Best Podcasts of 2025: From Forged to Fela Kuti – Fear No Man

We can’t speak for you, but to escape the tyranny of our minds, we’re frequently enough listening to podcasts.

We can’t walk to the coffee shop or do the washing up any more without having someone nattering in our ears about something or other – whether that’s the news, two comedians playing made-up games, or new releases in every aspect of the arts.

So, as we enter that weird in-between period of time where there’s a lot of ham but hopefully not too much work to do, we’ve pulled together our favorite podcasts of this year.

We asked friends from across the ABC to share theirs, with a focus on shows that started in the last year or so. Because while we love Off Menu (this year’s De Niro episode is all time) and If Books Could Kill (always been skeptical of the Let Them Theory? Do we have the podcast for you!) and This American Life (yes, we’re still listening to This American Life), you’re probably already across those.

We hope something in the list below – which includes tales of art fraud, movie recommendations and forensic analysis of the media industry – distracts or absorbs you for a few hours.

The dramatic 1998 waterfront dispute that divided australia is revisited in a new podcast

In April 1998, patrick Corporation blindsided the nation, locking out and firing 1400 wharfies overnight at ports around the country and shutting them down, locking the workforce out.

It was the dramatic beginning of a bitter stoush between one of Australia’s oldest and most powerful unions, the Maritime Union of Australia, and a Coalition federal government bent on reform.

ABC Rewind’s podcast Conspiracy? War on the Waterfront expertly tells the story of how port operator Patrick Corporation got the ball rolling on some of those reforms,by firing every single worker at every one of their terminals around the country.

When Patricks tried to move in an “option workforce”, some of whom had been part of a secret overseas training operation, the union set up a ferocious picket that would hold for a month, and questions started flying about just how much then-Prime Minister John Howard and his government had been involved.

Hosted with wry humour and sharp insight by journalist Jan Fran (ABC TV’s Question Everything; podcast We Used to Be Journos), this is a shocking and riveting story that includes death threats, secret meetings, overseas conspiracies and a legal case ending up in the highest court of the land.

Fela Kuti: Fear No Man – A nuanced and immersive audio experience

In this 12-part series, Abumrad traces Kútì’s life and music, from his mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti’s activism, to his political awakening in the USA in 1969. Upon his return to his home country of Nigeria, he quickly drew the often violent ire of the state, creating the Kalakuta Republic commune, which he declared self-reliant.

It’s there that he recorded much of his iconic discography and established his Afrika Shrine, the riotous club where his bands performed.

the podcast doesn’t shy away from the problematic parts of Kútì’s life, including his marriages to 27 women in 1978.Many of these women were underage and worked as his back-up singers and dancers. They were dubbed “Queens”, yet have described being abused by him. That leads to a rehash of the perennial debate of whether we can separate the art from the artist – and it’s one of the most nuanced discussions on the topic that I’ve ever come across.

The series makes you think deeply about history and colonialism,and also the current state of politics,resistance and protest music (where is it?).Abumrad draws on the analysis of African academics, archives and eyewitness accounts and also interviews with people including Paul McCartney, Ayo Edebiri, Santigold, Brian eno and Barack Obama.

Ultimately Fela kuti: Fear No Man is a feast for the ears; Abumrad is a master of the audio documentary form and his distinctively layered and immersive sound design is hard to match. Then there’s Kútì’s music: The extensive use of his catalog sends this podcast into the audio stratosphere.

– Hannah Reich

Forged

CBC & ABC

I was engrossed by this six-part series investigating a vast art fraud involving the works of Norval Morriseau, the celebrated Canadian Indigenous artist frequently enough referred to as the “Picasso of the North”.

## From Total Reboot to The Last Video Store: Alexei Toliopoulos’s Seamless Transition

Rebooting a prosperous podcast is hard but The Last Video Store host Alexei Toliopoulos (finding Drago) makes it look easy.at the start of 2024, the comedian and film expert was faced with a monumental task: turn his long-running film podcast Total Reboot into something new, without his long-time co-host Cameron James (now the host of Pump Up the Jams).

Toliopoulos came out of the gate running with The Last Video Store. Broadcasting from an eerily era-specific re-creation of your local 00s video store, Toliopoulos invites creatives from all corners of the arts world to share their favourite new release and “Weekly” recommendations.

Where else can you hear 5SOS’s Calum Hood wax lyrical about his love for Moulin Rouge? or the Philippou Brothers (Bring Her Back) share how 60s horror thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? influenced their work? Or Keith Urban froth on BMX Bandits (pre-Nicole Kidman fumble)?

While the high-profile guests are alluring, The Last Video Store also makes cinematic discovery extremely accessible. Even if you’ve never heard of a guest you’ll walk away from every episode with at least three guaranteed movie recommendations.

Toliopoulos keeps listeners coming back with his affable personality and encyclopedic knowledge of film and TV, but the real secret sauce is his ability to coax out the passionate inner film nerd in all of the familiar faces that visit his store.

Pablo Torre Finds Out

exploded in 2025 with a series of big stories. It mostly functions as the host, Torre, telling two guests (usually other journalists or comedians) a story at length. It’s carefully structured but barely edited. The show is geared to the maximalist, video-first appetite of younger audiences.

It has also become a vehicle for real journalism. in 2025 Torre and his team (invisible but surely numerable given the workload) took on a 5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHintOysWz Link_showVisitedC1Fea Link_showFocusALyv2″ href=”https://www.pablo.show/p/the-richest-owner-the-silent-superstar” data-component=”Link”>shady billionaire seemingly handing a star player money under the table and the Proxy with Yowei Shaw

Have you got a problem, conundrum or niggling issue you just don’t no who to talk to about? Well, those life quandaries are the basis for the podcast 5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHintOysWz Link_showVisitedC1Fea Link_showFocusALyv2″ href=”https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invisibilia/id953290300″ data-component=”Link”>Invisibilia) listens to the issue someone is facing, then sets out to find someone perfectly qualified to help them p

## Beyond the Headlines: How Podcasts are Challenging Traditional Media

A growing number of podcasts are stepping outside the traditional media landscape, offering independent reporting and critical analysis of how news is made – and sometimes, *unmade*. Australian podcasts Lamestream and We Used to be Journos, have all broken stories without the machinery – and baggage – of the mainstream media.

At the same time, they’ve challenged audiences to up their media literacy, forensically dissecting how stories on controversial subjects, including the war in Gaza, have been reported.

Lamestream and We Used to be Journos are part of a global trend of podcasts critiquing the media, including Question Everything, hosted by seasoned American journalist Brian Reed (behind controversial podcast S-Town; The trojan Horse Affair).