This Week’s Picks - 26.10.25

Before We Break Up Again 

Just a week after bemoaning the loss of candid, messy but really funny podcasting, Before We Break Up Again has returned from a three-month break. In contrast to the easy-listening bonhomie and gentle ribbing of most couples podcasts, comedians Jessie Cave and Alfie Brown’s version is a thrilling listen.

Brown and Cave dissect themselves, each other, and their relationship with astonishing honesty. Both are singular comedians, and together they’ve created something rare in today’s podcast landscape: a show that feels warm, tense, and, ultimately, cathartic. Who wouldn’t want to be in a relationship where you can be this open and make each other laugh this much?

Before We Break Up Again is produced by Brave Clown

Archive on 4: Aleister Crowley – Master of the Dark Arts

Full disclosure, I am more than a little interested in Aleister Crowley and his outsized influence on pop culture. This Archive on 4 documentary is a fantastic exploration of exactly that. Writer Paul Morley untangles fact from the considerable amount of fiction surrounding the so-called “wickedest man in the world”, tracing how Crowley’s strange mix of poetry, hedonism and self-promotion infiltrated art, music, and counterculture.

The programme is brilliantly produced, with a smartly chosen cast of interviewees and a killer soundtrack used in all the right ways. The archive includes the rock-star slurs of Ozzy, Keef, Mick, and Bowie, alongside the unsettling audio of Crowley himself, drawing a clear line from Crowley to the archetype of the rock star. Ozzy’s summary of his song Mr Crowley left me feeling sympathy for the devil himself. 

Aleister Crowley: Master of the Dark Arts was produced by Victoria Ferran for Just Radio