Beyond Today

Kevin Spacey made his first court appearance today over allegations of sexual assault. He entered the court surrounded by a media scrum, one that has accompanied the #MeToo movement since it began over a year ago. But the huge attention the campaign has attracted so far hasn’t been matched by criminal convictions or court appearances. As well as the difficulty in prosecuting sexual assault allegations, what added complications come with putting a celebrity on trial? The BBC’s Nada Tawfik, and lawyers Gloria Allred and Kirsty Brimelow QC, consider whether a famous person can get a fair trial.

Producers: Duncan Barber, Harriet Noble and Philly Beaumont

The post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box dropped on Netflix just before Christmas with little promotion. But soon it was all over social media, with memes and jokes about its blindfolded cast, and people attempting the “Bird Box challenge” – going about their daily lives with blindfolds on. Netflix tweeted that Bird Box had the best first week ever for a Netflix film, surprising because the network doesn’t usually reveal the number of views it gets. What does Bird Box’s success tell us about the hold that Netflix has over our viewing habits and choices? Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb explains.

Best-selling author of The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan opens up an exciting world that hardly any of us have visited, but all should take note of this year. The historian flips around the world map to put Britain at the edge. We hear how Kazakhstan is the new hot spot, why two new billionaires are made a month in China, and where all the stuff that goes into our phones and laptops comes from. Plus his thoughts how we can all start exploring and understanding this new world.

Mixed by Nicolas Raufast

At Beyond Today we’re determined to be cheerful about 2019. And to help us kick off the year on a positive foot we’ve been talking to Chidera Eggerue, better known as The Slumflower. She created #SaggyBoobsMatter, a body positive campaign asking for acceptance of women’s bodies no matter their shape or size or perkiness. Chidera explains how we can all bring empathy and tolerance to the way we live our lives in 2019.

It’s been a year. Brexit shenanigans, the #metoo movement, Donald Trump being Donald Trump, the World Cup, a royal wedding … a lot has happened. Christmas is a time for food, presents, and end of the year review lists, but here at Beyond Today we’re doing things a little differently. Let us take you behind the scenes of the making of our list, as we each pick our person of the year. And eat mince pies.

Producer: Harriet Noble

Beyond Today producer Georgia Coan’s younger brother Elliot died at the age of 16 after an accident. Georgia was 19 at the time. Five years on they are still coming to terms with what happened. Christmas is always a difficult time of the year for the bereaved, but Georgia’s mum Michaela says her New Years resolution is to talk more and celebrate Elliot’s life. Georgia is coming to terms with her life without Elliot with the help of new friends she made at a sibling bereavement retreat and is feeling optimistic about next year. This is her story.

Mixed by Weidong Lin, additional mixing by Nicolas Raufast

If any of the issues in this episode affect you, you can find information that will help on this page:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4MmhHDSbdDmTpVJhBs2v4Py/information-and-support-bereavement

China is on the up. We’re starting to see Chinese companies and tech, like Huawei phones and the TikTok video app, in our lives in a way that we just weren’t a decade ago. But American security officials have told the BBC that some of this economic progress is based on design and trade secrets China has stolen from other countries. China denies the allegations. Are they right, or is this just another front in the tussle for global dominance between the two superpowers? The BBC’s Security Correspondent Gordon Corera talks to us about spies, secrets and Hollywood screenwriters

Over the past year, the gender pay gap has sparked outrage across the country. But another issue considered more uncomfortable and unspoken about is slowly coming to light: the ethnic minority pay gap. The BBC’s Rianna Croxford has been investigating the ethnic pay gap at the UK’s top universities. We speak to her and discuss the impact of that gap with Olivette Otele, the UK’s first black female history professor.

Correction: this episode contains a reference to the percentage of students graduating with first class degrees by ethnicity. These figures are incorrect. The correct figures are that 53% of black students get a first or a 2:1, compared to two thirds of Asian students and 78% of white students. Apologies.

Producers: Seren Jones and Lucy Hancock.

The sentencing of a couple from Banbury for membership of the banned neo-Nazi group National Action raises questions about how much focus police and security services should put on the far right. The couple gave their baby boy the middle name Adolf. We speak to BBC producer Daniel De Simone who has been following the case.