The show broadcasts on BBC Radio 4.
Bestselling author Matthew Syed will return to the Beeb radio offering with eight new episodes of Sideways, exploring the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.
“The new series of Sideways is packed with new ideas, curious backstories, and sideways angles that will help you to see the world, well, a bit differently. I’ve learned more recording this series than doing anything else for years, an eclectic set of stories with a mosaic of themes.”
In the first episode, Matthew asks whether humans are doomed to be unoriginal, as we evolve collectively with shared cultural cues and learn from what has worked in the past. Matthew uses the story of a shamed author accused of plagiarism to explore how we might learn to be more original.
Other subjects explored in the next series of Sideways include, ‘Why you might need an alter ego to get ahead’, ‘The myth of hidden influences, explored through the 1990 trial of metal band Judas Priest’, ‘What children’s television tells us about the developing mind’ and ‘Lessons on teamwork from the Middle Ages’.
“In Sideways Matthew joins the dots between different strands of thinking to tell us something surprising about ourselves while also telling us a cracking story. It’s a great combination and I’m delighted to see Sideways back on Radio 4 with a second series.”
— Richard Knight, Radio 4’s factual commissioning editor
Presented by Matthew Syed, Sideways is on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds weekly from 4pm, Wednesday 23 June.
