Pick of the podcasts: Power: The Maxwells, The Apology Line and The Battersea Poltergeist

Power: The Maxwells

Spotify, Apple

Ghislaine Maxwell was a fixture of Manhattan high society, a jet-setter, an international party girl, photographed with the rich and famous, friends with princes and presidents.

A keeper of her secrets, and theirs.

But even as she sits in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial, over a year since the mysterious death in prison of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, her former partner, she remains a real enigma.

Although, this isn’t the first time that the death of a man in Ghislaine’s life has been shrouded in mystery.

In 1991, her father, media tycoon Robert Maxwell, went missing from the deck of his yacht off the Canary Islands. Hours later his body was pulled from the Atlantic Ocean.

No one on board heard him fall. Ghislaine’s theory: her father was murdered.

To understand Ghislaine and to unravel the truth, we first need to understand who Robert Maxwell was.

In a gripping seven-part series, investigative journalist Tara Palmeri tracks the press baron’s rise and fall.

Fans of Succession, the sublime TV series about media magnate Logan Roy, will be at home learning about the life of Maxwell.

He rose from poverty to build a newspaper empire, was a suspected spy for the Israeli secret service, was thought to be the fraudster who stole his own employees’ pensions, and held a fierce rivalry with fellow newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch.

What really happened on that yacht? The ripples of his death are still being felt today.

Former CNN political analyst Palmeri tells the story of a family like no other – a rags-to-riches-to-rags-again tale, where nothing was as it seemed.

The Apology Line

Apple Podcasts, Spotify

If you could call a number and say you’re sorry, and no one would know…what would you apologise for?

For 15 years, you could call a number in Manhattan and do just that. This is the story of the line, and the man at the other end who became consumed by his own creation. He was known as “Mr Apology.” Marissa Bridge, who knew Mr Apology better than anyone, hosts this six-episode series.

The Battersea Poltergeist

BBC Sounds

A paranormal cold case, re-investigated through a thrilling blend of drama and documentary.

The true story of one of Britain’s strangest hauntings is told here, with the help of Dafne Keen, Alice Lowe and and Toby Jones. In 1956, in an ordinary house on a quiet street in South London, the Hitchings Family were woken by banging and scratching noises, so loud that the neighbours came round to complain.