Kerry Washington takes A-listers back to the streets they grew up on: best podcasts of the week

Scandal star Kerry Washington’s web series is now a podcast, with big-name guests talking about the places they were raised. Cambridge, Massachusetts local Ben Affleck is the first to have a frank conversation on his parents’ divorce, and the things he didn’t tell his mum – such as being mugged at knifepoint at 14. “I loved hearing everything he shared,” says Washington. “Even though he tried to interview me at times.” Hannah J Davies

Widely available, episodes weekly

Deep Secrets

After becoming a father, comedian Hunter Hill decided to make a parenting podcast. Until, that is, an attempt to research his dad threw him down a rabbit hole that made him question everything he knew about his family – including whether his goat-farming grandad was really a secret CIA operative. It’s a wild, detail-packed listen told in highly hooky fashion. Alexi Duggins

Widely available, episodes weekly

Eras: Spice Girls

Rosie Ramsey draws on the BBC’s massive music archive to tell the story of Britain’s biggest girl group (pictured above right). It’s a lively celebration of girl power, stuffed with trivia (the idea for personas was inspired by the TV series Friends) and insight from the likes of music manager Chris Herbert and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall. HJD

13 Minutes: Trouble With Hubble

This compelling space podcast, hosted by Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin, looks at the world’s most famous telescope. Interviews with the key personnel lend drama to the post-launch discovery that its primary mirror’s curvature was off by the equivalent of around one-fiftieth of the width of a human hair – rendering it useless. The only option? Dispatching astronauts on a zero-gravity repair mission. AD

Fame Under Fire

Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty will be at Southwark crown court daily to report on Russell Brand’s trial, in which he denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. She’ll also explore wider topics, such as the role of social media in high-profile trials. Hollie Richardson

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