Free Speech — Season 2

How easy is it for young people to get decent housing? This is just one of the big stories in the live debate show presented by Rick Edwards from Goldsmiths, University of London, with an audience of 120 people aged 18-28. Rick hears the opinions of the studio audience on the big stories of the day, with Tina Daheley from Radio 1's Newsbeat relaying Twitter, Facebook and website messages from viewers at home. David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, is among those on the panel of distinguished commentators.

A panel of celebrities, politicians and local activists discuss the high price of cheap clothes in light of the clothing factory tragedy in Dhaka which killed over 700 people. Ethical consumerists go head-to-head with those who can only afford cheaper clothing. Other topical issues will be added to the debate as the news unfolds. Derry/Londonderry was once the global centre of shirtmaking, but with work transferring abroad it now has the highest youth unemployment rate in Northern Ireland. Do the young people in the audience see any hope of long-term employment returning to the city?

With Free Speech's social media audience generating the show's biggest-ever online debates on race issues arising from the murder of Lee Rigby, Rick Edwards presents a special live edition of the debate show in front of an audience of 120 people aged 18-25.  Live from Sunderland, close to the scene of the English Defence League's first march since the death of Lee Rigby, a panel of politicians and local activists discuss racism and Islamophobia in Britain in the light of events in Woolwich.

Free Speech goes to the beach with a summer special live from the sands of Magaluf. With the lights of the Mallorca resort's famous strip as a backdrop, presenter Rick Edwards hears from an audience of holidaymakers, reps, locals and ex-pats.  Free Speech prides itself on going where its audience goes and reflecting their lives through the issues and topics debated on the show. And in the summer, this audience heads to the sun. Magaluf attracts over two million Brits a year, the majority of them young and drawn there by sun, sea, sex and enormous quantities of cheap booze. For many of them it's a rite of passage, marking the transition to adulthood which is so intrinsic to BBC Three. BAFTA-award winning actor and director Adam Deacon joins the panel to discuss issues such the boozed-up reputation of the British abroad and whether leaving the EU would enhance job prospects for young people.

Free Speech asks if modern life is driving us mad, as it tackles the big talking points raised by BBC Three's highly-acclaimed season on mental health. The panel debates whether social media is harming the mental health of young people and whether the NHS could be doing more to help.  Live from Edinburgh, where the Festival is in full swing, the panel includes a comedian who is in town for the Fringe as well as politicians from both sides of the independence debate discussing whether Prince George of Cambridge should ever be King of Scotland.

With more reports of children being targeted by alleged chemical weapons in Syria and David Cameron losing the crucial parliamentary vote on military action, Rick Edwards chairs a live debate on the Syrian crisis from the London borough of Hackney. 150 people aged 16-25 argue for and against the vote and what can be done now for innocent victims of the civil war. Tina Daheley runs online questions and debates all day leading up to transmission.

'Are zero hours contracts fair?' asks the live debate show Free Speech. Many young people are on the contracts, which expect them to be available for work but will only pay them for the hours when they are needed. Some say they are not given enough hours every week to cover living costs, but some praise the flexibility of this way of working. The show comes from Cambridge, with both students and local workers in the audience. Presenter Rick Edwards chairs proceedings, with a live audience of 150 people aged 16-25. Tina Daheley (Radio 1 Newsbeat) gathers the Twitter, Facebook and website messages from viewers at home.

Free Speech asks whether young people are being failed by politics in a live special from Parliament. Many 18-24 year olds didn't bother voting in the last general election, so the under-30s audience ask MPs why the main political parties are failing to connect with them.  As well as a panel including Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and Labour MP Stella Creasy, the leaders of Britain's political parties give exclusive interviews explaining what they are doing to engage young voters and answer questions set by the Free Speech social media audience, including ones on youth unemployment and freedom of speech.