Reflecting the times we now find ourselves in, the new BBC Northern Ireland podcast, The New Normal presented by William Crawley, is now available on BBC Sounds.
In 2020, normal life has been replaced at a speed most find difficult to comprehend.
As people get used to new phrases like flattening the curve, social distancing, cocooning and self-isolation, the podcast will attempt to help listeners get their heads around The New Normal.
The podcast focuses on everyday life and lives, but what are also extraordinary stories in extraordinary times. It will feature discussions to show that the worst of times can often bring out the best in us. A podcast to make you stop, pause, think, and, hopefully, smile.
William Crawley says: “The New Normal is about us. It’s about how our lives have changed in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Every day – almost every minute of every day – our news reports chronicle the grim reality of life in the midst of the pandemic. But there’s another story, and it’s an inspirational story, that also needs to be told.
“That’s the story of the generosity and goodness we’re seeing from so many people whose actions remind us that we really need one another. In this podcast, I want to tell that story as I try to make sense of the changes taking place in our world and re-defining normal life for all of us.
“Some of those changes may remain with us on the other side of the pandemic curve. What will that world look like? What do we want it to look like?”
In episode one, Dr Ida Milne, Historian of Disease, and author Tony Macaulay join William in conversation about the similarities to the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, what we can learn from it, and how the current crisis has been affecting their lives.
The New Normal is available now on the BBC Sounds app. It is produced by Marie-Louise Muir and Eunan McConville, with sound design by Jason Martin.