BBC Sounds announces new podcasts including a new visualised series from Rylan and offerings from Radio 4 including Marianna Spring, comedian Mark Steel and historian David Runciman

BBC News

21-05-2025

BBC Sounds today announces a line-up of star-studded new series and spine-tingling investigations for the summer, as well as announcing the new cohort of next-generation podcasters joining acclaimed industry accelerator programme, BBC Sounds Audio Lab.
Whether you're after romance, history, mystery or intrigue, there's a podcast to suit every mood on BBC Sounds.
Rylan is back, and he's on a mission to find love! Over the course of 12 episodes, Rylan will enlist the help of guests including Stephen Fry, Philippa Perry, Matt and Emma Willis, Munroe Bergdorf, Louis Theroux and many more, to help him unpack the secrets of healthy, long-term relationships. Rylan: How to Be in Love begins on BBC Sounds on Wednesday 4th June, and will be visualised in full on BBC iPlayer.
Alongside these tantalising entertainment titles, BBC Sounds is also set to deliver gripping new investigative journalism from some of its staple Radio 4 umbrella strands.
From Radio 4, Marianna in Conspiracyland returns for a new series in June as the BBC's social media investigations correspondent, Marianna Spring, interrogates a case that reflects the emboldening of the wider UK health conspiracy theory movement and the mainstreaming of anti-science ideas on social media. Is society equipped to deal with the normalisation and intensification of these kinds of conspiracy theories?
Comedian Mark Steel investigates the longest running libel trial in British history for Shadow World: The People vs McDonald's. Secret surveillance. Undercover spies. Life-changing deception sponsored by the state. And it all starts with a leaflet. Mark Steel unravels the extraordinary story of two young activists who dared to stand up against a global fast-food empire determined to stop them from speaking out.
Postwar is a 20-part series on the transformative 1945 UK general election, eighty years on, presented by writer and historian David Runciman who will examine how the postwar consensus emerged from the rubble of World War Two, and explore where it stands today. The series will be published in the BBC Radio 4 strand, Politically.
BBC Sounds Audio Lab announces brand new cohort of podcasters
BBC Sounds Audio Lab is back for its fifth year, continuing its mission to discover and develop the next generation of audio creators, and helping to tell the untold stories that deserve to be heard. Ahead of The Podcast Show 2025, we're pleased to introduce a brand new cohort of Audio Lab podcasters. We'll collaborate with them to help turn their ideas into podcasts which will be showcased on BBC Sounds, transforming bold and fresh ideas into new series which reflect diverse experiences from across the UK.
Chosen from hundreds of applicants, five fresh creators will be immersed in a unique accelerator programme backed by a comprehensive package of practical and professional training while embedded with one of Audio Lab's five production partners located across the UK.
Khaliq Meer, Commissioning Executive, BBC Sounds Audio Lab says: 'It's fantastic to be back with a brand-new BBC Sounds Audio Lab Creator line-up for 2025! Marisha, Katie, Adam, Keira and Eva are super impressive next-generation podcasters with uniquely relevant ideas on British cultures and experiences. I can't wait to amplify their growth and development alongside our award-winning BBC and independent production partners, across the UK.'
Marisha Currie
Marisha Currie is a South African journalist now based in Scotland. Her passions include audio storytelling and visual arts. Her upcoming podcast will explore the biopiracy in modern medicine and the harvesting of biological resources without consent. Marisha will work with BBC Audio Scotland & Northern Ireland in Glasgow.
Katie Murphy
Katie Bridget Murphy is a filmmaker, writer, and producer from Belfast. She is committed to uncovering authentic stories of motherhood and the human experience. In her new Audio Lab podcast, she will explore the little-known and sometimes extreme actions parents take to protect their loved ones. Based in Belfast, Katie will also be supported by BBC Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Adam Batty
Adam Batty is a Yorkshire-based writer and creative who is fascinated by the stories that sit on the fringes of pop culture. Working with Persephonica – Audio Lab's production partner in Sheffield - Adam will explore the life of British born American rapper MF DOOM.
Keira Edwards
Keira is dedicated to telling stories about neurodivergent experiences in a neurotypical world. A soon-to-be Broadcast Journalism graduate from Nottingham Trent University, Keira will work with BBC Audio North in Salford on a podcast theme that unites us all – the brain and aural processing.
Eva Brookes
Eva Brookes is a creative writer and radio presenter based in London. She's passionate about asking the questions others don't. In her Audio Lab podcast series, she will explore how transracial adoption affects many people across the UK. Eva will be working with Audio Lab's London production partner, Reduced Listening.
New Podcast Commissions
Rylan: How to Be in Love (4 June on BBC Sounds and iPlayer)
Rylan has redefined masculinity in the 21st Century with 'How to Be a Man', looked deeper into the celebrity story with 'How to Be in The Spotlight', and now he's turning his attention to all things love, with 'How to Be in Love'.
From a young age, we're taught that love is the ultimate fairytale – that finding 'the one' will finally complete us. But is it time to look at love differently? Rylan is embarking on a mission to rediscover what love is and he'll be talking to his guests about what we should be looking for in a partner (or partners!) and all the relationships that have defined their lives, from short-to-long-term relationships, friendships, family and everything in between.
Rylan says, 'Throughout this series, I'll be talking to all my guests about love; what it means to them, how they describe it and how it manifests in every aspect of their lives. I get some unrivalled relationship advice from love experts, ask what we should be looking for in a partner, and discover the secrets of healthy, long-term relationships. Who knows, I might pick up some helpful tips along the way.'
Rhian Roberts, Commissioning Editor, Podcasts and Formats, says, 'At the Podcast Show last year, in front of a very lively audience, Rylan pitched to make this series. Very cheeky but also a great idea. He's irresistible. So here we are one year on with How to Be…in Love. The big bonus is you can watch, the now BAFTA award-winning, Rylan learning everything about romance, love and heartache as all 12 episodes will be on the BBC iPlayer as well as BBC Sounds,'.
Over 12 episodes, guests will include: Stephen Fry, Philippa Perry, Matt and Emma Willis, Munroe Bergdorf, Louis Theroux, Reverend Richard Coles, former sex worker and porn star Rebecca More and neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart. For the first time, the series will be fully visualised on BBC iPlayer.
Episodes one and two of Rylan: How to be in Love will be available on BBC Sounds and iPlayer on Wednesday 4th June, after which new episodes will land weekly. In addition, Rylan's weekly radio show airs every Saturday from 3-6pm on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.
Politically: Postwar (9 June on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds)
The 1945 general election was one of the biggest shocks in British parliamentary history: a decisive rejection of Winston Churchill and his leadership. The election of Clement Attlee's Labour government in a landslide marked a break with the past and signalled a strong desire on the part of the British people for something new. But it was also a product of Britain's wartime experiences and revealed the many ways in which the country had already changed. Postwar Britain came into view before the war was over. In some respects, it is still the Britain we are living in today.
This series will tell 20 interconnected stories (drawing on the BBC radio archive) about the election of 1945 and how it changed Britain. The 1945 election signalled the dawn of a new era. But it was also a bridge between the past and the future.
Presented by writer and historian David Runciman, he says : 'Postwar explores a truly transformative period in our history. It will delve into the social, economic, and political changes that shaped modern Britain, offering listeners a deeper understanding of how the country remade itself before, during and after the dramatic events of the 1945 election. It will also ask whether that postwar world might now be coming to an end.'
Additionally, the series features leading historians including John Bew, Patricia Clavin, Lucy Delap, Christopher Frayling, David Kynaston, David Reynolds, Robert Saunders and Wendy Webster.
Marianna in Conspiracyland (to be released in June on BBC Sounds)
Marianna in Conspiracyland returns for a new series in June as the BBC's social media investigations correspondent, Marianna Spring, interrogates a case that reflects the emboldening of the wider UK health conspiracy theory movement and the mainstreaming of anti-science ideas on social media. Is society equipped to deal with the normalisation and intensification of these kinds of conspiracy theories?
The History Podcast: The Magnificent O'Connors (to be released in July on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds)
1941. In a bomb-ravaged London, 56-year-old 'Donk' Ambridge lies on his bed, blood pooling round his head. He's been robbed, beaten and left for dead.
The police investigation leads them to a small-time criminal with great ambitions. This is Jimmy O'Connor. Arrested, charged and convicted, he is sentenced to hang on his 24th birthday. But at the last minute, the Home Secretary intervenes. Instead of facing the noose, Jimmy is to serve a life sentence. But Jimmy fervently claims his innocence. He says he's not the man who killed Donk.
Fast-forward 25 years and Jimmy is living a wonderful life on the Greek island of Mykonos. Now a sought-after TV scriptwriter, he rubs shoulders with The Rolling Stones and Jackie Onassis and entertains the great and the good with his wife Nemone Lethbridge - one of the UK's first female barristers. Yet the shadow of his conviction looms large over them both, and in time, it will exact a terrible price.
For 80 years, the O'Connors have battled what they believe to be a miscarriage of justice. Now his son, Ragnar O'Connor - along with Ragnar's brother, Milo and their 93-year-old mother, Nemone - are intent upon trying one last time to finally get to the truth of the murder of Donk Ambridge.
This story will take Ragnar to a startling hidden London of the 1950s and 60s. One in which his parents hung out with the Kray Twins, Ken Loach and Russian officials. It will re-examine the largest single-ship loss of life in British maritime history and will reveal the full extent of why Ragnar's dad was known as the 'most fascinating man in London', and why his mother is just as extraordinary as the man she married.
Throughout, Ragnar will battle to get the British Government to release withheld and redacted papers that he thinks will prove his dad was an innocent man. But as the family's long and incredible history is finally revealed, they are forced to face up to new truths, secret recordings and revelations that shake their fundamental belief in the story of their own incredible lives.
This six-part podcast series is by BBC Audio Scotland for Radio 4 and The History podcast.
Shadow World: The People vs McDonald's (to be released in August on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds)
From BBC Radio 4, Shadow World returns with a new series, hosted by comedian Mark Steel. Helen Steel and Dave Morris – a gardener and a former postman - are preparing to defend themselves in an epic legal battle against McDonald's, a corporate giant with billions at its disposal which has employed the best legal team money can buy. McDonald's lawyers have persuaded the judge to demand the defendants produce all their witness statements within three weeks. Dave is on the phone continually. Helen is close to burnout. Then, in the midst of it all, her partner John suddenly vanishes. When Helen uncovers the truth he's left behind, the impact will be devastating.
Mark Steel takes us deep into the murky world of McDonald's Corporation vs Steel & Morris – aka the McLibel trial - a landmark in law and the longest-running libel trial in British history when the verdict is delivered in 1997. The case centres on a six-page leaflet accusing McDonald's of exploiting workers, destroying rainforests, promoting unhealthy food and torturing animals. Denied a jury and with no access to legal aid, Helen and Dave are forced to defend themselves, while taking on the business practices and ethical responsibilities of one of the world's most powerful corporations. As Mark unravels a tangled web of covert surveillance, secret operatives and life-changing deception sponsored by the state, he makes the chilling discovery that he too has been caught up in it.
Daniel Clarke, Commissioning Editor of Postwar, The People vs McDonald's and The Magnificent O'Connors, says, 'These three new podcast commissions explore fascinating moments in British history, each offering a fresh lens on how the past continues to shape our present. Postwar examines the titanic shifts which followed the 1945 British election with one of our foremost public intellectuals, The Magnificent O'Connors uncovers a personal story of injustice at the intersection of crime, politics, and family, and Shadow World: The People vs McDonald's tells the story of how ordinary citizens faced off against one of the world's most powerful corporations. Together, these series explore how the historic choices made in moments of crisis, protest and conflict continue to resonate today.'
Uncanny Summer Specials
The Torrelaguna House (June 6 on BBC Sounds)
Former soldier Andy heads to a tiny medieval town in central Spain to meet a group of friends for a fun biking holiday. But the old house in which they're staying has a strange, uncomfortable atmosphere. And when Andy witnesses something indescribably nightmarish one night, the house's dark secrets come tumbling out…
The Torrelaguna House Part 2 (June 13 on BBC Sounds)
After his terrifying night in the Torrelaguna house, Andy's companions admit he's not the only one to have experienced odd occurrences. In Part 2 of the Uncanny Summer Specials, Danny Robins unravels the unsettling past of the old house… drawing us into the fascinating, dark history of Spain's Civil War past and family secrets that refuse to stay buried.
Uncanny Live at the Hay Festival 2025 (20 June on BBC Sounds)
Danny Robins is joined by paranormal experts Ciaran O'Keeffe and Evelyn Hollow for a special episode, recorded live at the Hay Festival 2025, featuring brand new cases to chill your spine this summer. Are you Team Believer or Team Sceptic? How do we explain them?
Central Intelligence (20 June on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds)
Hit podcast drama Central Intelligence returns on 20th June for a second series, starring returning favourites Kim Cattrall, Ed Harris, Johnny Flynn, Geoffrey Arend and Rob Benedict for the next chapter in the true story of the origins of the CIA. Joining the cast this series are Kelly Marie Tran, Stephen Kunken and Jon Jon Briones. Eloise Page (Cattrall), a woman rising through the ranks of the male-dominated CIA, takes listeners on an inside journey through major moments in world history as the USA heads into the tumultuous 1960s and the Cold War heats up.
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