Bunga bunga and beyond with Berlusconi – podcasts of the week

A new podcast charts the former Italian PM’s strange rise to power. Plus: true crime told by science in Unearthed

Picks of the week

Bunga Bunga (from 8 Sep)
Bunga bunga: two words which for most people will only - can only - call to mind former Italian PM Silvio Berlusoni, and the insalubrious parties which led him to be accused of paying a 17-year-old for sex. But, beyond those two words and their seedy connotations, just who is Berlusconi, and how did he get to the highest office in the land? US comic Whitney Cummings hosts this informative, gently tongue-in-cheek new series about his unlikely rise – beginning with his early days as a slippery media mogul – and unforgettable fall. Hannah J Davies

Billionaire Boys Club
Wondery’s tale of 80s excess is a lavish look at how the get-rich-quick plans of “a group of young men united by greed and privilege” turned into true crime fodder. The woman with the most scandalous voice in podcasting, Hollywood and Crime’s Tracy Pattin, co-hosts with Timothy Olyphant as they tell the twisting tale of Joe Hunt and his bunch of yuppie chancers. It’s all fun and games while the gang are driving matching BMWs and rinsing investors in Ponzi scheme – but then they find themselves at the centre of a murder investigation.
Hannah Verdier

Producer pick: Unearthed – Mysteries from an Unseen World

Chosen by Madeleine Finlay
On the surface, plants seem pretty innocuous. They’re nice to look at, good for the environment, you can eat some of them. That seems about it really. Not at London’s Kew Gardens. Away from the rows of flowers and trees that visitors wander, Kew’s scientists are cultivating ultra-rare orchids, identifying woods and plants for fighting illegal trade, solving murders, and collecting seeds from around the world. Bringing out this fascinating science from behind the scenes, their new podcast explores some seriously incredible and bizarre botany.

The first episode feels like a general introduction, although you do get to hear about stolen orchids (apparently they can be worth thousands, or even millions of pounds?!) and a car interior made from alligator skin, so it certainly isn’t a dull ride. Still, episode two, The Curry Killer: How Kew helped bring a murderer to justice, is where it starts to get really interesting. Host James Wong tells the story alongside Kew’s botanists, revealing how they helped solve a mysterious poisoning.

If you’re on the hunt for some escapism this podcast is digestible (unlike a lot of its subjects), and despite the often overly dramatic music it deploys, light and entertaining. ‘Forensic botany’ might just be the coolest job out there.

Talking points

Broccoli Content has released the latest run of its bite-sized podcast series, Anthems, this time amplifying black voices every day until the end of Black History Month in October. Actor Jade Anouka and Guardian columnist Afua Hirsch are among its contributors.

Why not try: Where Is George Gibney? | How Do You Cope … with Elis and John | Peter 2.0