Talk Plagiarism To Me: BBC pilfers podcast's name

In the ultra-competitive world of podcasting, nicking ideas or even names is nothing new.

In 2024 the hosts of independent pod Straight to the Comments, which looked at the often bonkers comments left below the line on the stories of national newspapers’ websites, were shocked to find a very similar new podcast launched by the Daily Mail.

The Mail’s pod, in which YouTube pranksters Archie Manners and Josh Pieters looked at the often bonkers comments left below the line on the stories of national newspapers’ websites, was named, er, Straight to the Comments. The hosts of the original podcast, Lisa Williams and Sarah Illingworth, did send a legal letter to the Mail but were immediately fobbed off by its expensive lawyers. More happily, Manners and Pieters’s effort lasted just two months and nine episodes.

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Rats in a Sack

But one might expect better from the BBC – which is why journalist, broadcaster and presenter of 1990s pop culture podcast Talk ‘90s To Me Miranda Sawyer was narked to find its Sounds division was launching a new history show with the title… Talk History To Me.

According to the corporation, the “brand new fully visualised podcast”, hosted by Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson, “explores the surprising histories behind traditions, customs and objects of everyday life”. “Told in a chatty, narrative style, the podcast connects the past directly to the way we live, think and argue now,” it says. How original!

Not to Sawyer, though, whose own podcast was launched in August 2025 and has featured deep dives into such 1990s subjects as Oasis, Friends, Trainspotting and alcopops.

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Rats in a Sack

“It is profoundly depressing to read that BBC Sounds have decided to nick the title of our small indie podcast Talk ‘90s To Me for yet another of their fucking history shows, one which looks at everyday life and how it’s shaped things for us today,” she wrote on Instagram.

“No doubt the alcopops episode has already been commissioned. It is hard work making an independent podcast, I do all the prep and research for the interviews and often the guest booking too. Podmasters [the firm behind the podcast] is a great indie company to work with, shame on the BBC for nicking indie ideas, they have so many people working there, just think of your own ffs.”

Profoundly depressing indeed. What next from the BBC? Talk Politics To Me? Talk Entertainment to Me? Talk Plagiarism To Me?