The Smallville star who joined a sex cult: best podcasts of the week

Pick of the Week Allison after NXIVM Smallville actor Allison Mack (pictured above) is best known these days for the part she played in the NXIVM sex cult (HBO’s series The Vow offers a comprehensive primer). Fresh from a prison sentence for racketeering, is she somebody who should be platformed on a podcast? Gladly. Natalie Robehmed’s CBC series asks difficult questions, as it considers whether Mack was a victim, perpetrator, or somewhere in between. Hannah J DaviesWidely available, episodes weekly The Coldest Shift Ever had your pub quiz interrupted because of potentially harmful bioluminescent algae? That is just one of the offbeat details in this charming Hat Trick series about life as a doctor in Antarctica, and efforts to keep the continent Covid-free as the pandemic raged. Dr Rachel Varnam is our guide to an isolating but extraordinary period. HJDWidely available, episodes weekly Adrift “Could a farmer’s son be eaten by a bloody killer whale?” Apple’s latest original podcast blends documentary and drama to tell the odd but true story of the Robertson family, who sold their family farm and headed out to sea in 1971. It’s an in-depth account of the horrors that awaited them, with Mark Bonnar and Anne-Marie Duff ably voicing parents Dougal and Lyn. HJDApple Podcasts, episodes weekly The Mary Houlihan Show She may not be a household name, but US comic – and in the words of Time Out, “gonzo genius” – Mary Houlihan steers her new podcast like a pro. In her crosshairs: the state of the world; the growing number of young men turning conservative; and comedians who inflame the situation by punching down. Disarmingly excellent. HJDYouTube, episodes weekly Jane Austen’s Paper Trail Gossipy characters fuelled Jane Austen’s classic stories, but was she a big gossip herself? It’s one little known aspect of the writer’s personality examined in this lovely new series from The Conversation. Arts and culture editor Anna Walker travels from Bath bun shops to the Lyme Regis coast to speak with experts about Austen – including her taste for curry. Hollie RichardsonWidely available, episodes weekly