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All Seasons

Season 1991

  • S1991E01 Sticking To Their Guns

    • June 27, 1991

    An investigation into the links between the Official IRA and the Workers Party.

Season 2003

  • S2003E01 Joyriders, Death riders

    • May 6, 2003

    Profile of the carnage over the years caused by joy/riders. Begins with 43rd victim, Debbie McCombs death in west Belfast, and profile of her killer Harry Marley. Also the case of Nial Blaney who killed John McDonald. PSNI's viewpoint, and two former joyriders Mark Hamill and Ned McComb appeal to youths to stop.

Season 2016

  • S2016E01 The Good Republican

    • February 3, 2016
    • BBC

    Jennifer O'Leary investigates leading republican Thomas 'Slab' Murphy and asks what his recent conviction means for Sinn Fein in the forthcoming Irish election.

  • S2016E02 First Minister's First Month

    • February 9, 2016
    • BBC

    Exclusive filming with new first minister Arlene Foster in her first month in office. Reporter Declan Lawn examines her rise from a childhood during the Troubles in rural Fermanagh to the top of Northern Ireland's political establishment.

  • S2016E03 Robert Black Caught On Tape

    • BBC

    It took 30 years to convict child killer Robert Black for the murder of Jennifer Cardy. The Co Antrim child was one of four girls murdered by Black in the UK. Following his recent death in a NI prison, Chris Moore looks back at his life of crime.

  • S2016E04 Dublin Gangland Killings

    • March 15, 2016
    • BBC

    After a spate of gangland killings in Dublin, Jennifer O'Leary investigates links between the Irish criminal underworld and dissident republicans.

Season 2018

  • S2018E01 Tien's Story

    • May 29, 2018
    • BBC

    Chris Moore reports on the story of a Vietnamese man who says he spent almost half his life as a modern slave in Britain, the Irish Republic and most recently in Northern Ireland.

  • S2018E02 11/09/2018

    • September 11, 2018
    • BBC

    Noel Thompson presents this specially extended programme, as consultation on legacy proposals enters its final weeks. With interviews from serving chief constable George Hamilton and former chief constable Sir Hugh Orde, as well as studio reaction from victims' representatives and politicians.

  • S2018E03 Máiría Cahill: The Ombudsman's Report

    • September 18, 2018
    • BBC

    Jennifer O'Leary speaks to Máiría Cahill about the Police Ombudsman's report into the PSNI's handling of her abuse allegations.

  • S2018E04 The Dirty Dozen

    • September 25, 2018
    • BBC

    Hard-hitting investigations. Spotlight goes undercover to investigate what is being done about diesel emissions in Northern Ireland.

  • S2018E05 Adoption of Guilt

    • October 9, 2018
    • BBC

    Peter Coulter meets a woman who was sexually abused as a child by her adoptive father and asks why he was not prosecuted for over three decades.

  • S2018E06 All On The Line

    • October 16, 2018
    • BBC

    Stormont is on ice and now a make-or-break Brexit summit in Brussels is looming where the border could scupper a deal. Jim Fitzpatrick asks if 'no deal' could put politics into deep freeze and mean the return of a hard border.

  • S2018E07 Spotlight Special

    • October 23, 2018
    • BBC

    Noel Thompson chairs as a studio audience puts topical questions to a panel of decision makers. Panellists include former Downing Street spokesperson Matthew O'Toole, Labour TD Joan Burton, Guido Fawkes news editor Hugh Bennett, DUP MLA Christopher Stalford and Sinn Fein MP Chris Hazzard.

  • S2018E08 RHI: Feeling the Heat

    • November 13, 2018
    • BBC

    The RHI Inquiry has placed politicians and civil servants in Northern Ireland under scrutiny like never before. Conor Spackman reports.

  • S2018E09 Brexit: Cards on the Table

    • November 20, 2018
    • BBC

    Will Theresa May survive her Brexit deal? As the politics are played out at Westminster, Jim Fitzpatrick goes on the road to ask what happens next and what it means for Northern Ireland

  • S2018E10 27/11/2018

    • November 27, 2018
    • BBC

    Datshiane Navanayagam reveals a risky money-making scheme in which the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service has been targeted through one of its own.

  • S2018E11 The Roma in Belfast

    • December 4, 2018
    • BBC

    Peter Coulter investigates claims that leaders of the Roma community in Belfast have been exploiting their own people, and travels to Romania to see their lavish houses complete with gold-coloured gates.

  • S2018E12 Paisley in Paradise

    • December 11, 2018
    • BBC

    Spotlight travels to the Indian Ocean to investigate another luxury holiday taken by the North Antrim MP Ian Paisley. Lyndsey Telford reports.

Season 2019

  • S2019E01 Special - 26/03/2019

    • March 26, 2019
    • BBC

    A studio audience discussion. Panellists are Sinn Fein’s Mairtin O Muilleoir, DUP’s Edwin Poots, Alliance leader Naomi Long, historian Diarmaid Ferriter and economist Liam Halligan. Noel Thompson presents.

  • S2019E02 Brexit, Tories and the DUP

    • April 2, 2019
    • BBC

    With the DUP’s 10 MPs at the heart of the Brexit debate, Conor Spackman asks why the government has seemingly repeatedly misjudged its partners in power.

  • S2019E03 Brexit Drama

    • April 9, 2019
    • BBC

    As the pace of political events intensifies, Jim Fitzpatrick examines the latest developments ahead of a crucial meeting of European leaders this week that will determine the fate of Brexit.

  • S2019E04 Spotlight Special: European Election Debate

    • May 21, 2019
    • BBC

    Two days before voters go to the polls in the European election, Noel Thompson hosts a debate with 6 candidates in front of a studio audience.

  • S2019E05 Britain First: Hateful Secrets

    • May 28, 2019
    • BBC

    The controversial far-right group Britain First has based itself in Northern Ireland. Stephen Dempster investigates the organisation and accusations of violence and criminality in its ranks.

  • S2019E06 New IRA: The Murder of Lyra McKee

    • June 4, 2019
    • BBC

    Following the murder of Lyra McKee in April, Spotlight investigates the New IRA. With reporter Conor Spackman.

  • S2019E07 11/06/2019

    • June 11, 2019
    • BBC

    Conor Spackman examines the challenges posed to the PSNI by the New IRA and other dissident republicans.

  • S2019E08 18/06/2019

    • June 18, 2019
    • BBC

    New contenders for Theresa May's job are promising to leave the EU without a deal. We examine what that will mean for NI and follow new MEP Naomi Long to Brussels to find out more.

  • S2019E09 Paisley in Paradise Revisited

    • June 25, 2019
    • BBC

    Ian Paisley MP faces new questions over trips to the Maldives in a special Spotlight investigation.

  • S2019E10 Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 1

    • September 10, 2019
    • BBC

    Northern Ireland’s leading team of investigative journalists reveal important new discoveries about the outbreak of the conflict known as the Troubles, 50 years after troops were deployed.

  • S2019E11 Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 2

    • September 17, 2019
    • BBC

    New revelations about how the IRA went from anticipating victory to fighting a bloody, long war against Britain, with Gerry Adams emerging as the republican leader of his time.

  • S2019E12 Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 3

    • September 24, 2019
    • BBC

    Jennifer O’Leary uncovers IRA arms connections around the world and charts how republicans built a political strategy in parallel with their armed campaign.

  • S2019E13 Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 4

    • October 1, 2019
    • BBC

    New revelations about how agents of British intelligence infiltrated the Irish Republican Army. By 1979, the British security forces believed the IRA had become so security conscious that they were impossible to penetrate. But reporter Jennifer O’Leary reveals how one weakness in the IRA’s internal security was exploited to unlock many of the group’s secrets. She charts how Britain used informers and combined that advantage in secret intelligence with the use of special forces to take on one of the IRA’s deadliest units – a strategy that culminated with the Loughgall ambush, when the SAS killed eight IRA men attacking a police station. The programme shows that the aftermath of the attack only made the IRA’s informer problem worse.

  • S2019E14 Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 5

    • October 8, 2019
    • BBC

    Episode five traces how unionist anger grew as IRA attacks on the security forces killed members of their community. When Margaret Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, giving the Republic of Ireland political influence in the North, the anger spilled over into talk of insurrection. The programme reveals how loyalist groups rearmed and used intelligence leaks from soldiers and police to boost their campaign of killing, including new information about MI5 agents operating inside the largest loyalist group, the Ulster Defence Association.

  • S2019E15 Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 6

    • October 15, 2019
    • BBC

    Revelations from the Northern Ireland conflict. Loyalists killed more people than the IRA in the closing years of the Troubles. Through an insider in one of the most notorious killer gangs, Mandy McAuley discovers that not only was the Ulster Volunteer Force carrying out more attacks, it was also deliberately targeting families of Irish republicans. Revelations about the murders of two young brothers lead to calls for the investigation into the killings to be reopened.

  • S2019E16 Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History - Episode 7

    • October 22, 2019
    • BBC

    The End Game. How the IRA's war stopped after 25 years of conflict.

  • S2019E17 Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History - Behind The Scenes

    • October 24, 2019
    • BBC

    This film shows how the critically acclaimed television series Spotlight on the Troubles: A Secret History was made. Reporters, producers – even the bosses – were filmed over two years as they uncovered incredible new stories about the past. How did Jennifer O'Leary persuade a former missionary priest to reveal his role in smuggling money and weapons to the IRA? How did Darragh Macintyre find out the British and American intelligence connections to a long-hidden documentary about a senior IRA man? And how did Mandy McAuley discover that a church charity worker was actually a suspect in a series of murders across Mid Ulster?

  • S2019E18 Spotlight Special

    • October 29, 2019
    • BBC

    A studio audience put questions to politicians and opinion-formers in a Brexit special. Noel Thompson chairs.

  • S2019E19 Fear & Loathing in Quinn Country

    • November 5, 2019
    • BBC

    Kevin Lunney, a senior executive in cross border company QIH, who was abducted and tortured by a gang in September speaks publicly for the first time to Jim Fitzpatrick in an exclusive interview for BBC Spotlight. He details the horror of his ordeal and what it’s like living under threat of death.

  • S2019E20 Death Of A Suspect

    • November 12, 2019
    • BBC

    Following the death of Cyril McGuinness, the main suspect in the kidnap and torture of cross border businessman Kevin Lunney, Jim Fitzpatrick examines the criminal career of the man nicknamed Dublin Jimmy. Plus he talks to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about law and order in the border area.

  • S2019E21 Fermanagh Abuse Secrets

    • November 26, 2019
    • BBC

    Spotlight’s Stephen Dempster investigates allegations that a paedophile network abused boys in the Enniskillen area in the 80s and 90s and hears the harrowing story of a man who says he was one of the victims.

  • S2019E22 Worse & Worse: The Waiting Lists Crisis

    • December 3, 2019
    • BBC

    Northern Ireland has the worst hospital waiting lists in the UK. Datshiane Navanayagam investigates.

Season 2020

  • S2020E01 The Wrightbus Story

    • February 18, 2020
    • BBC

    Lyndsey Telford investigates what led to the downfall of the family business Wrightbus and asks questions about the millions of pounds that went from the company to fund a local church.

  • S2020E02 The Killings of the Three Scottish Soldiers

    • February 25, 2020
    • BBC

    In an observational documentary, Darragh MacIntyre unearths significant new evidence about the murders of three Scottish soldiers, lured from a Belfast bar and shot in 1971.

  • S2020E03 The Union

    • March 3, 2020
    • BBC

    What is the future of the Union? Stephen Dempster and Jennifer O’Leary report from different parts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

  • S2020E04 Tackling Suicide

    • March 10, 2020
    • BBC

    Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rate in the UK. Mandy McAuley investigates the reasons behind it and speaks to those on the frontline determined to reduce it.

  • S2020E05 RHI: The Inquiry Report

    • March 17, 2020
    • BBC

    Conor Spackman reports on the outcome and potential consequences of the RHI inquiry.

  • S2020E06 Inside the Pandemic

    • May 12, 2020
    • BBC

    Inside the Pandemic. Spotlight follows frontline health care workers and sees inside a hospital ICU.

  • S2020E07 Getting Back to Business

    • May 19, 2020
    • BBC

    Jim Fitzpatrick assesses the economic impact of the lockdown and asks what can Stormont do to help some of those most affected.

  • S2020E08 26/05/2020

    • May 26, 2020
    • BBC

    After months of lockdown and isolation, Northern Ireland is braced for another crisis, mental health. There’s a new plan to tackle it, but where’s the money and is it too little too late? Jim Fitzpatrick presents.

  • S2020E09 Covid-19: Care Homes

    • June 2, 2020
    • BBC

    Spotlight investigates the Covid-19 care homes crisis.

  • S2020E10 The Other Side of the Pandemic

    • June 9, 2020
    • BBC

    Conor Spackman investigates the damage Covid-19 has inflicted on the NHS and its patients, including a look at the problems the pandemic is storing up for the future.

  • S2020E11 Pandemic: 999

    • June 16, 2020
    • BBC

    Spotlight goes on the frontline with the Police, Fire Service and Ambulance teams as they work through the Covid-19 storm. With exclusive access, reporter Darragh MacIntyre charts how the three main emergency services have been dealing with this unprecedented challenge.

  • S2020E12 22/09/2020

    • September 22, 2020
    • BBC

    What are the implications of tighter virus restrictions? And, as Parliament votes on the Internal Market Bill, what does the UK’s new negotiating stance mean for NI?

  • S2020E13 Conversion Controversy

    • September 29, 2020
    • BBC

    Exclusive interviews. Two NI GPs speak face to camera about their trauma as a result of what they say was LGBT ‘conversion therapy’, as the Prime Minister commits to pushing forward with legislation to ban the practice.

  • S2020E14 Saving Lives and Livelihoods

    • October 6, 2020
    • BBC

    Once more the deadly Coronavirus is spreading rapidly in Northern Ireland and restrictions are ramped up. But can the politicians save lives without killing the economy? Jim Fitzpatrick meets those affected here and goes to Sweden to see if it offers lessons in how to live with the virus.

  • S2020E15 Brexit: The Irish Sea Border

    • October 13, 2020
    • BBC

    As full Brexit comes closer, the cost of your supermarket shop and online purchases may be affected. BBC Northern Ireland’s business and economics editor John Campbell investigates how consumers will have to adjust to the consequences of Northern Ireland’s position as a bridge between the UK and the EU. What will the goods border in the Irish Sea mean for your household budget?

  • S2020E16 Cancer's Missing Patients

    • October 20, 2020
    • BBC

    Conor Spackman investigates the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on cancer patients in Northern Ireland.

  • S2020E17 Pandemic: Domestic Abuse

    • November 10, 2020
    • BBC

    Lockdown has led to a surge of domestic abuse incidents. Spotlight investigates and goes behind the scenes in one of Northern Ireland’s women’s refuges.

  • S2020E18 Covid-19: The Second Wave

    • November 17, 2020
    • BBC

    Mandy McAuley looks at the impact of the second Covid-19 wave on the Northern Ireland health service.

  • S2020E19 Testing the Tracing

    • November 24, 2020
    • BBC

    How effective is Stormont’s test and trace strategy to reduce the spread of coronavirus? Jim Fitzpatrick investigates.

  • S2020E20 Paramilitaries: Clear and Present Danger

    • December 1, 2020
    • BBC

    Stephen Dempster exposes ongoing paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland, using intelligence from a secret MI5/PSNI security assessment.

  • S2020E21 Wind Turbines

    • December 8, 2020
    • BBC

    Conor Spackman investigates a controversial green energy scheme set to cost electricity billpayers across the UK billions over the next 20 years.

  • S2020E22 2020: New Decade New Dilemmas

    • December 15, 2020
    • BBC

    2020 has been a year like no other. Jennifer O’Leary looks back on a dramatic 12 months. As the pandemic remains a challenge to governments across the world, she hears from the Taoiseach Micheál Martin. And, with a panel of commentators, she asks if the virus has pulled relationships at the Stormont Executive together or further apart.

Season 2021

  • S2021E01 Covid and Hardship

    • February 16, 2021

    BBC Spotlight reporter Mandy McAuley meets people across Northern Ireland facing financial hardship and poverty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

  • S2021E02 Irish Sea Border: The Fallout

    • February 23, 2021

    Northern Ireland has a new post-Brexit trade border in the Irish Sea which unionists want scrapped, but some businesses spot opportunity. Jim Fitzpatrick examines the politics and the economics.

  • S2021E03 Covid-19: The Last Lockdown

    • March 2, 2021

    Conor Spackman speaks to experts and those receiving vaccinations, and asks if we can be sure this lockdown is the last.

  • S2021E04 Mother and Baby Homes

    • March 9, 2021

    With an independent inquiry looming, Lyndsey Telford reports on what happened inside Northern Ireland’s mother and baby homes, investigates the legality of cross-border adoptions, and hears exclusively from a Protestant home survivor.

  • S2021E05 Gangland: The Murder of Glenn Quinn

    • March 16, 2021

    A brutal murder and a community in fear. Jennifer O’Leary investigates one of Northern Ireland’s largest criminal gangs – one which trades in drugs and murder but stands under the banner of loyalism - South East Antrim UDA.

  • S2021E06 Lockdown: A Year of Loss

    • March 23, 2021

    On the anniversary of the UK’s first lockdown, families pay tribute to over 2,000 people who have lost their lives to Covid in Northern Ireland.

  • S2021E07 Spotlight Debate: 30/03/2021

    • March 30, 2021

    Topical TV debate with Jim Fitzpatrick. Panellists are MLAs Gordon Lyons and Matthew O’Toole, MP John Finucane, Conservative Peer Peter Lilley and Independent TD Verona Murphy.

  • S2021E08 BBC Spotlight: A Contested Centenary

    • April 20, 2021

    Jim Fitzpatrick & Mark Devenport discuss where Northern Ireland is headed after 100 years

  • S2021E09 A Contested Centenary

    • April 20, 2021

    The Prime Minister, Taoiseach and others help former BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport chart his way through Northern Ireland’s century. One hundred years after the partition of Ireland, he speaks with some who suffered during our contentious past and others who will decide our uncertain future. Plus the results of a major opinion poll assessing the views of the public, on both sides of the border, on what lies ahead.

  • S2021E10 Policing in the Pandemic

    • May 17, 2021

    From Bobby Storey’s funeral to protests like Black Lives Matter, the response to Covid-19 posed unexpected questions about the PSNI’s behaviour. As society emerges from lockdown restrictions, Jennifer O’Leary investigates how the pandemic - along with the Irish Sea border - exposed tensions over policing.

  • S2021E11 North Coast Land Deals

    • May 24, 2021

    How a one pound deal for public land on the scenic Causeway Coast put an ardent unionist and a staunch republican on the same side of a planning fight. Conor Spackman investigates.

  • S2021E12 Scotland and the Union

    • May 31, 2021

    With the drive for Scottish independence gathering pace, Jim Fitzpatrick asks voters there what the latest election results mean for the future of the UK – and he explores how an independent Scotland might affect Northern Ireland’s place in the union.

  • S2021E13 Unionism: Under New Management

    • June 8, 2021

    With next year’s assembly election on a knife-edge and a sea border seen to threaten the integrity of the union, Lyndsey Telford examines how unionism can find a way forward.

  • S2021E14 Libya, the IRA and Victims

    • June 15, 2021

    Libya helped arm the IRA, and for two decades victims have sought compensation from the African country. Reporter Stephen Dempster investigates the political obstacles thrown up in their path and why their pleas for government intervention have not been heard.

  • S2021E15 Spotlight Special: 22/06/2021

    • June 22, 2021

    On the panel: DUP’s Gavin Robinson, UUP’s Doug Beattie, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy, Alliance’s Naomi Long and SDLP’s Nichola Mallon

  • S2021E16 Spotlight Special: 14/09/2021

    • September 14, 2021

    Get up to date on the issues of the day – join Jim Fitzpatrick for challenging questions and answers in Spotlight Special’s TV debate programme.

  • S2021E17 Patient Recall: The Search for Answers

    • September 28, 2021

    New allegations against former Belfast Trust consultant neurologist Dr Michael Watt, at the centre of Northern Ireland’s biggest patient recall. And with investigations under way, will patients and families get the answers they want? Conor Spackman investigates.

  • S2021E18 Living with Long Covid

    • October 5, 2021

    Around 20,000 people in Northern Ireland may have long Covid. Stephen Dempster hears the compelling stories of four sufferers and asks what Stormont is doing to provide specialist services to help

  • S2021E19 Escape from Kabul

    • October 12, 2021

    As the Taliban advanced on Kabul and Western forces fled, a Northern Ireland naval officer fought from afar to rescue his interpreter's family. Jim Fitzpatrick hears of their dramatic escape and arrival in Ireland, and meets others from here for whom Afghanistan's fate is a deep concern.

  • S2021E20 Undercover: Pups for Sale

    • October 19, 2021

    As the price of puppies has rocketed during lockdown, illicit dealers from Ireland have flooded the British market with sick and dying dogs. Mandy McAuley investigates how puppies are trafficked through NI for big cash returns and confronts one of the sellers.

  • S2021E21 Gold Rush: The war in the Sperrins

    • October 26, 2021

    A gold mine, the promise of jobs and a community divided. As a planning decision on a Tyrone gold mine draws nearer, Lyndsey Telford investigates the potential economic benefits, the environmental risks and the growing rift between supporters and objectors in a rural community.

  • S2021E22 The Cost of Living

    • November 16, 2021

    Mandy McAuley investigates how rising energy prices and limits on government support may mean a winter of hard choices for the deprived.

  • S2021E23 Covid & Care: Searching for Answers

    • November 23, 2021

    Conor Spackman investigates what happened when the pandemic hit care homes and examines the case for Northern Ireland to have its own public inquiry into the response to Covid-19.

  • S2021E24 Raid on the Braid

    • November 30, 2021

    Mid and East Antrim Council is in crisis. Police have launched an investigation and raided its offices. Jim Fitzpatrick investigates what has led to this unprecedented situation.

  • S2021E25 Legacy and Justice

    • December 7, 2021

    With government plans to bring in an effective amnesty for Troubles-related offences here, Stephen Dempster reports on the reaction of victims and former soldiers affected and what it could mean for how we deal with the past in Northern Ireland.

  • S2021E26 Covid Contracts: Hunting for PPE

    • December 21, 2021

    At a key point in the pandemic, the government signed a £107 million deal to buy PPE from a NI sweet company. Lyndsey Telford investigates what happened next, and how a box of kit that cost the taxpayer £1,000 came to be sold for just a fiver.

Season 2022

  • S2022E01 Spotlight Special: 15/02/2022

    • February 15, 2022

    Political discussion. With DUP’s Christopher Stalford, Sinn Fein’s Chris Hazzard, Tory MP Simon Hoare, commentator Felicity Huston and business representative Aodhán Connolly.

  • S2022E02 Unsolved: The Murder of Martin O’Hagan

    • March 1, 2022

    Journalist Martin O’Hagan was murdered in 2001. His killers have never been caught. Stephen Dempster investigates allegations that security force informers were involved and are being protected.

  • S2022E03 Waste: The Burning Question

    • March 8, 2022

    Conor Spackman investigates controversial plans to build a waste incinerator near north Belfast. Backers say it is a greener way to get rid of waste and will help ease energy concerns. Opponents says it is expensive and not needed.

  • S2022E04 Survivors' Voices

    • March 15, 2022

    In public, David Tweed was well known as an Ulster and Ireland rugby star turned politician. But in private, his children and ex-wife say he was an abuser. In their first televised interview as a family, they tell Lyndsey Telford that they suffered years of years of physical and sexual abuse.

  • S2022E05 War: Inside the Refugee Crisis

    • March 22, 2022

    Millions are fleeing the war in Ukraine, creating one of the biggest refugee crises in recent history. Jennifer O’Leary travels to the Polish border alongside aid workers from Northern Ireland and meets some of those hoping to escape to the UK.

  • S2022E06 The Babymaker Uncovered

    • March 29, 2022

    Jennifer O’Leary exposes the practices of a clinic claiming to give desperate fertility patients a much greater chance of getting pregnant, and charging thousands of pounds for drugs and treatments.

  • S2022E07 Police, WhatsApp & Whistleblowers

    • May 31, 2022

    Two Police Service of Northern Ireland whistleblowers speak publicly for the first time about serious allegations of misconduct and negligence in one of the largest police districts in Northern Ireland. Mandy McAuley reports.

  • S2022E08 From Russia with Blood

    • June 7, 2022

    Are we funding and enabling Putin’s war in Ukraine through energy contracts and legal loopholes for dirty money? Spotlight investigates. Jim Fitzpatrick follows the money trail of one of the most notorious Kremlin-linked crimes from Moscow to the UK, Ireland and beyond.

  • S2022E09 Charles's Kingdom

    • September 27, 2022

    Mark Devenport, the former BBC NI political editor and Ireland correspondent, scrutinises the United Kingdom of Charles III. The new king inherits a realm that held together in his mother’s reign, despite being rocked by independence movements, powerful social change and even violent insurrection in Northern Ireland. Can the kingdom survive today’s pressures on the constitution and the crown?

  • S2022E10 Exposed: Hunting With Dogs - Spotlight

    • October 4, 2022

    Hunting with dogs comes under scrutiny. Conor Spackman investigates the hunters who use dogs to track and kill wild animals, exposing some of those at the heart of the hunting networks and the online groups used to share their secrets.

  • S2022E11 My Mother's Care

    • October 11, 2022

    What happened when families, who noticed strange behaviour around the treatment of elderly dementia patients in a care home, started to ask questions? Stephen Dempster investigates their shocking allegations.

  • S2022E12 Undercover Door to Door: Who’s Getting Rich?

    • December 6, 2022

    An undercover investigation reveals a Belfast marketing company is just one in a network of identical companies across the UK accused of exploiting workers, as Lyndsey Telford uncovers allegations of cult-like practices in the workplace.

  • S2022E13 Loan Sharks and Paramilitaries

    • December 13, 2022

    Mandy McAuley investigates paramilitary links to illegal money lending in Northern Ireland, and the impact on vulnerable people during a cost of living crisis. She speaks to the victims and asks what the authorities have done to crack down on this crime.

  • S2022E14 Inside A&E

    • December 20, 2022

    Patients are spending hours on trolleys while waiting for admission to hospital. Conor Spackman goes inside an Emergency Department to learn why beds are being blocked.

Season 2023

  • S2023E01 Seán’s Story: Death on the Ward

    • March 7, 2023

    Sean had a history of drug use and mental health problems when doctors decided to detain him in a psychiatric unit for his own good. Hours later, he managed to evade supervision and ultimately take his own life inside the hospital. Alan Haslam speaks to his grieving mother and investigates what lessons have been learned.

  • S2023E02 Lethal: The Secret History of Plastic Bullets

    • March 14, 2023

    In 1970 the army invented a new weapon for Northern Ireland, one intended to save lives and keep peace - the rubber bullet. But after 17 people were killed by that weapon and its successor, the plastic bullet, Stephen Dempster investigates claims that the government knew of their deadly potential. Spotlight speaks to the soldiers who fired them, the families who lost loved ones and those still searching for answers.

  • S2023E03 I Spy

    • March 21, 2023
    • BBC One

    The true story of an American trucker who became one of MI5’s most important spies. Just when the Real IRA was bombing Britain and threatening to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process, the group’s boss was spilling his secrets to David Rupert, who passed everything on to the FBI and MI5. In a broadcast exclusive, Rupert tells his extraordinary story to Jennifer O’Leary.

  • S2023E04 Covert Cops: When Spying Goes Wrong

    • May 16, 2023
    • BBC One

    A suspected police corruption case became real-life Line of Duty. Mandy McAuley investigates how, after the case collapsed, failings were exposed in secret surveillance.

  • S2023E05 Murder on the Streets

    • May 23, 2023
    • BBC One

    Conor Spackman hears chilling testimony from relatives of those slain in a spate of gun murders in north and west Belfast over the past five years. He examines links between the killings and investigates a shadowy dissident republican group claiming to be on ceasefire.

  • S2023E06 The Spy Who Got Away With Murder

    • May 30, 2023
    • BBC One

    Freddie Scappaticci was a killer working for the state inside the IRA. Jennifer O’Leary investigates the most notorious agent of the Troubles.

  • S2023E07 The Price of Justice

    • June 6, 2023
    • BBC One

    The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland is burdened by long delays in cases getting to court. Murder and rape cases can take five years or longer to conclude. Reporter Stephen Dempster investigates why cases are taking so long, talks to victims who have found themselves in what they call a 'traumatic, nightmare situation', and hears from experts who fear the system is at breaking point, with potential consequences for the rule of law.

  • S2023E08 Deadly Little Pills

    • September 19, 2023
    • BBC One

    The summer has seen a wave of deaths and overdoses from a powerful wave of synthetic drugs. Mandy McAuley find out about the risk posed by dealers and hears from families who have suffered most.

  • S2023E09 The Electric Road Test

    • September 26, 2023
    • BBC One

    The government has pushed back a ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 to 2035. Will more time make a difference to the electric car revolution? Conor Spackman investigates how ready Northern Ireland is for the switchover, and examines whether the public charging network is fit for purpose.

  • S2023E10 How Do We Fix Our Waiting Lists?

    • October 3, 2023
    • BBC One

    NHS waiting lists in Northern Ireland are the worst in the UK, with patients waiting for more than half a million hospital appointments. Lyndsey Telford hears some of their stories, including a four-year-old boy who’s been waiting half his life for surgery on his hips, and a woman who has saved to go private. She asks a panel of some of the UK’s top health experts how we fix this healthcare crisis.

  • S2023E11 Inside the Policing Crisis

    • October 10, 2023
    • BBC One

    The crisis that took down a chief constable: starting with a massive data leak, followed quickly by a court ruling that sparked a row over political interference in policing. As a result, the Police Service of Northern Ireland wound up without a leader. BBC NI’s crime and justice correspondent Julian O’Neill investigates inside the crisis that rolled over the PSNI in a matter of weeks.

  • S2023E12 Rogue Doctor: Patients Who Died

    • November 21, 2023
    • BBC One

    In the wake of the discredited neurologist Michael Watt being struck off the medical register, Conor Spackman investigates the death of a patient under his care, claims of a cover-up within Belfast Trust and finds thousands of cases are still awaiting review.

  • S2023E13 The Fear Inside

    • November 28, 2023
    • BBC One

    A family’s story of domestic abuse. Mandy McAuley investigates the hidden toll of women who take their own lives after enduring violence in the home. She hears calls for the law to change to hold abusers to account for those deaths, and pleas for the issue to be recognised in Northern Ireland’s suicide-prevention strategy for the first time.

  • S2023E14 The Rise of Race Hate

    • December 5, 2023
    • BBC One

    As race attacks are on the rise, Lyndsey Telford is on the ground to investigate behind the hate. Victims spell out how attacks wrecked livelihoods and risked lives – and ask who speaks for the communities where hate crimes are increasing

Season 2024

  • S2024E01 Drugs: In Debt and Danger

    • February 27, 2024
    • BBC One

    The hidden trap of drugs debt. Mandy McAuley investigates what happens when drug users can’t pay for what they take. She learns that dealers are forcing some, including teenagers, into sex or running drugs to pay off what they owe.

  • S2024E02 Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA

    • March 5, 2024
    • BBC One

    Stakeknife was a super-spy, a secret agent working for both the British and the IRA. He walked a precarious tightrope in an undercover war where exposure meant death. Operation Kenova, the long-running investigation into Stakeknife and the so-called dirty war, which is now coming to a close, brings Peter Taylor back to Northern Ireland. He revisits the chilling IRA interrogation tapes he initially uncovered and talks again to grieving families devastated by the loss of their loved ones to the IRA’s brutal interrogators and killers.

  • S2024E03 30 Years Behind the Mask

    • March 12, 2024
    • BBC One

    Thirty years after they declared ceasefires, the UVF has moved against the leaders of its east Belfast unit - standing down and replacing them in a move that may signal loyalist groups are moving away from paramilitary activity. There are calls for the appointment of an intermediary to aid that process, but Conor Spackman hears others saying they have seen this before.

  • S2024E04 Blood on the Dance Floor

    • March 19, 2024
    • BBC One

    An unsolved murder in a ground-breaking gay bar. Darren Bradshaw was a young, gay police officer enjoying a night out when a republican gunman walked into the crowded bar, shot him next to the dance floor and escaped into the night. The killing came at a pivotal time for both the gay scene in Northern Ireland and the peace process. The murder shattered the gay scene as rumours swirled about who knew he was in the bar and who may have betrayed him. Jordan Dunbar hears from the DJs, drag queens and police officers who were there – and who helped the LGBT community rebuild.

  • S2024E05 Killer Secrets

    • May 21, 2024
    • BBC One

    As Troubles inquests are shut down, Mandy McAuley investigates why the government stepped in to stop the release of information about the involvement of state agents in several murders by Mid-Ulster UVF. Testimony from inside the gang raises new questions about the role of state agents.

  • S2024E06 Climate: Today and Tomorrow

    • May 28, 2024
    • BBC One

    Conor Spackman investigates how Northern Ireland can handle wetter weather and extreme floods resulting from climate change.

  • S2024E07 The Lough Neagh Monster

    • June 5, 2024
    • BBC One

    Toxic algae, sewage spills and pollution – all in a major source of Northern Ireland’s drinking water. Environmentalists and users of Lough Neagh contend the largest lake in the UK or Ireland is dying. Patrick Fee investigates the Lough Neagh crisis and tracks down polluters.

  • S2024E08 Katie: Coerced and Killed

    • July 23, 2024
    • BBC One

    Showjumper Katie Simpson’s killer told everyone she had taken her own life. His history of violence and her injuries should have raised red flags but his lie almost went undetected.

  • S2024E09 Summer of Shame

    • September 17, 2024
    • BBC One

    Conor Spackman reports on recent racially motivated violence, speaking to victims of racism. He also hears from those who took part in protests against immigration, and counter-protests, at Belfast City Hall during the summer.

  • S2024E10 I Am Not Okay

    • September 24, 2024
    • BBC One

    Mothers reveal to Tara Mills the challenges of living with their sons with autism, who are being violent towards them. They tell Tara they feel judged and blamed by the system that is meant to protect them and feel there is no safety net. Extraordinary personal videos.

  • S2024E11 My Son in a Warzone

    • October 1, 2024
    • BBC One

    A custody battle in the shadow of war. David left home at ten months old and never came back. Spotlight investigates the story of a mother separated from her child by a looming war and her fight for custody with a father defying the UK authorities. Patrick Fee follows the trail of the boy to Beirut.

  • S2024E12 Nowhere To Call Home

    • October 8, 2024
    • BBC One

    Mandy McAuley follows people desperately searching for a home and talks to families struggling to raise children in temporary accommodation. She investigates a support system at breaking point and hears demands for more social housing.

  • S2024E13 Kelly: The Body Below the Bridge

    • November 26, 2024
    • BBC One

    The body of 23-year-old Kelly Lynch was found in a canal on St Patrick’s Day. What happened isn’t clear, and Irish police have decided to review the case after her parents raised questions about their handling of the investigation. Were clues missed? Conor Spackman reports.

  • S2024E14 The Sewage Scandal

    • December 3, 2024
    • BBC One

    A crumbling sewage system, thousands of illegal spills, and it’s only getting worse. Patrick Fee lifts the lid on Northern Ireland’s sewage pollution scandal and the government-owned company illegally discharging raw sewage into rivers, lakes and seas.

  • S2024E15 Kyran: The Lost Boy

    • December 10, 2024
    • BBC One

    A young boy was reported missing in August, but police now believe he hasn’t been seen for over two years. Mandy McAuley investigates the disappearance that no one noticed.

Additional Specials

  • SPECIAL 0x1 Spotlight Special

    • June 23, 2020
    • BBC

    Get up to date on the issues of the day – join Jim Fitzpatrick for challenging questions and answers in Spotlight Special’s TV debate programme. On the panel: Justice Minister Naomi Long, MPs Gavin Robinson, DUP, Chris Hazzard, Sinn Fein, and Simon Hoare, Conservative. And Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond.