Assignment: Educating Tibet

There were times in 2020 when the world felt like an out of control carousel and we could all have been forgiven for just wanting to get off and to wait for normality to return. But will 2021 be any less dramatic? Joe Biden will be inaugurated in January but will Donald Trump have left the White House by then? And vaccines are promised to help tackle the Covid19 pandemic but how successful will they be and how do global leaders go about trying to repair the economic damage the virus has caused? So many big questions but luckily we have some big hitters to provide plenty of answers. Presenter: Lyse Doucet Panel: Anne Soy, Gabriel Gatehouse, Larry Madowo, Vincent Ni and Yogita Limaye Producer: Ben Carter Editor: Ravin Sampat

1 Jan 202150min

Dr Kevin Fong talks to the people who have seemingly achieved the impossible and created a coronavirus vaccine in a matter of months. Speaking to the scientists who’ve spent the past 12 months with the eyes of the world on them, Kevin wants to know how they tackled the science and what are the biggest barriers they’ve faced. There have been tensions along the way between science and politics, science and morality. But through it all, do we enter a new year with our faith in science been renewed?

1 Jan 202150min

A young woman is desperately searching for her brother in Lagos. On the night of 20th October, Nigerian soldiers opened fire at a peaceful demonstration camped at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos. The government say they fired into the air, but witnesses insist that unarmed protesters came under deliberate attack. Amnesty International says that 12 people died. The incident has traumatised a highly popular political reform movement that began as a demand to close down the S.A.R.S., a notoriously corrupt and brutal police squad. In the aftermath, many of the movement’s young supporters are keeping a low profile. Some have had their bank accounts frozen and passports seized. Others have even fled overseas, in fear of their lives. The BBC’s Nigeria correspondent Mayeni Jones has been talking to some of them, including a witness to the Lekki shooting, and Peace, who is tirelessly searching for her brother, Wisdom, who is still missing after attending the demonstration. Mayeni finds a country whose traditionally deferential society and elderly leadership seem suddenly vulnerable; shaken by a perfect storm of youthful idealism, social media activism, and the crippling economic fallout of the Covid pandemic.Producers: Naomi Scherbel-Ball & Michael Gallagher With additional research by Jonelle Awomoyi Editor: Bridget Harney

31 Des 202026min

Aleks Krotoski finds out if how we treat our subservient robots impacts how we treat one another. As with any new invention, domestic robots illuminate issues within human society that we may not have noticed before. Are we projecting old social norms of hierarchy and gender onto this new technology?

30 Des 202027min

In 1914 a 19-year-old Indian student caused a sensation when she was awarded the top prize - the bardic chair - at the 1914 University College of Wales Eisteddfod held in Aberystwyth. All the entries in the prestigious Welsh language and literature contest were submitted under pseudonyms. When the winner was awarded to "Shita", for an ode written in English, Dorothy Bonarjee revealed herself as the author, and received a "deafening ovation". It was the first time ever that the competition had been won by a non-European, or even by a woman.

29 Des 202035min

Four radio producers present intimate stories of people across Europe, revealing the effect of Covid 19 on their experience of touch, sight, sound, smell and taste. In a year where movement was restricted, physical contact was prevented (or fraught with risk) and screens mediated our social interactions, our new conditions for living have created new relationships with our senses. From Italy, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Scotland and beyond, we hear individuals and communities as they try to make sense of these new circumstances, and to rebuild and redefine their relationship with the external world and the people in it.

27 Des 202050min

After hearing so many incredibly moving stories since the pandemic was first declared, we’ve decided to return to some of those people to hear how their lives have changed - from two residents in Wuhan, China - to the English couple who had a lockdown wedding and decided to ‘elope’ to save guests from getting the virus. Two women in Canada and the United States share how they’ve been faring without human contact and how appearing on BBC OS produced the start of a blossoming friendship. Host Nuala McGovern also talks to two chaplains who share their experiences of the meaning and purpose of life and how to grasp small moments of joy.

26 Des 202024min

Why do so many of us treat Silicon Valley billionaires like our new messiahs? For some, people like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and engineer Elon Musk are the charismatic high priests for this new dark age. But how did we get to this point? And where will our adoration for technologies and those who create them lead us?

23 Des 202027min