Jay-Z and Beyoncé, that is). Because as none other than Queen Elizabeth once said, “A good gossip is a wonderful tonic.” (Source here).

If you haven’t already listened to any of their mini-series (I’m so jealous), there are now plenty to choose from. Here is a list of the main ones but there are some extra episodes in-between some of these series:

Their latest mini-series (the first episode of which only dropped yesterday) is about Britney Spears and is called #FreeBritney. I love Britney Spears and can’t wait to hear Brook and Aricia’s synopsis of her story thus far and up to her current situation which sees her battling her father to end his legal guardianship of her and to enable her to regain control of her life, her estate and her personal assets.

10. American Scandal: Three Mile Island - Hosted By Lindsay Graham for Wondery.

Wondery’s American Scandal Podcasts have some excellent Podcasts but once again I seem to have let them slip through the net and not mentioned them in any previous blogs, my bad!

The premise behind the American Scandal Podcasts is that:

“Every scandal begins with a lie. But the truth will come out. And then comes the fallout and the outrage.” (Source here).

Some older series from American Scandal that I have previously listened to, enjoyed and would recommend are:

The latest American Scandal series is called American Scandal: Three Mile Island and it is about a major incident that occurred at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania in the late 1970s:

“On March 28, 1979, Bill Zewe hears an alarm at Three Mile Island. Something has gone terribly wrong at the nuclear power plant, in southern Pennsylvania. And now, the operators at the plant must move fast—before a crisis engulfs the region.” (Source here).

“A large bubble of hydrogen emerges in the nuclear reactor, threatening to cause a catastrophic explosion. President Carter dispatches an envoy. The goal: to get control of the crisis. And Pennsylvania’s leaders face a big moment, as they decide whether to evacuate the region.” (Source here).

Not knowing anything about this event, I found this Podcast gripping and I could listen to host Lindsay Grahams voice all day.

Lots of great Podcasts to keep you occupied and as always I will be adding them to my complete top podcast list too.

If you've any questions, suggestions or just want to say hello, contact me via the Contact Form, Instagram (@noroadlongenough) or By Email noroadlongenough1@gmail.com