BBC Radio 4’s science and storytelling podcast The Flipside with Paris Lees debuted its second series on 13 February, over a year since it first launched in October 2021.
The series, which tells two stories that feel opposing in each episode and reflects on human behaviour, is now available as an eight-episode boxset on BBC Sounds rather than being published weekly as with the first series.
Themes that are explored in the second series include why people switch off from social media when it comes to climate issues, why people lie about themselves on the internet, the power of persuasion, how race and sexual identity are viewed differently in changing surroundings, how procrastination can be a form of unconscious bias, how connections with other people affect their health, and how certain people become superfans and the community that surrounds them.
Each episode, Lees presents two different stories from people who have experienced something in their lives relating to the theme of the episode and then breaks down how that affects human behaviour as well as providing advice from a professional psychologist.
Lees is an award-winning journalist and the first trans woman to present shows for BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4, and is a contributing editor for British Vogue. She has also made a number of appearances as a guest on other podcasts including How To Fail with Elizabeth Day, weekly interview series All The Small Things, and LGBTQ+ podcast Homo Sapiens.
“It’s been a privilege speaking to so many amazing people who are just trying to live the best lives that they can and keep moving forwards, even when they’re coming from wildly different directions,” Lees said in a previous BBC press release. “Throughout this series, I’ve felt engaged, connected and found meaning in doing something I hope will be of value to other people.”
The podcast is also executive produced by Rubina Pabani, head of short-form at factual production company ITN and co-host of the BBC’s award-winning sex and relationships podcast Brown Girls Do It Too.
