Sideways

A morning routine. A cup of tea brewing. Toast almost ready. It’s Monday, and a young man is getting ready to leave for work, when there’s a knock at the door. Two police officers stand outside with news that will change his life - he’s under arrest.
He’s stunned. There must be a mistake. What has he done? “I’m afraid we can’t share that information yet,” one of the officers says. He’s never been in trouble with the law. But now he is - and no one will tell him why.
Matthew Syed invites us to confront the absurd - the moments when life stops making sense, when there’s nothing to grasp or explain. He asks whether we have grown used to the absurdity woven into our lives and whether there is a way to push against it.
With author Michael Foley, Professor of Anthropology Nina Holm Vohnsen (University of Aarhus) and Mathijs Bal, Psychologist and Professor of Management (University of Lincoln).
With special thanks to Tom Wright and Joe Savage.

Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Mark Pittam
Production Coordinator: Joe Savage
Theme music by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Every week, podcaster Curt Jaimungal immerses himself in big ideas and complex theories to prepare for long, in-depth interviews with some of the world’s leading thinkers on his show Theories of Everything. His guests are wide-ranging - renowned physicists, mathematicians but also philosophers - investigating questions of existence and the nature of reality. He takes it very seriously, as part of a wider quest to find a worldview. But one day, he’s shocked to discover he feels disorientated by what he’d previously considered a mere intellectual exercise.
Matthew Syed asks whether certain ideas and practices are riskier, perhaps more dangerous to explore than others. He discovers ideas around selfhood in particular can send people into a spin and traces the history of when practices based on self-observation became popularised in western societies, often outside of their intended context. He assesses the dangers of ‘ontological whiplash’, a term podcaster Curt gives to the experience of constantly going from one set of ideas to another. And he receives sound advice from his old friend Dr Iain McGilchrist - a psychiatrist, philosopher, and bestselling author - on how best to maintain a sense of equilibrium when exploring questions of the self and consciousness.
With Curt Jaimungal, creator and podcast host of Theories of Everything; Willoughby Britton, associate professor of psychiatry and human behaviour at Brown University Medical School and director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at Brown University School of Public Health; Brahmacharini Shripriya Chaitanya, Hindu monk with Chinmaya Mission; and Dr Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist, philosopher, and author of the bestselling book The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.
Featuring excerpts from Curt Jaimungal’s Theories of Everything YouTube channel:
Why Consciousness is Fundamental with Donald Hoffman, July 30, 2020
Noam Chomsky: Panpsychism, LLMs, Artificial Consciousness, October 25, 2022
Rupert Spira: Non-Dualism, God, & Death, June 21, 2021
Matter and Mind: Rethinking Consciousness with Iain McGilchrist, November 26, 2024
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Vishva Samani
Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Designer: Mark Pittam
Production Coordinator: Joe Savage
Theme by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

As a young girl, Djamila Azzouz loved performing - musical theatre, choirs. She loved nothing more than the thrill of entertaining an audience. But in her teenage years, mental health issues made her shy away from a career that would put her in the spotlight.
When even singing itself became difficult, she found a surprising alternative: screaming. But as a woman, her raw, unfiltered expression often clashed with social expectations, even on the metal music scene.
Matthew Syed explores how, throughout history, women's screams have frequently been tightly controlled, accepted only in specific contexts. And considers whether there are signs of a shift towards greater acceptance and empowerment through screaming, even in horror, where traditionally scream queens have conveyed fear, pleasure, or vulnerability.
With Ithaca’s vocalist Djamila Azzouz, vocal coach Melissa Cross, behavioural and data scientist Professor Pragya Agarwal, and Elizabeth Erwin, researcher in film and media at LeHigh University, Pennsylvania.

Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Mark Pittam
Theme music by: Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
In this episode, you heard:
Ithaca - They Fear Us
Written by Sam Chetan-Welsh, Djamila Azzouz, Will Sweet, James Lewis, Dom Moss.
AMF Music Limited
Ithaca - Impulse Crush
Written by Sam Chetan-Welsh, Djamila Azzouz, Will Sweet, James Lewis, Dom Moss.
Ithaca - Cremation Party
Written by Sam Chetan-Welsh, Djamila Azzouz, Will Sweet, James Lewis, Dom Moss.
AMF Music Limited
Ithaca - Fluorescent
Written by Sam Chetan-Welsh, Djamila Azzouz, Will Sweet, James Lewis, Dom Moss.
AMF Music Limited
Poppy, Amy Lee, and Courtney LaPlante - End of You
Written by Moriah Rose Perreira, Jordan Fish, Amy Lee, Courtney Laplante, Mike Stringer
Sumerian Records

It’s 5 pm, and 4-year-old Aqeela, his sister Londie, and three of their siblings scuttle under a tent they’ve made in the boys’ bedroom. It’s time for “The Story”. For weeks, they play out missions and tasks given by an old, wise Kung Fu master. Their mission? Save the world. It’s a story of responsibility, purpose and rewards.
Years later, when Aqeela finds himself part of a gang war in South Los Angeles, ‘The Story’ comes back to him at the most unexpected moment, changing the course of his life.
Throughout our whole existence, we hear and create stories. Some we forget immediately, others we keep with us forever. Matthew Syed looks at the impact one simple story can have on an individual - and sometimes many more.
With former LA gang member and social activist Aqeela Sherrills; Elander (Londie) Sherrills-Hills; Professor of Education, Psychology, and Neuroscience Mary Helen Immordino-Yang from University of Southern California; and Marshall Duke, Professor of Psychology at Emory University, Atlanta.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Mark Pittam
Theme music by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Featuring archive from:
NBC News, Los Angeles - 18 February 1983 - Report by Heidi Shulmann about gang activity in LA
NBC News Special LA Riots Report - 30th April 1992 - Tom Brokaw

Simon Burrell always imagined he’d be a dad one day. But as the years pass, it’s something he dismisses. Simon is gay, single and approaching 50. But then, an honest conversation with a friend resurfaces that deep, buried desire to parent a child. And Simon goes to extraordinary lengths to make it a reality.
Matthew Syed follows Simon’s unconventional journey to single fatherhood, explores why male ‘baby lust’ - the intense desire to be a parent - is often overlooked and how popular culture helps reinforce stereotypes that assume women yearn for a baby more than men.
With Simon Burrell; Dr Robin Hadley, a researcher in male childlessness and evolutionary anthropologist; and author of the book The Life of Dad, Dr Anna Machin.
Presenter: Matthew Syed
Producer: Vishva Samani
Editor: Katherine Godfrey
Sound Design and Mix: Mark Pittam
Theme music by Ioana Selaru
A Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Featuring archive from:
Finding Surrogacy: Real Life Gay Dads, produced and directed by Andrew Webb, for ITV Meridian Broadcasting, 2000
Father of the Bride Part II, directed by Charles Shyer, written by Nancy Meyers, produced by Touchstone Pictures - a film label of The Walt Disney Company, distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution,1995
Bridget Jones’s Diary, directed by Sharon Maguire, written by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis, co-produced by Working Title Films, Universal Pictures and StudioCanal, distributed by Miramax Films and United International Pictures, 2001
Episode 29 Pancakes from the series Peppa Pig (Season 1), created, written and directed by Mark Baker and Neville Astley, produced by Astley Baker Davies / Hasbro Entertainment, original UK air date: 2 July 2004 (Channel 5)