Violinist and composer Diana Yukawa lost her father, Akihisa Yukawa, in the Japan Air Lines Flight 123 plane crash of August 1985. The crash was just five weeks before she was born. As she grew up, Diana wanted to get to know her father. Matthew Syed, explores the profound relationship that can exist between parent and child separated by a loss of this kind, and the role of storytelling in creating those connections.Writer Ashley Reese’s husband, Rob, died of cancer in 2022. Ashley is planning to get pregnant with hers and Rob’s child using IVF. She is making plans for their future child to know their father.Featuring Diana Yukawa, Ashley Reese and clinical psychologist Dr Emma Svanberg.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Amalie Sortland Series editor: Katherine Godfrey Sound design and mix: Naomi Clarke Theme tune by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

After Kate and Guenther shared their first kiss on Torquay's pier in the summer of 1989, their blossoming love was soon interrupted by the distance between Yorkshire and Bavaria. Two years later, they had to let go of their early romance. In this episode, we explore rekindled loves, for better or worse, and the challenges we can face when the ghost of an old romance resurfaces. As Matthew Syed reminisces about his own experiences, he delves into the reasons why our first loves are unforgettable.Featuring Professor Catherine Loveday, Jeannie Thompson, and Professor Adam Fetterman.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Julien Manuguerra-Patten Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Sound design and mixing: Naomi Clarke Theme tune by Ioana SelaruA Novel production for BBC Radio 4

When chef and independent restaurateur Davide Cerretini first opened his restaurant, it was a dream come true. But that dream quickly soured when he came head to head with ever more pushy and demanding customers. And then online reviews came along...In this story of how one man took on his critics, Matthew Syed examines the role of online reviews - good and bad- in modern consumer culture and delves into whether the customer really is "always right".Featuring Davide Cerretini, restaurant critic Jay Rayner, Dr Jo Cohen and Ewa Maslowska.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producers: Leigh Meyer and Pippa Smith Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Sound design and Mix: Naomi Clarke Sideways theme by Ioana Selaru A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

First loves, harsh critics and a celebration of mediocrity - Sideways returns with six new stories about seeing the world differently and the ideas that shape our lives. Presented by Matthew Syed.

In 2014 Angela Maxwell was feeling stuck. She wanted something fresh, something exciting. After a chance encounter she landed upon her goal - she was going to set off on one of the largest adventures imaginable: a walk around the world. She didn't know exactly how the journey would play out, but that was part of the appeal - the whole planet was waiting for her to just take the first step. In this episode, Matthew Syed hears from Angela about her 6 year walk around the world, from the misery of freezing cold nights, to finding beauty in solitary nights sleeping under the stars. And Angela explores her ideas about courage - after she was raped during her expedition, she chose to continue her journey around the world. Over the six years she walked, she would find deep connection to herself and to others, making lifelong friends and sinking into the places, slowly, just placing one foot in front of the other.We hear from Susan Houge Mackenzie, a professor of psychology at the University of Otago, about the benefits of adventure to our mindset, even 'micro adventures' which take place much nearer to home, and from naturalist and conservationist Nadia Shaikh, who is a land justice activist working with the Right to Roam campaign, who makes a case that we need far greater access to nature to be able to undertake micro adventures in our local area. Matthew considers how adventures big and small can clarify our goals for our lives, and asks us to consider whether we ought to all be heading out on adventures a little more often.If you have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionlinePresenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Nadia Mehdi Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Theme tune by Ioana Selaru. A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Every Sunday afternoon for over 30 years now, Marjorie Eliot has played a jazz concert in her Harlem apartment for anyone who comes. It all began on a Sunday morning back in 1992, after she was faced with an unimaginable loss. In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed explores how music has allowed Marjorie Eliot to look for joy within the deepest of losses. And through the history of jazz itself, he tries to understand how music can become such a powerful, even transcendental force.With actress, playwright and musician Marjorie Eliot; singer, composer, actor - and Marjorie’s son - Rudel Drears; and Dr Tammy Kernodle, musicologist and Professor of Music at Miami University in Ohio.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Jake Otajovic Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Sound Design and Mix: Rob Speight A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Three different women, who lead three very different lives, but all became villains...or did they? In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed explores what happens when we indulge in the darker, supposedly more "villainous" parts of ourselves. He looks at the TikTok trend for embracing your so-called villain era and what might happen when we shake off expectations and niceties.With comedian Chelsea Birkby, musician Mala Waldron, Amanda Lovett who became part of the hit TV show Traitors, Dr Margrethe Brun Vaage, and author and executive coach Rachel Simmons.Presenter: Matthew Syed Producer: Leigh Meyer Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Sound design and mix: Rob Speight Theme tune by Ioana Selaru. A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

In the final episode of this mini series from Sideways, former professional ping pong player, Matthew Syed, tells the story of how ping pong fared in a more open China. After Chairman Mao's death in 1976, his successor Deng Xiaoping introduced privatisation, contracting out, and a host of reforms that freed key parts of the economy from central control. At the same time, China's table tennis team were starting to lose their primacy in the game, with challenging new styles of play emerging from Sweden in particular. But alongside more economic freedom and openness, came a relaxation and innovation in Chinese ping pong style which ushered in a glittering new era of Olympic glory for the Chinese national team.From a sport that brought Mao's China such national pride in the early decades of the PRC, and then laid the groundwork for the rapprochement with the United States, ping pong today is no longer the popular sport of young people in China, and the Communist Party has its sights on prestige in other sporting arenas too. As the series draws to a close, Matthew explores the changing nature of Chinese sporting diplomacy and how sport, and table tennis, are still deeply entwined with the country’s wider ambitions. Presented by Matthew Syed Producer: Pippa Smith Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Script consultation: Dr Olivia Cheung, SOAS, University of London Sound Design and mix: Rob Speight Archival research: Nadia Mehdi With thanks to Zhijie Shao from the BBC World Service and to the International Table Tennis FederationA Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Former England international table tennis player, Matthew Syed, continues this three-part mini series from Sideways, with a moment that changed the course of China-US relations - when the hippie American player Glen Cowan met the world's greatest table tennis star Zhuang Zedong. This event would usher in rapprochement between the two nations and lay the groundwork for both Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon's landmark visits to the once isolated China.In China's Ping Pong Power, Matthew explores the vital role played by the little game of ping pong in the rise of this great power, taking us from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, to the thawing of US-China relations during the Cold War, to Olympic glory and the sporting ambitions of the country today.Presented by Matthew Syed Producer: Katherine Godfrey Series Lead: Pippa Smith Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Script consultation: Dr Olivia Cheung, SOAS, University of London Sound Design and mix: Rob Speight Archival research: Nadia Mehdi With thanks to Zhijie Shao from the BBC World Service and to the International Table Tennis FederationA Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Matthew Syed is a former Olympic table tennis player for Great Britain. As Matthew travelled in China, competing against some of the world’s greatest players, he realised that ping pong is a game that has played a huge and fascinating role in the rise of a great power, taking us from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the sporting ambitions of the country today.Matthew begins this three-part mini series from Sideways, with the story of the rise and tragic death of Rong Guotuan - an extraordinary player and China's first world champion in any sport. Chairman Mao and Zhou Enlai were keen ping pong players, and in the early years of the PRC the sport was a way of cementing national pride. And where better to showcase a new China and its sporting prowess than at the 1961 Beijing World Table Tennis Championships? But hidden behind the veneer of a newly built stadium and comforts for the visiting teams from all over the world, was a much darker experience for the people of China - an avoidable famine that's estimated by 1961 to have killed at least 36 million. Presented by Matthew Syed Producer: Pippa Smith Series Editor: Katherine Godfrey Script consultation: Dr Olivia Cheung, SOAS, University of London Sound Design and mix: Rob Speight Archival research: Nadia Mehdi With thanks to Zhijie Shao from the BBC World Service and to the International Table Tennis FederationA Novel production for BBC Radio 4