BBC Radio Podcasts from Sideways

73. Reliving History

Matthew Syed explores the power and potential of re-enacting the past.

72. Limitless Love

Matthew Syed explores the human capacity for limitless love.

71. Tempting Fate

Matthew Syed questions the consequences of tempting fate.

70. Digital Ghosts

Matthew Syed explores the ethical boundaries around using AI to create digital ghosts.

69. Memento Mori

Matthew Syed confronts the passage of time and the inexorability of decay.

68. Bliss in Suffering

Matthew Syed ponders the possibility of experiencing bliss in the midst of suffering.

67. Reality Shifting

Matthew Syed explores the nature of reality and the possibility of its hidden layers.

Sideways: Series eleven - coming soon…

Sideways returns with seven new stories of seeing the world differently.

25 Years of the 21st Century: 5. The Age of Artificial Intelligence

Matthew interviews the 'Godfather of AI', Geoffrey Hinton.

25 Years of the 21st Century: 4. The Age of Changing Families

What is technology doing to something as human as forming relationships?

25 Years of the 21st Century: 3. The Age of Outsourcing

Have we outsourced our memories to our phones?

25 Years of the 21st Century: 2. The Age of Mistrust

Have we lost faith in institutions, politicians - and even money?

25 Years of the 21st Century: 1. The Age of Digital Warfare

Matthew and his guests look back at some of the big events of the past 25 years.

Appetite for Distraction: 5. The Future of Attention

Matthew Syed asks what it means to be distracted in a media world vying for our attention.

Appetite for Distraction: 4. Attention Shortfall?

Matthew Syed asks what it means to be distracted in a media world vying for our attention.

Appetite for Distraction: 3. Medium and Metaphor

Matthew Syed asks what it means to be distracted in a media world vying for our attention.

Appetite for Distraction: 2. Have We Always Been Distracted?

Matthew Syed asks what it means to be distracted in a media world vying for our attention.

Appetite for Distraction: 1. Postman's Prophecy?

Matthew Syed asks what it means to be distracted in a media world vying for our attention.

66. One is a Whole

Matthew Syed explores whether you can find joy and fulfillment in the single life.

65. Divergent Histories

Two people, with a shared painful history, learn to understand themselves in a new light.

64. The Masks We Wear

Matthew Syed explores the revealing power of masks.

63. The Art of Unfinishing

Matthew Syed explores the hidden value in leaving things unfinished.

A New Frontier: 4. With the Gods

Matthew Syed explores the transcendental possibilities of living in space.

A New Frontier: 3. Life on Mars

How commercial companies in space are expanding the possibilities for colonisation.

A New Frontier: 2. For All Humankind?

Matthew Syed goes back to the origins of the space race to question who benefited.

A New Frontier: 1. A Message to Ourselves

Matthew Syed traces humanity’s first attempt to send a radio message to aliens.

Introducing – A New Frontier

Travel into the cosmos for a four-part series about the ethics of space exploration.

62. Lost and Found

A 48-hour fight to survive, lost in a snowstorm. And the data that helps rescuers find us.

61. Brain Strain

Matthew Syed explores the uncomfortable psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance.

60. For the love of maths

Meet the former child star who considers mathematics to be 'a balm' for her brain.

59. What's Your Name?

Matthew Syed explores the importance and influence of something we all have - our name.

58. The Keeper of Lost Memories

One man’s mission to return lost photographs to their original owners.

57. Grudge Match

A wrestling grudge spills out of the ring and into the real world.

Sideways: Season nine - coming soon...

A slamming new season... starting with a pro wrestling grudge that got too real.

56. A Cinderella Story

How a Cinderella film from 1970s Czechoslovakia became a Christmas tradition across Europe

55. Perfectly Mediocre

Matthew Syed asks what happens when we shun excellence and embrace mediocrity.

54. Copy Cat

Matthew Syed hears from a painter who rose to fame by copying the works of others.

53. Stories of a Father

Matthew Syed explores how a daughter found connection with the father she never met.

52. First Loves

Matthew Syed finds out why our first loves can hold a special place in our hearts.

51. The One Star Chef

Is the customer always right? Matthew Syed delves into the world of online reviews.

Sideways: Season eight - coming soon...

First loves, harsh critics and a celebration of mediocrity. Six new Sideways stories.

50. Take the First Step

Matthew makes a case for the impact that even the smallest adventures can have on us all.

49. Inside Marjorie's Parlour

Matthew Syed explores how music can become a powerful, transformational force.

48. Love Thy Villain

Matthew Syed looks at the merits of embracing your inner 'villain'.

47. China's Ping Pong Power: Episode 3

Matthew Syed tells the story of China's rise in the 20th century - through ping pong.

46. China's Ping Pong Power: Episode 2

Matthew Syed tells the story of China's rise in the 20th century - through ping pong.

45. China's Ping Pong Power: Episode 1

Matthew Syed tells the story of China's rise in the 20th century - through ping pong.

Introducing - China's Ping Pong Power

Matthew Syed tells the story of China’s rise in the 20th century through… ping pong.

44. Matthew’s been telling tales

Matthew Syed explores the importance of storytelling for understanding ourselves.

43. Do I really sound like that?

Matthew Syed explores how our accents become part of our identity.

42. The Big Reward

Matthew Syed explores the true cost of rewarding people.

41. A Small Bowl of Rocket

Matthew Syed sticks his fork into the world of food to think about how taste is formed.

40. The Embodiment of Music

Matthew Syed explores the passion and the pain of music.

39. Please, I beg you.

Matthew Syed tells the story of how a leap of trust altered two strangers’ lives.

38. Past Your Peak

Matthew Syed unpicks the relationship between age and innovation.

Season Six – Coming soon…

Matthew Syed introduces season six, which explores leaps of trust and child prodigies.

37. My Last 5p

Matthew Syed explores how one act of generosity can have profound consequences.

36. All in a Name

Matthew Syed explores how finding the right words can help us tackle big wrongs.

35. The Riddle

Matthew Syed unravels a riddle set in the future, to consider the importance of legacy.

34. It Takes a Village

Matthew Syed thinks about how we can get more of the good stuff out of family life.

33. Doc and Jim: A Beautiful Partnership

How Dr William Key and his super smart horse 'Beautiful' Jim Key made America kinder.

32. The Social Contagion

Matthew Syed examines the strange spread of illness in a school in Yorkshire.

Sideways Season Five – Coming soon…

Matthew Syed introduces season five, which looks at being less cynical, family and legacy.

31. To Absent Friends

Matthew Syed explores why we make friends and the lifelong influence they have over us.

30. The Woman in the Portrait

How can understanding our ancestors make us feel whole?

29. Fooling the Opposition

Matthew delves into deception in sport and how it gives us the upperhand.

28. Exiting the Bunker

Matthew examines the routes to a safer nuclear future.

27. A Blip on the Radar

Matthew Syed explores how we might deal with the extreme risks that nuclear weapons pose.

26. War Games in the Pink Tower

Matthew Syed goes inside a wargame to explore the evolution of deterrence.

25. A Nuclear Awakening

Matthew Syed explores urgent intellectual questions posed by nuclear weapons.

The Nuclear Reckoning

Matthew Syed is calling for a nuclear awakening. Series starts 13th July 2022.

24. Sweet Harmony

Matthew Syed asks whether thinking musically could bring us more harmony in our lives.

23. Oostvaardersplassen: A Wild Idea

Matthew Syed explores ideas that shape our lives, making us see the world differently.

22. Inspiring Bill Strickland

Matthew Syed explores how inspiring teachers can change the world, one student at a time.

21. The Woman Who Brought Down the Mob

Matthew Syed tells the story of a pioneering lawyer who took on a notorious mobster.

20. An appointment with Dr Leech

Matthew Syed explores how knowledge is lost and found.

19. Is This What Success Looks Like?

Matthew Syed reveals the real secrets to success.

18. Tongue-Tied

Matthew Syed explores why words fail us and how we can find them again.

17. The Endurance of Arlene Blum

Matthew Syed reveals how to get to the top of the mountains in our lives.

Series 3 Coming Soon

Matthew Syed introduces the new series, which focuses on endurance, courage & resilience.

16. Big Head

Matthew Syed ponders how he can stop himself from becoming self-entitled.

15. Best Feet Forward

Matthew Syed reveals how teams can become greater than their individual parts.

14. Let's All Be Batman

Matthew Syed asks whether adopting an alter ego can unleash the best versions of ourself.

13. A Question Of Justice

Matthew Syed asks, how do you repair the greatest of harms?

12. Brighter than Bagpuss

Insights into the developing mind, from the pioneers who revolutionised kids’ TV.

11. Too Big to Succeed

Matthew Syed asks why major projects often fail spectacularly - spectacularly predictably.

10. Under the Influence

Matthew Syed examines the appeal of the myth of subliminal influence.

9. Originality Armageddon

Matthew Syed asks if we are all doomed to be deeply unoriginal.

Introducing the new series

Matthew returns with a new series of Sideways, all about the ideas that shape our lives.

8. Mental Athletics

Matthew Syed asks whether anyone can become a mental athlete.

7. Top of the Pops

Matthew Syed asks what a Swedish pop music maestro can teach us about collaboration.

6. A Recipe for Happiness

Matthew Syed asks whether the secret to happiness lies in abandoning social hierarchy.

5. The Most Selfish People on Earth

Matthew Syed examines the work of the controversial anthropologist Colin Turnbull.

4. Looping the Loop

What can the world's greatest fighter pilot tell us about decision making?

3. The West and the Rest

Matthew Syed asks whether an ancient shift in our sexual behaviour transformed the west.

2. 1 in 73 Million

Matthew Syed explores a tragic court battle which rests upon one crucial statistic.

1. Siding with the Enemy

Matthew Syed re-examines the origins of the Stockholm Syndrome.

See The World Differently

Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives.