Amanda Knox talks about how she copes and a 90s political scandal is unearthed in our favourite podcasts this April

It could be argued that true crime is the genre that keeps podcasting alive. The countless mysteries unearthed, turned over and sometimes solved keeps audiences hooked to their headphones and coming back for more.

Amanda Knox's conviction and subsequent acquittal is a different kind of crime story.

The world looked on open-mouthed as the 22-year-old was convicted of murder in an Italian court in 2009. The shock continued when she was definitively acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation in 2015. Just last year, an Italian appellate court upheld Knox's slander conviction for falsely accusing Patrick Lumumba of the murder.

A new episode of the beloved podcast How Do You Cope? does not go into the gritty details of her case, but instead looks at this true-crime case through a very human lens, examining how you can possibly get your life back on track after such a public trauma.

The best podcasts, in my opinion, are about the people behind the stories. As well as Knox's story, we also feature a fascinating tale of the Australian workers who were the victims of a historic crime. There is an empathetic and surprisingly moving examination of conspiracy theorists, a silly but compelling analysis of fast food chains and a surprisingly revealing conversation between two punk music legends and childhood friends. We hope you enjoy them.

How Do You Cope? — interviewing Amanda Knox

Wondery

How do you cope when you're sentenced to life in prison for a crime you didn't commit? It's a compelling question asked of American author and activist Amanda Knox, who at 22, was wrongfully convicted of the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher.

The moving interview with Knox perfectly encapsulates the remit of podcast How Do You Cope?

If the title sounds familiar, it's because it used to be a BBC podcast hosted by British comedians John Robins and Elis James.

Now, six years after it first premiered with an episode talking to This Is Going to Hurt author/comedian Adam Kay — and two years after its final episode — it's been picked up by American podcasting behemoth Wondery, but only Robins remains as host.

Robins (Taskmaster UK S17) has been open about his own struggles with alcohol addiction, and brings that personal experience to bear in his interviews, where he asks public figures to talk about the lowest moments in their lives and how they got through them. He approaches them all with kindness, empathy and curiosity — and good humour.

It feels especially powerful listening to Knox in 2025, as she and Robins talk about the way people look for easy narratives, rather than for nuance — and how she lives knowing that strangers meet her with a preconceived idea of who she is.

Most weeks, the interviewees then return for a second episode, The Gratitude List, where they talk through the things they're grateful for, whether that be running water or their kids.

It all feels necessary at a time when one in five Australians lives with mental illness, and it reminds us what good podcasting — and much good art — does: shows us how people live.

— Hannah Story

Good Hang with Amy Poehler — interviewing Rashida Jones

Spotify

Amy Poehler isn't trying very hard.

The comedian, and icon to conscientious millennial women, reveals this fact in the third episode of her new pod project, Good Hang. She tells fellow writer/actor Rashida Jones: "One of the reasons I want to do this podcast is because I've seen so many men do the bare minimum."

Rashida cracks up, asking if this podcast represents her bare minimum.

The answer is emphatic: "Yes, I'm truly giving 25 per cent, which is most people's 75 per cent."

Is this a sledge at her ex-husband, Will Arnett, one of the co-hosts of comedy chat show SmartLess? Who could possibly say?

What we do know is that even when Poehler isn't trying very hard, she will gladden your day. The episode with Jones — her on-screen bestie from Parks and Recreation — is a perfect place to start, with conversation ranging from the rudeness of talking on dance floors to Jones's changing priorities as she approaches 50 following the death of her father, Quincy Jones.

The warmth between them is infectious and the reminiscence of times on set for Parks and Recreation manages to be entertaining rather than waffly and self-important (a major risk of comedy podcasts).

Poehler could quite frankly talk to a cardboard cut-out and make it entertaining, but with a line-up like Jones, Martin Short and Ike Barinholtz, this is a podcast that will have you giggling loudly in the car.

— Bhakthi Puvanenthiran

Conspiracy? War on the waterfront

ABC

In the late 90s, waterfront reform was high on the newly installed Howard government's agenda.

Prime Minister John Howard found an ally in Chris Corrigan, managing director of Patrick Corporation, who blamed his company's falling share price on the Maritime Union of Australia's grip on the waterfront workforce.

Corrigan hatched a controversial plan to replace Patrick Stevedores' union workforce with a new crew of non-union workers, trained in Dubai.

When he spectacularly executed his plan to sack the entire workforce overnight, it triggered one of the biggest industrial disputes in Australian history.

ABC Rewind's six-part podcast, Conspiracy? War on the Waterfront, rakes over the bitter fight that followed with forensic detail.

Journalist and host Jan Fran (ABC TV Question Everything) uses a combination of new and archival interviews to bring together the episode's major players — including Greg Combet, John Howard and Peter Reith, the former industrial relations minister who died in 2022 — to tell the story, bringing her trademark levity to a very serious topic.

The Howard government always denied any knowledge of the Patrick Corporation's plan to sack its workers. As the story unfolds, however, it becomes clear the government knew much more than it let on.

It all makes for a riveting podcast, complete with intrigue, subterfuge, media leaks and obfuscating political leaders.

The suspenseful pacing delivers dramatic — not to mention bizarre — moments, including a Deep-Throat-style document drop at a Sunshine Coast pub, armoured buses and picketing grandmas.

But perhaps the most compelling voices are the everyday people — the electricians, dock workers, ex-military personnel and farmers — who unwittingly found themselves part of a national crisis, and had little to show for it when the dust settled.

— Nicola Heath

Doughboys — The Tournament of Tournament of Chompions of Chompions

Headgum

For a podcast that spends a lot of time reflecting on how bad it is, Doughboys has been a remarkable success for the 10 years it's been running, with tens of thousands of paid-up Patreon subscribers and a list of guests to make comedy fans salivate.

Hosted by Nick Wiger and Mike Mitchell — comedians who purport to be friends, though they have spent much of the past decade at each other's throats — the podcast reviews chain restaurants with comedian guests, who have included Sarah Silverman, Gillian Jacobs, Kumail Nanjiani, and regulars like Nicole Byer, Jon Gabrus, and Carl Tart.

In honour of its 10th anniversary, the podcast recently held its Tournament of Tournament of Chompions of Chompions (no, it doesn't really make any more sense once you listen), a quest to crown the best meal from the best fast food chain in America.

The fun is always in the journey rather than the destination, and given this recent series featured a 3.5-hour episode with Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas, a six-hour live-streamed finale, and a narrative focused on the purported death of a close friend and collaborator, it is a hell of a ride for fans of trashy food, improv comedy and the word "wow".

On Doughboys, the jokes can be infantile, the takes frustratingly subjective and the references to Star Wars, basketball and the Dave Matthews Band perplexing. It's also endlessly hilarious, wholesome at its core and a welcome distraction from the woes of the world. Here's to another 10 years.

— Dan Condon

Embedded: Alternate Realities  

NPR

Many people have a burgeoning conspiracy theorist in their life. You know, that family member or old friend who has spent a bit too much time in the dark land of Facebook comments and has emerged with some questionable ideas.

It's easy not to take it very seriously, and the three-part series Alternate Realities from NPR's Embedded starts with this jovial tone, as young reporter Zach Mack bemoans his boomer father's increasingly paranoid conspiracy theories. He's always been the lone religious conservative in the family, but after buying an iPad during the pandemic, he got more and more extreme.

The tone remains lighthearted as, after months of circular arguments, the father issues a wager. He will write down 10 things he is certain will happen in the next year — including Barack Obama being found guilty of treason and the US entering martial law — with $10,000 going to whoever is right.

Zach happily accepts the bet and, in the following months, he has a series of in-depth and surprisingly touching conversations with his father that strengthen their understanding of each other. He also speaks to experts on radicalisation, who help him unpack how and why this has happened, and what can be done.

But a few months before the bet is up, the tone shifts. We hear from Zach's sister, a queer woman who feels heartbroken and fed up by the way her father treats her identity (he said he would always love her, but he does not agree with her "choice"). We hear from Zach's mother, who is watching in horror as her life partner becomes increasingly erratic, makes poor financial decisions, and slips further and further away from her.

Even though we all know there was no martial law declared in the US in 2024, you still find yourself holding your breath as the 12 months runs out and the family reckons with what to do next. Is love enough to bridge an ever-widening gap in beliefs? Can you truly be close to someone who has an entirely different idea of reality to you?

— Katherine Smyrk

One Life One Chance with Toby Morse — interviewing Tom DeLonge

Independent

Two mates having a chat so rarely makes for an interesting podcast. There are exceptions, and this discussion between Toby Morse, lead singer of punk band H20, and Blink-182 guitarist and singer Tom DeLonge gives rare depth to the story of one of modern music's most extraordinary successes.

The strength of this chat is in its tone: while Morse is no hard-hitting interviewer and doesn't push back or question any of DeLonge's thoughts, he knows what music fans want to know. He isn't starstruck by his old friend, so has the confidence to lob all manner of personal questions at him.

As such, we hear all about DeLonge's broken home, Blink-182's infamous split in 2005 and, of course, DeLonge's well-publicised fascination with aliens.

There's plenty there for punk nerds — stories from the Warped Tour, gushing over Descendents and Fugazi, and why Blink didn't sign with the venerable Epitaph Records — as well as some genuinely solid advice around how to deal with people's perceptions of you and your work.

In this case, the informal tone and shared history between these two friends allows us an intimate insight into a normally guarded artist that will hook even casual Blink fans.

— Dan Condon