The Bomb Podcast
How the nuclear bomb shaped world history. The scientists who raced to build weapons, the spies who stole the technology and the superpowers who grappled with deployment.
How the nuclear bomb shaped world history. The scientists who raced to build weapons, the spies who stole the technology and the superpowers who grappled with deployment.
In Season 3, nuclear war is terrifyingly close. Can the superpowers of the Soviet Union and the USA prevent apocalypse? Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy, relatives of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and US President John F Kennedy, tell the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Season 2 is about Klaus Fuchs, the brilliant young physicist from a pacifist German family whose spying for Russia changed history.
Season 1 tells the story of Leo Szilard, and the scientist’s discovery of the lethal potential for nuclear weapons in the race to beat Nazi Germany.
Episodes to download
![]()
6. Kennedy’s move—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Mon 29 Dec 2025
6/10Pressure builds on President Kennedy to order a military strike on Cuba
![]()
5. The crisis: Day one—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Mon 22 Dec 2025
5/10Spy plane pictures reveal the missile build up to the Americans. How will they respond?
![]()
4. Almost caught—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Mon 15 Dec 2025
4/10Soviet ships carry nuclear missiles to Cuba. But the US can’t prove it
![]()
3. Gamble—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Mon 8 Dec 2025
3/10The Soviets secretly plan to move an arsenal of nuclear weapons to Cuba
![]()
2. King of bombs—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Mon 1 Dec 2025
2/10Vienna talks break down, the Berlin wall rises and a huge bomb is tested over the Arctic
![]()
1. Opening moves—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Mon 1 Dec 2025
1/10As the USA and Soviet Union race for supremacy, Premier Khrushchev sizes up JFK
![]()
Trailer—Kennedy and Khrushchev
Thu 6 Nov 2025
1/10Nuclear war is terrifyingly close. Can the superpowers stop a global catastrophe?
![]()
10. Fallout—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 9 Sep 2022
Jail awaits - Klaus Fuchs is going down. But will he take Ursula with him?
![]()
![]()
8. The uncertainty principle—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 26 Aug 2022
The spy catchers close in. Klaus Fuchs is caught in the crosshairs
![]()
7. Critical mass—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 19 Aug 2022
The interrogation of a spymaster. Ursula is questioned as Klaus Fuchs returns to England
![]()
6. Camp Y—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 12 Aug 2022
Lives on the line. The Fuchs family is drawn into the espionage
![]()
5. An irreversible reaction—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 5 Aug 2022
A double life gets more dangerous. Fuchs joins America's bomb project
![]()
![]()
3. Unstable elements—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 22 Jul 2022
The fate of the world is decided: Klaus Fuchs joins a top-secret atomic bomb mission
![]()
2. A split life—Klaus Fuchs
Fri 15 Jul 2022
The world’s most dangerous spy? A young scientist’s journey into espionage
![]()
![]()
Bonus: The sound design—Klaus Fuchs
Sun 26 Jun 2022
What does the inside of an atom sound like? Meet our sound designer for Season 2
![]()
Bonus: Introducing Rosa Ellis—Klaus Fuchs
Sun 19 Jun 2022
"She was not just a spy - she was a spymaster". The family secret of Rosa Ellis
![]()
Introducing The Bomb season 2—Klaus Fuchs
Sun 12 Jun 2022
The spy who changed history. Season 2 begins on 9 July 2022
![]()
7. The doomsday clock—Leo Szilard
Fri 11 Sep 2020
The bomb drops on Hiroshima and the world is changed forever
![]()
6. The first atomic bomb—Leo Szilard
Fri 4 Sep 2020
Time is running out. Leo Szilard makes one final attempt to stop the bomb
![]()
5. Enemy alien—Leo Szilard
Fri 28 Aug 2020
The FBI pursues Leo Szilard as he loses control of the project
![]()
![]()
3. The Einstein letter—Leo Szilard
Fri 14 Aug 2020
A vital message must be delivered to the president of the United States
![]()
2. Race to the bomb—Leo Szilard
Fri 7 Aug 2020
It’s a race against time to beat the Nazis to the nuclear bomb
![]()
1. Moonshine—Leo Szilard
Fri 31 Jul 2020
A little-known scientist discovers something that will change the course of human history
![]()
The prologue—Leo Szilard
Thu 23 Jul 2020
“My grandfather in front of a mushroom cloud”. Could the Bomb have been stopped? #thebomb




