Top 5 favourite podcasts
I am a big fan of podcasts now so thought it was time to share my top 5 favourite ones.
Podcasts seem to be the big thing at the moment with more popping up, particularly during lockdown.
I love listening to podcasts while I do my ironing, cooking, housework, and settling Elsie for bed at night.
I’ll admit I was a bit late to the podcast bandwagon, only really getting into them when Chris and Rosie Ramsey launched theirs, and then I was hooked and wanted to explore more.
Top 5 favorite podcasts
Shagged, Married, Annoyed with Chris and Rosie
I absolutely love Chris and Rosie Ramsey and their podcast Shagged, Married, Annoyed.
I’ve been a fan of comedian Chris for years and then his lovely wife was all over Instagram and I followed her too and my goodness what a funny pair this couple is.
Of course, I may be a little biased because they’re Northern and I’m Northern but genuinely they are just such good craic.
This was the first podcast I really got into and I so look forward to a new episode on a Friday.
So what is the podcast about?
Each week they chat about their life, relationships, arguments, annoyances, parenting, their childhoods, growing up, and everything in between.
Despite being together for almost a decade they still share stories and anecdotes that they didn’t even know about each other.
The questions from the public are a real highlight, often these are more stories and include weird and wacky tales and office polls.
The duo air their grievances with each other in the what’s your beef section which is genius and I want to do that with my husband!
Warning – there can be some rude language and adult themes so this is definitely not a family-friendly podcast!
If you don’t follow Rosie on Instagram you’re missing out, she’s really down to earth, real, and very funny. I check out her stories every day.
They’ve also written a book and hopefully, the postponed podcast tour will eventually go ahead, I’ve got tickets of course!
If you’re after a good giggle definitely check out this podcast.
Open Mind – Frankie Bridge
I feel like I’ve grown up with Frankie, she’s just a few months younger than me but I’ve enjoyed her career from S Club Junior days to the Saturday’s, to her presenting, podcast, and writing days.
1 in 4 people experience mental health problems every year – half of them say that isolation and shame is worse than the condition itself.
I started listening to Frankie’s Open Mind podcast when my anxiety started to peak following my return to work in the middle of a global pandemic.
I’d heard lots of good things about this podcast and thought I’d give it a whirl.
So what is the podcast all about?
In Open Mind, Frankie Bridge opens up about her ongoing journey from her breakdown to her breakthroughs and invites her guests to share their own experiences with mental health.
In opening up about her battles, Frankie hopes to help a generation of people to be more open about their mental health. Speak out. Ask for help. And be helped.
Open Mind, the podcast accompanies Frankie’s book OPEN which I really want to read!
I really like Frankie’s openness and hearing from other people on their tips to cope with anxiety and other mental health issues is really refreshing and helpful.
I’ve picked up some coping techniques and different things to try to help me with my anxiety.
She has great guests from celebrities to specialists in different areas of mental health.
Vicky Pattison: The Secret To
Vicky is a fellow geordie who I watched grow up on tv thanks to Geordie Shore and her other stints on reality tv.
She started her podcast during lockdown (the original one) and has some absolutely cracking guests.
So what is the podcast about?
TV personality, author, and Jungle Queen Vicky Pattison’s podcast sees her on a mission to find out THE SECRET TO a whole host of different things, from body confidence to getting over a nasty break up.
Vicky is joined each week by some amazing celebrity guests, finding out their deepest, darkest secrets, spilling some of her own, and hearing from her listeners.
This often feels like a conversation between friends as Vicky has quite a few high-profile celeb friends and there’s a lot of laugh out loud moments.
I like that in each episode she tries to get the guest to reveal their secret to – this could be starting over, feeling fabulous at 40, or simply growing up. But the topic of the secret to, relates to them, their life and journey.
I really enjoyed the episode with Andrea McLean where she discussed overcoming brutal bullying, divorce, how she got into tv, and her new passion project which is why she left Loose Women; to devote more time to mental health support for women through her website.
Vicky really gets her guests to open up, she’s frank about her own life too and often reveals more about herself during these conversations in Vicky Pattison: The Secret To.
Happy Mum, Happy Baby – Giovanna Fletcher
I was so late to the party with Happy Mum, Happy Baby but that means I have loads of episodes to catch up with.
I’d heard of this podcast from a few of my friends who have kids older than Elsie and of course, it hit the headlines when Kate Middleton was a guest.
I really enjoyed watching Gi on I’m A Celeb and then Steve bought me her book, Happy Mum, Happy Baby which I wanted to read before starting the podcast.
I devoured the book in just a day or two after Christmas and I started listening to the podcast straight after.
So what is the podcast about?
Giovanna Fletcher continues the conversation about motherhood she began in her bestselling book of the same title in the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.
In a series of frank and warm conversations with other high-profile mums and dads, Gi discusses all aspects of parenthood – the highs, the lows, the challenges, and rewards.
There is no such thing as the perfect parent, and we’re all simply doing our best, something Giovanna fully encourages.
It’s time to stop comparing ourselves and champion each other instead.
Each episode is truly unique yet unifying.
No topic is out of bounds, therefore this podcast is essential listening for any parent seeking solidarity and support.
I just wish I’d discovered this podcast earlier!
Gi has excellent guests and has even taken the podcast to live audiences which still works really well.
Some of her guests have appeared more than once which is lovely because the 45 minutes or so per episode just sometimes isn’t enough to even scratch the surface.
Gi is such a wonderful host and it’s apparent that her guests are made to feel so welcome and able to really open up.
She builds a great rapport with guests and it feels like I’m sat at the table with them, being part of the conversation, I even laugh along with the funny stories.
I have cried absolute rivers during some episodes though, especially where baby loss is the topic.
Amanda Holden’s episode broke me.
Her loss of Theo was so heartbreaking but her recalling what happened and her concern for Gi who was pregnant at the time was just so endearing and really made me see her in a different light.
Gi covers difficult topics with such sensitivity – not only for the guests – but also for listeners. She outlines what will be discussed at the beginning and warns us that maybe we won’t want to listen to that particular episode.
I totally recommend this podcast for parents both mams and dads.
If I had listened to this while struggling with breastfeeding I think I would’ve coped better through that time.
That Peter Crouch Podcast
Ok, disclaimer this isn’t actually a podcast I listen to but my husband does and really rates it so it’s made the list.
So what is the podcast about?
Peter Crouch, Tom Fordyce, and Chris Stark share their guide on how to be a professional footballer in That Peter Crouch Podcast.
Episodes include insight on everything from dressing rooms, transfers, keeping on the good side of your manager, and where to sit on the team bus – plus your footballer confessions.
#backstronger
Steve says it’s hilarious and I know it is because when he listens to it he cracks up constantly, very loudly.
A podcast for football fans for sure.
What podcasts do you enjoy and recommend? Let me know in the comments below.
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