Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus’ latest audio project is a loose and riotous debrief on the week’s pop culture affairs. Covering topics spanning Doja Cat’s volatile tweets to the newly opened Sphere arena in Las Vegas, the former Radio 1 DJs embellish headlines with personal anecdotes only granted to those who have spent decades in and around celebrity culture.

Sidetracked avoids being a time capsule of the 2010s and instead showcases the breadth of each host’s interests and knowledge acquired over years spent with their thumbs firmly on the pulse of mainstream music and entertainment. From being invited backstage to meet Elton John after his London O2 show to getting stuck in conversation with Lady Gaga on an all-night bender, Sidetracked is full of tea-spilling tales and quippy back and forth between two very funny friends. (Warning: don’t be sipping on any liquids when Grimshaw does his impression of Lil Wayne unless you want to risk spraying a stranger on the bus).

And if BBC Sounds productions are sometimes too sterile and polished for you, a hilarious tale of Macmanus being hungover on Radio 4 when promoting the show and good use of archive audio (they open the series with their first ever on-air appearance together from 2007’s Switch) should debunk any of those concerns. Not interested in taking itself too seriously, this podcast isn’t preoccupied with offering academically backed surgical dissections of pop-culture moments. Instead, Macmanus and Grimshaw are safely operating in ‘let’s debate the difference between a fan and a stan’ or ‘is vinyl the future’ territory. Interesting takes do come out of their discussions though, and most importantly, listeners are in great company with the two hosts, whose long-standing friendship is as entertaining as it is genuine. 

New episodes of Sidetracked With Annie And Nick are available on BBC Sounds every Thursday.