Top Society & Culture Podcasts

Named 2025 Ambies© Podcast of the Year, Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.

From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.

Binge all episodes of Hysterical exclusively and ad-free, right now on Wondery+. Start your free trial in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or by visiting wondery.com/links/hysterical/ now. 

From a deathbed tape to a witness in protection, Buried is the award-winning true-crime series digging into some of the most disturbing environmental stories in history.

"It's buried isn't it? But it's coming back." The haunting words of a witness who claimed he'd discovered a toxic chemical secret half a century ago that would affect us all.

In this thrilling new investigation, Buried: The Last Witness, Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor team up with the film star Michael Sheen, who recorded the witness before he died. Together, they dig into the unseen files of a man who said he was beaten up and put under police protection, after alleging that a chemical had contaminated the food chain.

It is a story straight out of a Hollywood drama: an opera-loving British gentleman clashes with an American corporate giant, claiming there was a conspiracy to silence him. Was the witness right? Science and shadows collide in this true-crime epic, as the hosts search for the truth, testing soil, food and even their own blood - to uncover what one chemical can do at its worst.

Buried is a bingeable, fast-paced true-crime series exposing urgent environmental stories you've almost certainly never heard of. Husband-and-wife investigative duo Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor delve into thrilling mysteries - bringing to light never-before-heard recordings or boxes of explosive legal documents, inviting the audience to unpick crimes or scandals with them.

Their stories throw them - and us - into secret worlds, be it the organised crime unfolding in our waste, or trails of toxic chemicals that go right to our plates.

Rebel Spirit is a brand new podcast series from Akilah Hughes (Crooked Media’s “What a Day”) about her return to her small town of Florence, Kentucky with a mission to change her high school’s mascot from a Confederate General into a Biscuit. The show features moving interviews with everyone from the artist behind “Gritty,” The Philadelphia Flyers’ viral mascot, to principals at schools across the nation who have made this change. In speaking to people at every inflection point of the issue of problematic mascots, Rebel Spirit endeavors to make the process of correcting historic wrongs less of a bummer.

Casey Kasem is best known as a radio icon and legendary voice behind America’s Top 40 who left an indelible mark on pop culture. But many don’t know the saga of Kasem’s oldest children and second wife. In 2014, Casey Kasem is dying, and about to leave behind an estate worth up to 100 million dollars. His family goes to war, with both sides accusing the other of going after his money and killing the man who changed American radio. But this battle is only the climax of a tragic and dramatic family feud that began decades before. Bitter Blood: Kasem V Kasem is an exclusive look at what really happened inside this famous family and what drove them to the brink, told through exclusive interviews and archival audio materials.

Join friends since birth Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver twice a week for their transatlantic catch-ups, discussing everything from the highs and lows of their lives to the biggest cultural moments of the week.

Every Monday, Lily and Miquita will throw the show open and invite questions on a theme; celebrity weddings, indie sleaze, orgasms, lies… Then on Thursdays, they’ll pick apart the world around them with unfiltered conversation on everything from intimacy to interiors, from exercise to elections.

Email: missme@bbc.co.uk WhatsApp: 08000 304 090 (+44 8000 304 090 from outside the UK)

Credits:

Producer: Flossie Barratt Technical Producer: Will Gibson Smith Production Coordinator: Hannah Bennett Executive Producers: Dino Sofos and Ellie Clifford Assistant Commissioner for BBC: Lorraine Okuefuna Commissioning Editor for BBC: Dylan Haskins

Miss Me? is a Persephonica production for BBC Sounds

A state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a day dream. Join Nicola and Hallie weekly.

Welcome to MID - the grown-up conversations women deserve.

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