The Book Club to Get Birding with Sean Bean: Eight of the best podcasts of 2026 so far

From a new literary discussion show to a Games of Thrones star waxing lyrical about our feathered friends, we pick the best new podcasts for you to listen to and watch.

1. MF DOOM: Long Island to Leeds

BBC 6 Music DJ Afrodeutsche and journalist and producer Adam Batty examine the life and legacy of the enigmatic hip-hop artist MF Doom – real name Daniel Dumile – who died in 2020 aged 49 after having a rare reaction to prescription medication. This five-part series is part of the BBC's Audio Labs initiative, dedicated to giving a platform to rising podcasting and audio creative talent, and features a gorgeous original score by the Arctic Monkeys' Matt Helders.

We learn how rumour and myth clung to the London-born, New York-raised Doom who, inspired by his love of comic books, wore a custom-made mask and became a hero of the alternative rap scene; not for nothing is he described here as "your favourite rapper's favourite rapper". But a mystery persists which our hosts set out to answer: how was it that this shape-shifting hip-hop pioneer came to spend his final years in Yorkshire?  

Listen on BBC Sounds in the UK or BBC.com outside the UK

2. Shadow World: Impulsive

It might seem a tall order to ask listeners to empathise with people afflicted by urges that are harmful to themselves and others. But in Impulsive, the latest in the BBC's Shadow World strand, which shines a light on hidden or untold stories, Noel Titheradge does just that. The series reveals how dopamine agonist drugs, a medication prescribed for people living with Parkinson's, can cause impulse control disorders and lead users to compulsively shop, gamble, steal or fixate about sex.

It's a reflection of Titheradge's careful reporting and interviewing style that he has managed to persuade those affected to put aside any shame and tell their stories. We meet Steve, who began staying up all night talking to cam girls; Freddie, whose father suddenly blew his life savings on overseas property; and Lucy, who began an affair with a stranger she met online. "It wasn't me," Lucy says now. "I had been married for 25 years."

Listen on BBC Sounds in the UK or BBC.com outside the UK

While serving a 45-year prison sentence for double murder, Californian Michael Lynne Thompson joined the neo-Nazi prison gang Aryan Brotherhood, though later left and testified against its members. Now out on parole, he remains one of the few to have done so who has lived to tell the tale. Blood Memory finds Thompson telling his story almost uninterrupted, save for the testimony of a prosecutor and court mitigator, both of whom had extended contact with him in jail.

This intimate, detailed and richly sound-designed mini-series features on Nick van der Kolk's Love Radio, a podcast about the vastness of human experience and featuring in-depth conversations with unusual people. Van der Kolk is the interviewer, though he keeps his interjections to a minimum. Thompson is a complex figure: a man of rare charisma who was born into a life of neglect and........

© BBC