Spooky stories of the possessed from the stars of Paranormal Activity | Podcasts

Anyone else’s productivity levels at an all-time low thanks to the Olympics? Like me, you’ve probably had a tiny but very distracting iPlayer window open in the corner of your screen all day, only to go straight home, put the athletics on the telly, ignore those dirty dishes and doze off.

What about when you’re – shock, horror – on the go? BBC Radio 5 Live and the official Olympics podcast have been great for following the action away from the screen (I might have cried while listening to the women’s triathlon on the way to work). But they’re just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pods that extend your Paris 2024 journey. As the medals are awarded and sporting heroes emerge, there are shows that take you far deeper into the personalities themselves.

Simone Biles talked about how she thought America hated her after Tokyo 2020 on Call Her Daddy. Keely Hodgkinson’s confidence in getting gold was palpable on The High Performance Podcast. Tom Daley’s Desert Island Discs is a sweet listen. Mondo Duplantis is just as casual talking about being a pole vaulting champion on Mind Set Win as he was at magnificently breaking his own world record. Team GB’s lead psychologist Jess Thom talks frankly on the Guardian’s Science Weekly about how you prepare athletes for failure, success – and what happens when they have to return to normal life. Plus, Adam Peaty has a deep and meaningful chat with, erm, father-in-law Gordon Ramsay on All About … Olympics.

But, if you’re completely fed up with all this sport, don’t worry. Our best podcast picks of the week offer a nice escape, be they paranormal activities, celebrity daydreams or a walk around Borough Market. We’ve also rounded up the top five podcasts featuring A-listers (which surely one day will also include Olympics superstar and viral sensation, South Korea’s silver-winning shooter Kim Yeji).

Hollie Richardson
Assistant TV editor

Picks of the week

Paranormal Activity: True Tales of Possession
Audible, all episodes available
Fifteen years after Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat terrified a generation in the film Paranormal Activity, they’re back to do the same in podcast form. Sloat is a big fan of spiritual exploration, so he’s perfectly placed to introduce the story of the Watseka Wonder, in which a 14-year-old girl claimed she was possessed by a dead woman for 16 weeks. “Witch father” Griffin Ced is on hand to explain more about possession, with surprisingly moving explanations. Hannah Verdier

The Burden: Empire on Blood
Widely available, episodes weekly
A rerelease of the classic true-crime pod – with additional material. Two drug dealers ran one corner of the Bronx back in the 90s, with mink-wearing, champagne-quaffing boss Calvin Buari leading the empire. But when his protege accused him of a double homicide, their relationship soured as he protested his innocence. HV

Dream Space
Widely available, episodes weekly
Gemma Cairney invites her guests – including Afrodeutsche, Zawe Ashton and David Hoyle – to let their imaginations run wild in the second season of Manchester venue Factory International’s fun and inspiring podcast. Haçienda royalty DJ Paulette delivers daydreams of waterfalls that merge into “chunky, jacking techno” in her dose of meditative escapism. HV

Borough Talks
Widely available, episodes weekly
“It’s always barbecue season,” says butcher Dom McCourt in the first episode of this new series that’s like a wander around London’s Borough Market. Host Giulia Crouch talks to stallholders about their history and wares, bringing out their enthusiasm and recommendations of what to eat. It’s like being there, but without the annoying crowds. HV

In the Dark
Widely available, episodes weekly
Madeleine Baran has spent four years investigating the killing of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq, by US Marines. Nearly 20 years after the massacre, Baran’s painstaking research is paying off as she uncovers information that the US government tried to hide and risks her life speaking to victims’ loved ones in Haditha. HV

There’s a podcast for that

This week, Hannah Verdier chooses five of the best podcasts featuring A-listers, from a star-studded dystopia drama to Rosamund Pike’s retelling of Edith Wilson’s stint standing in for her husband Woodrow as “president”

Sandra
The premise of this podcast is far more scary than an AI takeover: what if your home assistant was powered by the decisions of real humans? Alia Shawkat is Helen, a new recruit at a tech company, dealing with life in her home town, divorce, and questions she doesn’t know the answers to. Ethan Hawke is her boss with high standards and Kristen Wiig is Sandra, a Siri-style helper. Despite the premise, it’s more rooted in real life than sci-fi, with a cliffhanger to keep listeners wanting more and a solid cast who make it all startlingly believable.

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Underwater
There aren’t enough podcasts around that can be described as slick and sexy, so Jason Derulo’s thriller makes a big splash. Derulo is Nico, an investigator doing one last job. But when he’s sent to find a woman on the run (Alexandra Shipp), they get off to a flirtatious start with smooth talk and a debate over cocktails. Cue: romance, drama and ultimately danger on a remote island. With a luxurious soundscape, episodes of less than half an hour and an album of Derulo’s songs, it’s the kind of podcast that sits well on the beach.

Sleep Sound
The concept of A-listers reading bedtime stories is a reassuring and relaxing one, and Jamie Dornan caused many a stirring as the first narrator in the series (the man could read out the instructions for a clapped-out old air fryer and still sound irresistible). Add in a vivid description of a Mexican beach, an Amazonian rainforest, and dusk in a sleepy Swedish forest and you’ve got the recipe for a delicious snooze. Sienna Miller also proved a hit, bringing things closer to home with a trip to a stormy English harbour. Twenty minutes of celebrity chatter really does work to send you off to sleep.

Edith!
Crooked Media, the powerhouse of political podcasts, presents this drama based on the life of Edith Wilson, who became de facto president of the US when Woodrow Wilson was incapacitated after a stroke. Rosamund Pike is brilliant in the title role, bringing shades of Veep to the historical proceedings. “I was not the first female president,” she says. “I was a patriot who helped the country stay together while the president … er … took a little nap.” The script is tight, the action is fictional, but this quirky retelling of the story is realistic enough to be just about believable.

The Goop Podcast
If you like to relax, light a vagina candle and adjust your yoni egg while listening to the world’s greatest proponent of expensive wellness do her thing, then Gwyneth Paltrow’s podcast is not to be missed. There are no shortage of big-name guests sharing their wisdom including Cameron Diaz, Halle Berry and Kerry Washington. Sceptics of Paltrow’s particular brand might like to avoid the episode with a gong bath that promises to “floss our brains and clear our heads”, but believers will be happy they saved 50 quid by getting a free sonic massage at home. Ommmm.

Why not try …

• Jane MacSorley (I am Not Nicholas) returns with more haunting true crime in Intrigue: Worse Than Murder.

• Series two of the BBC’s Good Bad Billionaire, with business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng taking a look at how Tiger Woods, George Soros and more made their fortunes.

• Black History, For Real puts a lively spin on little-known facts – as well as “spilling the occasional historical tea”.