Jon Ronson Culture Wars Series ‘Things Fell Apart’ Returns For Third Season On BBC – This Time Exploring David Vs. Goliath Stories
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- Jon Ronson's audio series 'Things Fell Apart' is returning for a third season — its first new season in nearly three years — with an early 2027 launch on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
- Season 3 will feature eight stories about outsiders fighting powerful institutions, described in the synopsis as tales of individuals who 'decide to stop accepting the world as it is' and try to 'spark a shift in power.'
- BBC Studios Audio is producing the season, with Sarah Shebbeare serving as executive producer, per the announcement.
- Season 1 (2021) traced the origins of the culture wars, while Season 2 examined new battle lines in cultural conflicts that 'snowballed during lockdown' — Ronson says Season 3 reflects a newly identified trend of individuals waging war on powerful organizations.
- Ronson framed the new stories as exploring 'what happens when an individual takes on a Goliath,' asking how shifts in power happen and warning that 'institutions snap back,' with 'unexpected — and sometimes terrible — consequences.'
- BBC Radio 4 Factual Commissioning Editor Daniel Clarke called Ronson 'simply' unique in audio for combining 'the epic with the intimate' in stories that are 'like mini movies.'
Why it matters: A Radio 4 commission gives Ronson continued reach on the UK's flagship spoken-word platform after a three-year hiatus. The thematic pivot — from mapping culture wars broadly to micro-level David-vs-Goliath narratives — signals a tighter, more narrative-driven format built around power shifts and institutional backlash, including outcomes Ronson himself flags as 'terrible.'
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