No Holes Barred

This is probably the only show that still makes me snigger like a schoolgirl, Laura and Victoria chat every week about the cummings (see what I did there) and goings-on in their lives, alongside readers’ stories and a good old dose of pure filth. With episode names like ‘Lube the Hoover’ it’s not for the faint hearted, but hey those types of people are no fun anyway! If you want a show that makes you feel like you are down the pub with your best girl mates swapping hilarious date/sex stories this is the one for you! Listen on your podcast app now >>

I’m Absolutely Fine By the Midult

If you don’t already know Annabel and Emilie – the legendary ladies of the Midult – then where have you been? Rummaging through their “emotional knicker draw” every episode, the ladies take a good look at (mid)life, relationships, careers, mental health and everything in between. All that is topped with some killer guests and some of the most relatable letters from listeners ever. They’ve also just started a new mini Friday episode called Podcast from the Edge, a five-minute-ish delve into all the ways Annabel and Emilie have been embarrassed and undignified over the past seven days. All I can say is HARD RELATE. Listen on your podcast app now >>

The Modern Mann

This monthly magazine show has been going for years and the stories that host Oli Mann explores in each episode are fascinating. It is, however, the amazing Ali Fox and her regular sex segment The Fox Hole that is one of my fave sections. She explores everything from ethical porn to sex toys and trends, as well as answering some regular listener questions. I always come away with interesting facts/knowledge/ideas I didn’t have before. Take that how you will Listen on your podcast app now >>

Dear Sugars

As agony aunt podcasts go, to me is the OG! Okay, it isn’t actually releasing episodes anymore, but it frequently does ‘encore episodes’. Hosted by Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond, the beautiful letters they read out in every episode are tiny little glimpses into someone else’s world and the issues they are facing. The advice Cheryl and Steve offer back is equally as honest and relatable. With 300+ episodes there is nothing they haven’t covered so if you are looking for some advice, dig in and you are sure to find an episode that fits. Listen on your podcast app now >>

Modern Love

If anyone has ever read anything I’ve put online about podcasts before, they would have heard me bang on about Modern Love. It’s the podcast that got me into podcasts and I will wax lyrical about it FOREVER. Based on the Modern Love column in the NYT, each episode is an essay from that column read out by what were big celebs of stage and screen (see pre-2020 for those episodes) and is now usually the authors themselves. There isn’t an essay in the whole series that hasn’t touched on the eerie part of relationships/love and everything in between. Go find one you like the sound of, dive in and have tissues at the ready. Listen on your podcast app now >>

Auddy is inspiring and engaging audiences through audio. Supporting creators, creating branded content and private podcasts.

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Podcasters have been all over it for ages, going all the way back to the very beginning of the boom. It’s easy to see why too.

The intimacy that podcasts can build between hosts and listeners makes it an ideal place for guests and emailers to open up and show vulnerable parts of themselves, and for listeners to eavesdrop on other people’s lives.

At the very least, someone sharing a mortifying story about the first time they met their partner’s parents will never, ever not be funny. Here are some of the best sex and relationships pods to hitch yourself to.

Savage Lovecast

Everyone’s welcome on columnist Dan Savage’s forthright sex and relationships show, which has been dispensing judgement-free advice for the best part of 750 episodes now. Savage’s dictum is always that he only goes in hard on bad decisions rather than whatever particular quirk he’s been asked to dissect. It’s not for the delicate, but it’ll certainly open your eyes to quite how varied and joyous the rich tapestry of sexuality and relationship dynamics really is. Listen now >>

The Receipts

Tolani Shoneye, Audrey Indome and Milena Sanchez started up The Receipts back in 2016, on seeing a now hilariously misinformed tweet from 3 Shots of Tequila’s Tazer Black which suggested their pod wouldn’t work with three women hosting. Six years later, The Receipts is massive, and while the hosts are happy to dive into pretty much any topic at all their ‘Your Receipts’ episodes, which often tackle listeners’ relationship dilemmas, are frequently standouts. Listen now >>

Unexpected Fluids

It may be defunct now, but if you’re after some grossout fun, look no further. This one’s all about sharing sex stories where something goes hideously, hilariously wrong. That includes the deeply misbegotten sex tips listeners have tried out, the perils of getting tech involved in the bedroom, and Dr Alex George’s reminiscences of treating erotically acquired injuries in A&E. Probably not one to stick on if you’re in the office. Listen now >>

How to Build a Happy Life: ‘How to Know You’re Lonely’

Of course, the first issue in any relationship is working out whether you actually want one or not. The Atlantic’s podcast touches on most of the very biggest questions there are – finding joy, dealing with pain, making your work mean something – and its study of the growing epidemic of loneliness in the West is also a look at the fundamentals of making relationships meaningful. It’s not just a lecture either: there are exercises to complete to turn your new knowledge into a habit you get into every day too. Listen now >>

The Log Books

After three series, this sparkling, moving, sensitive exploration of the anxieties and joys of Britain’s LGBTQ communities from the 1970s to 2003 has come to an end. Tash Walker and Adam Zmith’s dive into the logs of Gay Switchboard (now Switchboard) has been a leader in showing how podcasts can turn raw sources into affecting social history which gives voice to marginalised groups. Listen now >>

Modern Love

What with having already been adapted into a TV programme and three books, it was perhaps inevitable that the New York Times’ long-running relationships column, Modern Love, would jump to podcasting too. The format isn’t revolutionary – stories from the huge archive of stories of real, ordinary love are read, authors are interviewed, and that’s roughly it – but it’s so well put together and the trove of material so strong that it’s pretty undeniable. The relationships it details are rarely plain sailing, but it’s proof that love is a persistent, mysterious and wonderful thing. Listen now >>

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You’ll Do

Comedians and real-life couple Catherine Bohart and Sarah Keyworth charmingly debunk all of our romantic fairytales by unveiling the day-to-day domestic mundanities of living together, monogamy, ageing, shopping, taking out the bins, changing nappies and cat litter. Ingenious rounds of questions, including one based on the infamous ‘thirty-six questions’ that psychologists believe can accelerate the falling in love process, are fired at guests who, you’ve guessed it, are also partners in real life. Highlights include Zoe Lyons telling the story of meeting her wife Sindy by, quite literally, ‘falling off the back of a van’ in Lesvos. Listen now >>

A Single Serving

Host Shani Silver aims to change the narrative around singledom from taboo to celebration. Having the freedom, independence, time and headspace for friendships and dreams sounds ever so tantalising to this exhausted coupled-up listener. Highlights include the episode Enjoying the Zebras and Giraffes with author and fellow podcaster Francesca Specter, who has coined the word ‘Alonement’ in order to reclaim solo time as a joyful and precious thing a million miles away from loneliness. Listen now >>

Good Sex/Bad Sex

The presenter pairing of self-confessed ‘professional prude’ Bibi Lynch and former sex worker Miranda Kane gives this conversational exploration of all things sex a truly accessible, and often hilarious, feel. However, it’s the episodes where they look beyond the ins and outs of erectile dysfunction, sex toys, orgasm gaps and vaginismus that really fascinate and add an extra dimension. Broader discussions on asexuality, polyamory, coming out, dating apps, disability and sex, heartbreak and menopause are deftly handled with big hearts and open minds. Move over Marvin. These ladies provide all the sexual healing we need in 2021. Listen now >>

Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel

Renowned Belgian therapist, speaker and author of books Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs, Esther Perel invites anonymous real couples to unpack their most intimate stories of infidelity, grief, betrayal and heartbreak in a one-off session. She believes that ‘an affair can even be the doorway to a new marriage… with the same person’, a concept that I was keen to explore when I first discovered her work while writing my first book Is Monogamy Dead? Most of us don’t fully understand what our entangled emotional decisions to begin or end relationships are actually based on. Listening to Esther calmly helping others gets us all a little bit closer to articulating our own conflicts and struggles. Listen now >>

Masala Podcast

This award-winning show, hosted by Sangeeta Pillai, features South Asian women busting taboos around sex, sexuality, periods, menopause, mental health, shame and sexual harassment. Highlights include the episode on Being Transgender and South Asian. A compelling interview with Britain’s first out Muslim drag queen, Asifa Lahore, is complemented with a fascinating exploration of the culture and history of the traditional Hijra community, one of the oldest transgender communities in the world. Listen now >>

The Breakup Monologues

Full disclosure. This is my own podcast! Working on the premise that ‘tragedy plus time equals comedy’, I have spent three seasons inviting esteemed guests including Richard Herring, Dolly Alderton, Katy Brand and Ayesha Hazarika to share their tales of breakup and recovery with me. The podcast stems from my trilogy of solo comedy shows The Science of Sex, Is Monogamy Dead? and The Conscious Uncoupling and, as such, combines humour with some of the real science and psychology underpinning heartbreak. Recent themes have included whether, in the near future, we might be able to take a pill to help reduce the trauma of a breakup. Could the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind come true? Our fourth season launches this February, with The Breakup Monologues book to follow in May.  Listen now >>

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Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian who has appeared many times on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Woman’s Hour, Loose Ends, Midweek, The Human Zoo and Four Thought. Her first book Is Monogamy Dead? was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and followed her TEDx talk of the same name, a trilogy of internationally-acclaimed solo shows investigating the psychology of love and relationships and a decade of immersive research.

Rosie also presents The Breakup Monologues podcast, which was nominated for a British Podcast Award and has been recommended by Chortle, BBC Radio 4, The Observer, Metro and Time Out. She writes for publications including the Guardian, Cosmo, The Sunday Times and New Statesman and regularly appears as a commentator on sexuality, dating and love on radio and TV programmes including Good Morning Britain.

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