BBC Radio 1 have revealed plans for a special week of content around the topic of anti-online bullying. Taking place from 7th – 13th February, Radio 1’s anti-online bullying week is part of the station’s ambitious outreach activity that aims to engage with young people in the UK.

A dedicated discussion show involving Radio 1’s influential roster of vloggers is at the heart of the content and will be produced in partnership with BBC Learning. Hosted by Radio 1’s Dan Howell (pictured above), vloggers including AmazingPhil (Phil Lester), TomSka (Thomas Ridgewell), Jack and Dean (Jack Howard and Dean Dobbs), Patricia Bright, Charlie McDonnell, Sprinkle of Glitter (Louise Pentland) and Jim Chapman – who between them have over 17 million subscribers to their YouTube channels will all come together to talk about online bullying – sharing their own negative experiences and asking how we can make the internet a nicer place.

Taking place in front of a live studio audience, Radio 1’s Internet Takeover Special will be broadcast on Radio 1 from 9-10pm on Thursday 12th February with highlights from the show available to watch on Radio 1’s BBC iPlayer channel the following day. Other Radio 1 programmes around the topic of anti-online bullying will also take place that week and includes:

– Monday 9th February, 9-10pm – Dan and Phil’s Guide To Online Safety: Dan and Phil’s journey through the world of online safety sees them getting advice from experts about identity fraud, scams, cyber-bullying and how to keep your online reputation intact.

– Tuesday 10th February, 9-10pm, Radio 1 Stories: Anti-Social Media: For this special anti-online bullying documentary, young people from various walks of life share their experiences of bullying online, with contributions from Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams, Olympic athlete Beth Tweddle and YouTube star Tomska. Presenter Chris Stark gathers together a panel of anti-bullying and social media experts to hear the contributor’s stories for the first time. Before the experts offer their thoughts and advice, Chris captures their instinctive reaction immediately to some way replicate the instant nature of social media abuse and how hard it is ‘in the moment’ to work out how to handle it.

– Wednesday 11th February, 9-10pm, The Surgery: Aled Hayden Jones and Dr Radha will host a special edition of The Surgery around the topic of Social Media Etiquette. This is created in partnership with The British Library for their Magna Carta: My Digital Rights project.

Each evening, the 9-10pm anti-online bullying shows will be followed by one hour of live online advice supported by our charity partners YouthNet, who will be on hand to safely offer young people advice around online bullying and negativity. On Wednesday evening, there will be two hours of live online advice, running from the start of The Surgery at 9pm through to 11pm. YouthNet runs leading online support service TheSite.org.

Dan Howell said: “These days our lives are connected to the internet all the time. Us vloggers know how it can bring out the very best but also the worst in people, so together we are going to talk about why people act the way they do online, how to stop negativity and how we can all make the internet a more positive place.”

Ben Cooper, Controller, Radio 1 and 1Xtra said: “Radio 1 reflects the lives of young people living in the UK today so it is essential that we tackle the issue of making teenagers’ online life safer and happier.”

Radio 1 is a truly multiplatform station, enabling young audiences to connect to the network and to listen, watch and share great content both at home. Radio 1’s YouTube channel now has 1.9 million subscribers with over 1 billion minutes of content watched, over 2 million followers on both Twitter and Facebook, and over 250,000 followers for the Official Radio 1 Playlist on Spotify. Since launching in November 2014, Radio 1 and 1Xtra programmes on their BBC iPlayer channel have received 2 million views.

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