The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is growing at a fantastic rate, with more than 200 chapters - or affiliated gangs - around the globe. They have a reputation for extreme violence and many police officers believe they have become nothing but a sophisticated criminal network involved in drug trafficking. To most people in Britain, the Hells Angels are just a throwback to the 1970s and widely regarded as a group of eccentric, ageing bikers who like to fight each other and drink real ale. So strong is this perception, a veteran London Hells Angel even led a parade of bikers at the Queen's Golden Jubilee procession. But UK police officers who have investigated biker gangs fear that they represent a significant and growing part of our criminal landscape. They have been alarmed by events in North America. Mass trials And it is Canada that has felt the full brunt of biker violence. Following a rein of terror that shook Montreal for seven years, a huge mafia style mass trial has already convicted scores of Hell's Angels for murder and running a multi-billion dollar cocaine ring. Montreal's biker war involved 160 murders and more than 200 attempted murders, including the shooting of a well known journalist who had investigated the biker violence. Despite the convictions, the Hells Angels are still considered the number one drug distribution organisation in Canada. US police officers and federal agents arrested more than 50 Hells Angels in December 2003, on charges involving gun crime, drug-dealing, violence and extortion. The arrests, in San Jose, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and other cities across the West followed a two-year undercover investigation by US police officers. The programme, made with access to US and Canadian gang investigators, follows the rise and rise of the Hell's Angels and their fearsome culture of violence. It investigates how law enforcement officers struggle against the Hell's Angels sophisticated public relation
In this film, Michael travels back to Ethiopia and talks to many people whose lives have been permanently scarred by the horrific famine. They speak of how the suffering has continued while they continue to wait for the rains, a tragic irony in a country known as the "water tower of Africa" because it has the biggest natural reserves of water in the continent. Michael also follows the story of a young Red Cross nurse forced to choose which starving people would receive scarce food aid and be saved and who would be left to die. Sir Bob Geldof speaks movingly about his personal crusade to help the Ethiopian people and the build-up to the Live Aid concert in 1985. On his recent journey, Michael returns to the towns of Mekele and Korem and to the highlands, destroyed by civil war and scorched by drought. Today, the situation is worse and twice as many people are suffering with starvation. At the time we helped to save them, but have our efforts only served to make a terrible situation worse?
Seth is white. Thuso is black. Seth is from a wealthy background, while Thuso sleeps on his granny's kitchen floor. Both are gifted young footballers in post-apartheid South Africa. This World followed their attempts to break into the professional game. Seth Hutcheons leads a privileged life. His family are financially comfortable and well-connected in the world of soccer. He goes to one of the best schools in Johannesburg but yearns for a trial with an overseas soccer club. He feels there is now too much positive discrimination for blacks when it comes to team selection at home. Thuso Phala lives in Soweto. Only months before filming started, Thuso's dad was brutally murdered in a car-jacking incident. Thuso, his mum and two sisters, had no choice but to move into Thuso's granny's tiny house. They struggle to survive. Both Seth and Thuso have had a measure of success during the last five years. Seth was selected for the Ajax Amsterdam academy in Cape Town. Thuso was spotted by his hero, Lucas Radebe, captain of the South African national team, and Leeds United player. However, Seth broke his contract with Ajax after only a few months and Thuso's trip to England did not materialise. The film also explores the issues of housing and education. Thuso, like Seth, goes to a private school. Many feel that the state system does not have much to offer. But Thuso's mother cannot afford the fees. Will Thuso be forced to abandon his dreams of soccer stardom and start earning money to help his family? And will Seth obtain a foreign scholarship, or stay in South Africa and play for the Rainbow Nation? This World charted the boys' lives over the last five years to discover how a decade of democracy is shaping their future.
It's all about abstinence. At least, that's what the Silver Ring Thing movement is teaching teenagers in the United States. More and more young people are pledging themselves to abstinence programmes - saying no to sex before marriage. Established in 1995, the Silver Ring Thing is a faith-based organisation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's one of hundreds of abstinence movements across America that promote self-restraint rather than sex education. This film tells the story of the kids who take the Silver Ring Thing on the road, organising rallies and events to spread the word. Teenagers attending the events pay $12 (£7). In return, they get a bible and silver ring. The ring is to be worn as a constant reminder of their pledge to remain virgins until marriage. The movement is also part-funded by the federal government. President Bush himself is a strong supporter of abstinence programmes. In the film, Miss America 2003, Erica Harold, is the star guest for the launch of a national programme seeking to purify the young. In some schools in the US, abstinence is now taught instead of sex education. But will it mean a generation of kids are learning about sex from the street and the media, rather than the classroom? This World explores the debate.
North Korea remains isolated and in fear of an Iraq-style invasion from the United States. International crisis talks continue over the regime's nuclear weapons programme. But This World has uncovered evidence of another more chilling evil: that North Korea is testing new chemical weapons on women and children. Hundreds of thousands of people are imprisoned without charge. It's not because they have committed a crime. It is because their relatives are believed to be critical of the regime and so they are punished. According to President Kim Jong Il, the bad blood and seed of any dissident must be rooted out down to three generations. Forced labour and starvation rations ensure that prisoners do not escape. Those who try to are publicly executed. But this is not the North Korea the government wants the world to see. The authorities go to great lengths to equip all foreign intruders with "minders" and monitor their every move. The This World team were scrupulously guarded. The answers could only be found outside North Korea itself. Reporter, Olenka Frenkiel, hears testimonies from victims of the secret camps who have since fled to South Korea or the United States. And most shocking of all, she tracks down one of the perpetrators. Kwon Hyok, a former North Korean army intelligence officer, was also chief guard at "Prison Camp no. 22". For the first time on camera, he describes specially-made glass gas chambers used for human experimentation. This World asks: if a deal is reached with North Korea about its nuclear weapons, should it be allowed to keep their gas chambers?
Ten years after the genocide that saw Hutus kill nearly one million Tutsis in just 100 days, Rwanda is still trying to come to terms with its bloody past. Theophile Ntaganda is one of thousands of killers now being released from prison. He killed his mother-in-law and two of his wife's sisters during the genocide. He wants her and their two children back. His wife Odette wants him dead. Theophile was one of the thousands of Hutus who took up arms a decade ago against the Tutsi, even though he was married to one. After almost nine years in prison, Theophile has been freed and sets out to find Odette and their two sons, Sharif and Kofi. Odette, however, has moved on. She tried to divorce Theophile shortly after he was imprisoned but the court rejected her request because he had not confessed to any crime. So Odette forged her documents and married again. The tables are turned. Theophile prepares to take Odette to court for bigamy. If found guilty, she could spend up to three years in prison. Whatever the outcome of the case, under Rwandan law, Theophile has the right to take his children away from their mother. Filmed over a year, this is a compelling human story, set in a country struggling to come to terms with one of the worst genocides in the twentieth century.
Since leaving prison in April 2004, former Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu talks about his arrest in a world exclusive television interview. In 1986, Mr Vanunu gave The Sunday Times photographs of Israel's nuclear reactor and they were published in the UK. They led experts to conclude, at the time, that Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Mr Vanunu was subsequently held by Israeli security services in a sting operation. He served an 18-year sentence after an Israeli court found him guilty on charges of spying. Although free from jail now, Israeli authorities insist the 50-year-old still possesses state secrets and that he must not leave the country or speak to foreigners. Mr Vanunu, however, says he has nothing new to reveal. In the interview he talks about the circumstances surrounding his arrest and answers the charges made against him 18 years ago. The film also focuses on the position of the Israeli authorities and why they still consider him to be a threat to national security.
When William J Bratton was sworn in as chief of its police department, LA was the homicide capital of America. Can he curb gang violence and reduce the murder rate? Los Angeles is America's second largest city, but in 2002 it topped all other US cities in one respect. After 658 homicides in just that one year, LA became the country's murder capital. Almost half of those murders were directly related to gang turf wars involving drugs and guns, and most of those are based in just one part of the city: South East LA. There are around 10,000 gang members in South East LA alone, where unemployment is three times higher than the national average. It is the most dangerous place to be a young man; young men aged between 15 and 35-years make up almost two-thirds of all murder victims. It is also the most dangerous place to be a police officer. Yet the majority of these murders go unreported locally, as some claim the media - and the people in power - show little interest in gang violence. And so little interest in funding the fight against gang warfare too. Fear and loathing But if a lack of interest and cash are holding the police department back, its attempts to take on the gangs are also seriously hampered by extremely poor relations with the various communities in LA. The LAPD's image has been severely tarnished by repeated allegations of racism and corruption, such as the police beating of Rodney King that sparked rioting and the allegation of racism made against a police officer during the OJ Simpson trial. One gang member's comment about the LAPD aptly summarises how badly the police force are viewed: "Y'all are the biggest gang in Los Angeles County." With ordinary people afraid of both the gangs and the police, trust between citizens and police officers has reached rock bottom. In an attempt to bring the city back under control, the authorities brought in William J Bratton as chief, the man credited with helping forme
It has been estimated that Sri Satya Sai Baba, India's biggest spiritual leader, has up to 30 million devotees around the world. But increasing numbers of former followers are alleging he has sexually abused them or their families. This World investigates. Swamis, otherwise known as yogis or gurus, are the holy men of India, and part of ancient tradition. Sai Baba, 78, is based in Puttaparthi, near Bangalore in southern India. His distinctive 1960s orange robes and Afro hairstyle make him instantly recognisable. As the country's biggest "God-man" - a human being who declares himself divine - he professes to be the reincarnation of a Hindu God-man from the 19th Century. Sai Baba not only commands huge regular audiences at the local ashram (religious retreat) - where he performs countless "miracles" - he also boasts followers from more than 165 countries world-wide. But as the This World team discovers as they travel from India to California, there are a number of former devotees who have turned away from his teachings, claiming he has ruined their lives. Alaya, a former follower who claims he was sexually abused by the swami, says in the programme: "I remember him saying, if you don't do what I say, your life will be filled with pain and suffering." In an intimate and powerful portrait, Alaya's family talks openly about how they feel they were betrayed. Back in India, there are serious questions to be asked of politicians, who seem to have continuously ignored the problem. Indeed, some would say, the correct position for these politicians appears to be at the feet of Sai Baba. He certainly has friends in high places, and throughout the scandal, his popularity has remained intact. Has this "God-man" been wrongly accused or does his status mean he is immune to criticism?
More than one million children are exploited every year by the international sex trade, according to UN estimates. In Central America the problem has been growing, with sex tourists attracted to the region by ever-cheaper flights as well as easily circumvented child protection laws. One man, a British charity director, has dedicated himself to tracking down the offenders that governments have failed to prosecute. Bruce Harris, of the Catholic children's charity Casa Alianza, wants to stop the area from becoming one of the world's biggest centres for child sex tourism. Mr Harris is based in Costa Rica where, he says: "We get plane loads of sex tourists coming in". "They leave millions of dollars in the country. Sex tourism is big money." Paedophiles have been able to exploit loopholes in Costa Rica's child protection laws and, for years, the chances of being caught and punished were almost non-existent. In a country where the authorities seemed reluctant to pursue offenders, child sex tourists appeared likely to get what they were looking for: anonymity and immunity. After years of persuasion, Mr Harris finally managed to convince the government that the problem needed to be acted on. Sting operations He has recently filmed pimps undercover, set up elaborate stings to trap internet paedophile rings and harangued governments to change laws and act against offenders. But some successful convictions - helped also by tougher laws and the appointment of a special prosecutor - have led to death threats for Mr Harris. The country is now marketing itself as a modern holiday destination and trying to show that times are changing, but two of Mr Harris's biggest cases will test the country's resolve. Madame Siani Monge Munoz - accused of being Costa Rica's biggest child pimp - has finally been arrested, 10 years after first being investigated by Mr Harris. It is said she has a secret list of clients that includes major public fig
Seventeen-year-old Aboriginal Thomas James Hickey, or TJ as he was known to friends and family, died on Valentine's Day 2004. He was impaled on a metal fence after falling off his bicycle near the notorious Sydney suburb of Redfern, also called The Block. The Block is a largely Aboriginal district where TJ lived with his mother and six sisters. No-one knows exactly what happened but it is likely that TJ, who had an outstanding warrant against him and some cannabis in his pocket, panicked at the sight of a patrol car and sped off as quickly as he could. But the following day The Block erupted into violence amid rumours he had been chased to his death by police officers - an allegation strongly denied by the police. Forty officers were injured in what became a running battle with scores of Aboriginal youths. While the rest of the nation was shocked by the images of the violence, many Redfern Aboriginals said that white Australia "had it coming." They told the programme they felt like second-class citizens in their own country and claimed the police discriminated against them. With unique access to TJ's family, reporter David Akinsanya investigates the story behind the riots and asks why Aboriginals have disastrously failed to integrate into their own country. He also asks why so many white Australians have a stereotypical image of their indigenous neighbours as layabouts and drunks
Both foreign nationals and Saudi Muslims are now targets for terror attacks. Can the ruling royals fight terrorism while reconciling the conflicting demands of hardline fundamentalists and liberal reformers? After the shock of 9/11, the US-led invasion of Iraq and recent terror attacks in Saudi, This World gains unprecedented access to the desert kingdom and discovers why ordinary Saudis are now also becoming victims. Presenter Simon Reeve speaks to Saudis who previously supported Osama bin Laden, but are now disgusted at recent attacks on home ground which have killed Muslims and say they are turning against the extremists of al-Qaeda. But is there any middle ground? Royal leaders claim they can crack down on extremists while modernising the kingdom, but this is a huge challenge. The economy has taken a hammering, it is estimated 30% of the population are unemployed, and Saudi Arabia has already seen more change in the last 30 years than in the previous 13 centuries. Exclusive entry The film takes viewers from the glittering palace of Crown Prince Abdullah to the Empty Quarter desert and the tents of the nomadic Bedouin. Simon Reeve talks to bin Laden's former best friend, meets groups of women in a private house in Jeddah, and speaks to many Saudi people about their beliefs and concerns. How the ruling royal family deals with the current crisis has profound implications for the entire world. Saudi Arabia controls 25% of the planet's oil, and offers spiritual leadership to 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide as custodian of the holiest sites in Islam. As the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammed, the country is the focus of attention for the Muslim world, and a serious backlash against terrorism in the holy kingdom has huge significance for the global "war on terror". Saudi Arabia is at a crossroads, but which way will it turn?
Dubbed the “Bangkok Hilton” by the West, Thailand’s Bangkwang jail is one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Until now, the reality of life in Bangkwang has remained a secret. But after two years of negotiations between the BBC and Thai officials – and for the first time ever – television cameras were allowed inside. The film tells the human stories of prisoners struggling to stay sane in the jail’s cramped conditions, and the Thai staff struggling to cope with the ever-increasing number of inmates.
In the seaside resort of Taiji in Japan, around 3,000 dolphins are hunted and killed for food each year. Known as "drive hunting", the fishermen bang metal poles in the water, disturbing the dolphins' sonar and enabling them to drive the animals into shallow water where they can be caught. At first unwilling to speak to the media, the handful of fishermen permitted to catch dolphins in Taiji reluctantly agreed to speak to reporter Paul Kenyon. They insist their occupation is traditional and legal, and are enraged by the groups of international animal rights activists who travel to Japan to protest against the hunts. One such protester, Ric O'Barry, a marine mammal specialist with One Voice, insists: "The dolphins have a brain larger than the human brain, so when they're being slaughtered like this they're aware... just like humans." In a local bar, Paul shows the fishermen a research film on dolphin intelligence, but they dismiss the animals in the film as "highly-trained" and therefore more able to perform the tasks given to them. 'Dolphin dealers' Dolphin meat is a common sight on menus in Taiji, but food is not the only reason for drive hunting. In 2003, 78 of the dolphins trapped in the hunts were used for dolphinarium shows and swim-with-dolphin programmes. There are substantial rewards for dolphins employed by the increasingly-popular entertainment business; not for the hunters themselves, but for the industry's intermediaries - the groups who make money by buying the dolphins from the fishermen and selling them to dolphinariums for training. It is estimated that "dolphin dealers" can sell one animal for up to $30,000 (£16,000). Paul confronts the head of one such intermediary organisation and puts it to him that the dealing business is actually the driving force behind the industry. It also becomes apparent that there are international dealers. Footage of the hunts taken by Ric O'Barry show Westerners trying to buy d
President Mugabe says the people of Zimbabwe have enough to eat, but he stands accused of letting them starve for his own political gain. Classified by aid agencies as a "hunger emergency zone", Zimbabwe is turning away the charities who have been feeding millions there since 2001. The charities themselves think their food supplies continue to be crucial. But how are the new settlers actually coping? Farai Sevenzo talks to some of these farmers and discovers that many are struggling, mainly due to lack of seed, equipment and water. He also meets a young Zanu-PF candidate who concedes that the country may be experiencing a period of instability, but insists: "That is what happens when there is a revolution." Political grain Farai's journey takes him to a local hospital in the south, home to many weak children. Medical staff there are unable to talk about the food situation, but the Archbishop of Bulawayo - Zimbabwe's second city - is outspoken on the subject and says that in just one year, 161 people in the city died of malnutrition. But the lack of food aid and poor harvest are not the only reasons the people are hungry. Farai has also heard that the government are impounding maize from ordinary people as they travel from the country into the town, in order to boost dwindling stocks and hide the fact there are food shortages. He decides to put this to the test. Driving back from Harare, a hidden camera reveals he is stopped by Grain Marketing Board (GMB) officials and asked to handover the six bags of maize in his car. Renson Gasela, shadow minister of agriculture in Zimbabwe and former member of the GMB, says: "There is an election next year, so the government wants to be the only one with food." Is President Mugabe using food as his trump card? Farai Sevenzo goes undercover to reveal those caught in a political food fix.
Vulnerable children in some of New York's poorest districts are being forced to take part in HIV drug trials. During a nine month investigation, the BBC has uncovered the disturbing truth about the way authorities in New York City are conducting the fight against Aids. HIV positive children - some only a few months old - are enrolled in toxic experiments without the consent of guardians or relatives. In some cases where parents have refused to give children their medication, they have been placed in care. The city's Administration of Children's Services (ACS) does not even require a court order to place HIV kids with foster parents or in children's homes, where they can continue to give them experimental drugs. Reporter Jamie Doran talks to parents and guardians who fear for the lives of their loved ones, and to a child who spent years on a drugs programme that made him and his friends ill. In 2002, the Incarnation Children's Center - a children's home in Harlem - was at the hub of controversy over secretive drugs trials. Jamie speaks to a boy who spent most of his life at Incaranation. Medical records, obtained by the This World team, prove the boy had been enrolled in these trials. "I did not want to take my medication," said the boy, "but if you want to get out of there, you have to do what they say." He also conveys a horrifying account of what happened to the children at Incarnation who refused to obey the rules. "My friend Daniel didn't like to take his medicine and he got a tube in his stomach," he said. Powerless Dr David Rasnick from the University of Berkeley who has studied the effects of HIV drugs on patients - particularly children - says these drugs are "lethal". "The young are not completely developed yet," he says. "The immune system isn't completely mature until a person's in their teens." So why are these children targetted? Is it simply because they cannot defend themselves? At the beginning of this
Desperate US parents are sending their troublesome teenagers to tough boarding schools overseas, but many have had second thoughts when they discover just how tough these schools can be. Reporter Raphael Rowe visits Tranquility Bay in Jamaica, a correctional institution set up specifically to deal with unruly teens. Situated in a small village with spectacular views across the Caribbean Sea, it is the stuff of holiday brochures... but not for the kids who are sent there. New arrivals - some as young as 12 - cannot speak without permission and are allowed only the barest of necessities. They are cut off from their families and they must earn privileges such as phone calls home. One of the most controversial methods of punishment used in the behavioural correction programme is Observational Placement or OP. Children in OP lie silently on the floor in a guarded room until staff members decide they can leave. They eat, sleep and exercise in the same room. Even though Tranquility Bay director, Jay Kay, says the aim is to get kids out of OP within 24 hours, Raphael talks to ex-students who had been in there for much longer. Fifteen-year-old Shannon Levy, who left Tranquility Bay in 2002, spoke about her experience in OP. "They lined us up like sardines...there was no air, no ventilation... and if we had to go to the bathroom we had to leave the door open so they could sit there and watch us. I was there for eight weeks straight," she said. Cruel to be kind? Some of the parents of children who have not responded to the programme say the regime is brutal, open to abuses, and some of the staff poorly trained. Several of them are taking legal action against WWASPS - World Wide Association of Speciality Programs and Schools - the business organisation that runs Tranquility Bay. Bertrand Bainvel, Head of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Jamaica, wants OP scrapped because he says: "There is a high possibility it fal
The US is fighting battles on many fronts, but what happens when the Pentagon delegates a war to private contractors who are rewarded with money and not medals?
Last summer, nine very different young people took a step that changed their life. They embarked on a journey from childhood to adulthood. From the edge of the Arctic circle to the secretive world of the Japanese geisha, this film charts a crucial point in these children's adolescence as they finally come of age. Through their personal stories, the film reveals the universal themes that both unite and divide us.
Documentary about the increasing problem of fake medical drugs. In Nigeria in 2003, four babies and children died after they underwent cardiac surgery in a top teaching hospital where the adrenalin drips they had been fed with contained fake drugs. But it's not just a problem for the developing world - in Britain, counterfeits have been found in high street pharmacies and a fake diazepam and Viagra factory was discovered in Wembley.
As Iran defies the world by restarting its nuclear programme, Paul Kenyon travels to the Islamic Republic with UN nuclear inspectors, and gains exclusive behind-the-scene access to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iranian negotiators talk candidly about why they deceived the world over their nuclear programme for 18 years. But it takes on a new complexion now we know that Iran later abandoned the diplomacy and chose to start enriching uranium again.
An investigation into the hidden reality of sex, power and corruption that lies behind the grand edifice of Bollywood - the world's biggest film industry. India's movie moguls were recently rocked to the core by allegations of sex being traded for film roles. Reporter Tanya Datta takes an unprecedented, candid, behind-the-scenes look at the real lives of the rich and famous and uncovers a seedy sub-culture that reduces aspirant actors and actresses to sex objects.
Within 15 years, the Chinese government believes as many as 40 million men will be permanent bachelors.
This World investigates the potential links between "death metal" and a series of gruesome crimes around the world.
During the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by the Palestinian terrorist organisation Black September. Within days of the massacre, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir secretly ordered Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency) to hunt down and assassinate all those responsible for the planning and execution of the Olympic massacre. During the next seven years, more than a dozen suspects and suspected terror masterminds were killed throughout Europe and the Middle East. This campaign, conducted by a specially trained hit-team - code named "kidon" (bayonet in Hebrew) - has been the subject of many accounts by writers, journalists and filmmakers, and is the basis of Steven Spielberg's new feature film "Munich". Up until now, no one in Mossad has been permitted to speak in detail about the extraordinary series of events. Global terrorism Bayonet operatives reveal their secret missions in compelling detail, including the assassination of Ali Hassan Salameh, mastermind of Black September and CIA contact, in Beirut. One former Bayonet member - referred to in the film as "T" to hide his real identity - revisits France and Norway to walk through the undercover operations carried out there 30 years ago. Some considered these operations a success, given the total eradication of Black September, but they did not always go to plan. Munich: Operation Bayonet features extensive interviews with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the former head of Mossad Shabtai Shavit and ex-CIA agents. With its unique access, this film draws a clear picture of the clandestine 1970s operations that changed the face of global terrorism.
In Brazil, football has always been sacred. But this changed last summer, when kidnappers began targetting footballers' mothers. Over a period of just five months in 2005, five footballers' mothers were abducted. The first was Marina Souza Da Silva, mother of Real Madrid superstar Robinho. She was held captive for 41 days until a ransom of $75,000 (£46,000) was paid to her kidnappers. This World spent six months following this intriguing case, filming with the player, obtaining exclusive footage of his mother in captivity, and even interviewing the kidnapper responsible. Escaping poverty But this film is not just about football and kidnapping. Set in Sao Paulo - a city where mansions and private swimming pools defiantly back onto the poor favella slums - it also exposes one of the most unequal societies in the world. Young boys dream of escaping poverty through football, but for the vast majority, crime is the only reality. The film intertwines the lives of three people who all came from the slums and who, in their own ways, escaped. As well as interviews with footballer Robinho, we talk to the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Robinho's mother, Marcelo Da Silva, and the head of the Sao Paulo anti-kidnapping squad. During the first two weeks of filming alone, four members of Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping squad were murdered in shoot outs with criminal gangs.
Documentary about the efforts of two young political activists, Murad and Emin, to stage a peaceful revolution in Azerbaijan, a country with a dismal human rights record.
Documentary looking at how thousands of poor and illiterate patients are being recruited on to clinical trials in India to test new drugs for the West.
Two women are murdered every day in Guatemala and many are hideously mutilated. In 2005, 665 women were killed - more than 20% up on the previous year and 10 times the equivalent rate in the UK. But in Guatemala, not one killer has been caught. There is no fingerprint or DNA database, no crime or victim profiling and no real forensic science. No one investigates and witnesses do not talk. So why, after 36 years of civil war, are the guns and the knives being turned on women? And who is responsible for these murders? Some people point to the street gangs, while others blame domestic violence or serial killers. But no one really knows because the crimes are not investigated. Is this just incompetence? Or is the justice system in Guatemala designed to protect the guilty? The award-winning team of Olenka Frenkiel and Giselle Portenier follow the search of those who still believe they can find justice, and those who have lost all hope that the killers of their loved ones can be caught. Who shot law student Claudina Velasquez? Who tortured and killed 13-year-old Stephanie Lopez? And who murdered the nameless woman whose dismembered body was found in a refuse sack? Someone knows... but no one will tell.
What is life like inside the Kremlin? And what does the future hold as Putin's presidency nears its end? The Kremlin is the political heart of the largest country in the world. For centuries, strong and secretive men have dominated Russia and often terrified the outside world. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, things have been different. The Kremlin machine has tried to sell Putin to the West as a "liberal democrat", while at the same time selling him to the Russians as the "hard man" their country needs. In office for the last six years however, in less than two years from now Putin must relinquish the presidency. And as presidential candidates start to jockey for position, This World discovers what really goes on behind the scenes. Inside stories Twenty-three years ago, documentary film maker Richard Denton first went to what was then the Soviet Union, to make a series for the BBC called Comrades. Now he has returned to film what he could never film before: the people who work within the Kremlin. From Dimitri Pescov, the president's most urbane spin doctor, to Konstantin Krivorotov, a soldier in the presidential regiment who stands guard over the tomb of the unknown soldier, Denton meets the men and women who work for Putin. At the time of filming there are scandals in the Russian army and British diplomats are allegedly caught spying. And all the time, meanwhile, Russians inside and outside the Kremlin walls are beginning to ask the question: after Putin, who will be the next president of Russia?
Thirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, some families still searching for loved ones missing in action are turning to psychics for help. Millions died in the Vietnam War and 400,000 of them have never been found. But some families of the missing have found new hope in the form of a group of psychics. Accepted, if not approved of, by the government, these psychics believe they can talk to the dead. In 1996, they set up a centre devoted to the research of psychic phenomena. One man who works at the research centre is 37-year-old Nguyen Phac Bay and is said to have found over 500 bodies last year. The film also follows one female psychic through minefields and jungles in search of the dead. Nam Ngia, an ex-army nurse, works alone and has devoted her life to the task of finding those who went missing during the war. Apparently, when she is said to be speaking to the lost spirits, they pass on details that shock the living relatives - details they swear no one else could know. It may seem unlikely, but in Vietnam and much of South East Asia many believe that contact with dead ancestors is normal - that the dead can connect to the living. This film raises the question of what is belief and what is hope when so many are mourning the missing from the Vietnam War.
A year after Hurricane Katrina, This World finds out what happened inside Orleans Parish Prison as panicked inmates, left without food or water, rioted and broke out. Prisoners released from Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are held on a bridge in the city "What about the prisoners in the jail?" the sheriff had been asked as city leaders ordered the people of New Orleans to flee the hurricane heading their way in August 2005. "The prisoners will stay where they belong," he decided. It was a decision he would later regret. In the chaotic days that followed Hurricane Katrina, the image of thousands of orange-clad prisoners crouching on a broken bridge - held at gunpoint by a few overstretched guards - was an unforgettable image. This is the untold story of almost 7,000 inmates - some murderers and rapists, but others never even charged - who found themselves trapped in the city jail as it flooded. Olenka Frenkiel reports on a justice system already near to collapse, and on its final tipping point: Katrina.
This is a film about the newspaper revolution of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest selling daily. The Daily Sun's lurid headlines like "Boyfriend Ate My Grandson!" have made the politically correct squirm. But the paper has become a national phenomenon, attracting millions of black readers. This World follows the newspaper in the run up to its 1,000th edition. A reporter visits a woman claiming she is cursed by a demon. A girl, aged 14, tells how her rapist is still free. And the crime correspondent is the first at a shoot-out which turns into a bloodbath. It is the controversial white part-owner, Deon du Plessis, who gives the stories their tabloid spin and critics accuse the paper of sensationalism with its gory front pages. The newspaper, however, claims it merely reflects the reality of township life.
Mahmoud is a 12-year-old boy who supports his family by selling tea in Gaza's biggest hospital. He struggles to make a living on the wards and has to avoid the shoot-outs that occur inside the hospital itself. Filmed before and during the recent Israeli re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, this observational documentary uses Mahmoud's experiences, as well as remarkable access inside the Hamas prime minister's office, to show the reality of life under the new Hamas government. Gunmen, policemen and various "security forces" all patrol the hospital seeking to protect their own injured comrades. "I told them many times to leave... they refuse," says surgeon Dr Jomma Al Saqqa, who believes working among the militants is fraught with risks. Each group uses its muscle to try and get preferential treatment, and the doctors bear the brunt of their threats. Mahmoud's business is rapidly shrinking. None of the doctors and nurses have been paid since the election of Hamas in January, at which point the international community suspended $1bn (£584m) in aid to the region. The borders of the Gaza Strip have been sealed and trade suspended, meaning food and fuel are becoming scarcer and increasingly expensive. Mahmoud has to pay almost double for his tea leaves, but his profits have been cut in half. "I hate politics," he says.
Just as Israel ends one war, is it getting ready for what may be its next armed conflict? This time, the enemy is Iran, accused of arming Hezbollah's militia and planning to develop nuclear weapons. This film reveals Israel's view of the threat and gets inside the intensely secret world of the Israeli military, which speaks openly for the first time about what they see as the "existential" threat to Israel, posed by Iran's alleged atomic weapons programme. Three of Israel's former prime ministers come together on this issue, comparing the danger to a "new Holocaust". This World gains rare access to Israel's highly protected missile factories and satellite surveillance centres, where the arms needed for any potential raid are manufactured. As diplomatic efforts over Iran's nuclear programme continue, this film examines the Israeli discussion on whether they should, or could, launch a raid to knock out Iran's nuclear programme.
This World films inside one of Iran's kidney donor clinics. In Iran, the buying and selling of kidneys is legal and regulated by the state. As a result, the Iranians claim to have eliminated waiting lists for people on dialysis. The only problem is that if you do not have the money for a new kidney then there is no list to get on. There is an official price list, where the state pays donors $1,000 (£531) while the recipient and their family pay $2000 (£1,062). But once donor and recipient are introduced the haggling starts. With the average salary in Iran being around $200 (£106) a month, the stakes are high for both sides. This documentary gives a fascinating insight into ordinary life in Iran through the eyes of two young Iranians who have decided to sell a kidney. Mehrdad lost his job on the railways and now faces mounting debts. He wants to sell a kidney to fund a new job as a taxi driver. And Sohaila, who already works long shifts at night but since her father died six years ago, she has had to support two younger sisters. Her wage alone is just not enough.
In Japan it is estimated that 60% of older women have a common problem - their husbands. Having spent years "married to their jobs", retired men are having an extraordinary effect on the health of their partners.
Istanbul, the cultural capital of Turkey, which stands at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, is fast becoming a new centre for international fashion.
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of Russia's President Putin, was shot dead in October 2006 following a suspected poisoning attempt and death threats. Broadcast here for the first time is one of the last interviews she gave, to the BBC, about her fears for her country, coupled with a stark warning to the West about Russia's future. Ex-spy Aleksander Litvinenko - who died on 23 November 2006 and who said he had been poisoned himself - was investigating her death. This has fuelled allegations of a deadly campaign against Putin's opponents... despite Kremlin denials of involvement. Olenka Frenkiel reveals Anna's final warning, of a Russia in the grip of the old KGB, breeding a new generation of terrorists and a return to Stalinism.
Across Russia, hundreds of people have died and thousands have been poisoned after drinking illegal alcohol that had apparently been spiked with a mystery chemical. This World sends John Sweeney to Pskov, a city badly affected by the poisonings in which a state of emergency has been declared. The hospital corridors are full of poison victims suffering from Toxic Hepatitis. The investigation puts John Sweeney's own health at risk when he accidentally tastes some suspect alcohol.
When the world fell in love with Cuban music after Buena Vista Social Club, the Cubans set about re-releasing their old songs. But American company Peer music took them to court claiming that Peer owned the songs. This documentary travels from London to Havana, where the old musicians sit and wait for their share of the royalties. An English judge will decide who owns the rights to Cuba's music, the Cubans or the Americans.
In September 2006, three nooses were found dangling from a tree at a high school in Louisiana. At a school assembly, a black student had asked the vice principal if he could sit under the same tree – in a traditionally white part of the school yard. Tom Mangold uncovers the truth behind allegations that racism still exists in the Deep South of America. As a black man announces his presidential candidacy, This World investigates how far race relations have progressed since the turbulent 1960s.
Nine CIA flights land secretly in Poland. Was Europe the site of a secret prison where top Al Qaeda suspects were held? "It is unlikely," says lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, "that the British, European and American governments will tell us the truth. So we will sue them into the next generation." Olenka Frenkiel reports on the plane spotters, civilians, judges, lawyers and journalists piecing together the jigsaw of "extraordinary rendition", the CIA’s secret programme of kidnapping citizens, out-sourcing their torture, and sending them for trial in what even the US military lawyers call "kangaroo courts" where the outcome is rigged
In his State of the Union address, George Bush said Hezbollah is one of the most dangerous terrorist organisations in the world. So in Beirut, This World seeks out the "Party of God". It’s a year since the Iranian backed militants claimed victory in a bloody 33 day conflict with Israel – This World investigates claims that Hezbollah are back, more powerful than ever and readying themselves for another war.
This World enters a world of paranoia and fear as the programme goes to South Africa to follow some of the thousands of Zimbabweans who enter the country illegally every week, fleeing from the political and economic crisis in their country.
The UN has sent a unit of Indian women, its first-ever, all-female peacekeeping force, to the West African country of Liberia, which is recovering from a 14-year civil war during sexual violence was common. It is now stable but rape is still a major problem. Will the presence of this unit empower local women, or will the culture shock the Indian women face, in their first visit outside India, stop them from interacting with the Liberians?
In April of 2006 the head of the sicilian mafia, Bernardo Provenzano was arrested., he was on the run for an unparralled 43 years. This film tells the story how the godfather was arrested in the longest manhunt
Documentary by award-winning filmmaker Ruhi Hamid. Some British Muslims want Shari'ah law implemented in the UK. Already practised informally here to resolve Islamic divorce, inheritance and family disputes, it is seen by many in the West as oppressive and brutal, with punishments like stoning and amputations. Ruhi Hamid, a British Muslim, travels to Nigeria to see Shari'ah law in action, and asks whether it could work alongside the UK's existing legal system.
Earlier this summer, a farmer in southern India discovered a two day old baby girl who'd been buried alive. Left to die, she was one of the thousands of unwanted girls in a country where daughters are often seen as an expensive burden, needing a large wedding dowry. Even among the middle classes, girls are often aborted as soon as their gender is determined. Despite the economic boom, the country is now missing so many young women that in some states, men are struggling to find brides.
Reporter Emeka Onono travels to Cleveland, Ohio, the number one city in America for house reposessions to discover the human impact of the subprime mortgage crisis. He meets the sheriff responsible for reposessions, the activists fighting for families and the people themselves who have been hit by the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.
In Nepal, a nine-year-old girl is worshipped as a Virgin Goddess. It is she, the custom says, who gives the King his power to rule. At an annual festival every September she blesses the King by marking him on the forehead. But this year? With the King stripped of power and shunned by diplomats, no one knows. Democracy is coming to the last Hindu Kingdom and the future of the Goddess and the King are delicately intertwined.
In September, Burma's population rose up once again against their military rulers. Civilians joined demonstrations by Buddhist monks across the country, but the rising sense of anarchy was cut short in just days when the army were ordered to shoot. The film documents the accounts of bloggers, monks, student leaders and protest organisers who were lucky enough to escape. Their friends are dead or in jail.
President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela calls the United States ‘Dracula’ and George W. Bush ‘Mr Danger’, ‘a drunk’ and ‘a donkey’. He can get away with being rude to the most powerful man on Earth because his country sits on trillions of dollars worth of oil. Chavez boasts that he is spending his oil bonanza on the poor, but even London mayoral candidate Boris Johnson has called this 'Caracas'.
Who poisoned Alexander Litvinenko? Reporter Mark Franchetti gains exclusive access to Scotland Yard's prime suspect, Andrei Lugovoi. As Lugovoi prepares to stand in this week's Russian parliamentary elections, the programme places the Litvinenko murder mystery in the context of a newly resurgent Russia.
Four friends and classmates are coming of age in Baghdad. One is Kurdish, one Christian, one Shia and one from a mixed Sunni/Shia background. This programme was filmed by the students themselves during the 2006/07 academic year, offering a unique insight
Shot by an Iraqi doctor, this film reveals the terrible conditions of a civilian ER in Baghdad. Al Yarmouk Hospital is in the most dangerous area of Baghdad. As the bomb victims come flooding in, the ambulance crews go from one dangerous mission to another.
This film tells the story of beautiful Laleh Seddigh, an Angelina Jolie lookalike who has become Iran's national motor sports champion. Under the sport's rules, she can race directly against male drivers as long as she follows Muslim dress codes.
Liberian Charles Taylor stands trial in the Hague for allegedly backing rebel soldiers in neighbouring Sierra Leone with his diamond mining profits. His charges are horrific: he is accused of using child soldiers, condoning amputations and rape and puttin
Some 18 months ago in the mixed race town of Jena, Louisiana, two nooses were strung up on a schoolyard tree - a deliberate act by three white students against their fellow black colleagues. Within a year the racist sparks had started the flames of a ne
Can a beauty pageant raise spirits in a Siberian women's prison?
Is lethal injection a 'cruel and unusual' punishment, and thus unconstitutional in the US?
On the morning of 16 April 2007, on the Virginia Tech campus in America, a 23-year-old student called Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people before turning his gun on himself. The incident became the worst gun rampage in US history. Using extensive access to key witnesses, it delves into the mystery of how Cho, a young man with no criminal history, became a mass murderer.
Duncan Bannatyne journeys to Africa to explore the rise in the number of kids smoking.
Going behind the scenes of the Anglican Church's historic split.
The story of Himalayan mountaineers who filmed Tibetan refugees being shot by the Chinese.
Accused of being one of the most notorious arms dealers and sanction busters in the world, Russian businessman Viktor Bout languishes in jail in Bangkok. This World tells the story of the dramatic international sting which finally brought him to justice, and the battle to extradite him to the USA.
Is America facing a greater threat to its economy than the meltdown of its banking system?
Forced to marry. Helping British women escape unwanted marriages in Pakistan
After years of retirement from political life, the world's most admired statesman has allowed cameras into his private world. Mandela at 90 reveals a man of flesh and blood; irreverent, never cowed by authority and a formidable charmer who, perhaps surprisingly, looks back on his life behind bars with a degree of fondness. Unique behind-the-scenes footage offers a window into his world and his unexpected insights into his northern nemesis Robert Mugabe
This World tells the stories of North Koreans who risk torture and execution to escape their homeland and make the dangerous and difficult journey to South Korea.
On June 29th, Bernie Madoff will be sentenced for perpetrating an elaborate con. From his headquarters in New York, the capital of American finance, Madoff masterminded a fraud that netted billions of dollars and ensnared thousands, from Palm Beach billionaires and Hollywood movie stars to pensioners across the US. Madoff did not stop at America, however - he went global in his search for victims. Willard Foxton, whose father - a former British army officer - committed suicide after losing his life savings in Madoff's fraud, has embarked on a personal investigation into the Madoff con and the devastation it has wrought. On a 14,000-mile journey that takes him to New York, Florida and California, Willard meets fellow Madoff victims, two of Bernie's former employees and a Madoff family friend, who has known Bernie for over fifty years.
Across Europe children are being forced onto the streets to beg and steal. They come from one of the poorest communities in Europe - the Romanian Gypsies. For centuries Gypsies have lived on the margins of society and faced brutal discrimination. Many have resorted to stealing and begging to survive. But in the last 20 years, organised crime has taken over. And since 2007, when Romania joined the EU, Gypsy children have been trafficked and exploited on a much larger scale. In an attempt to understand what is happening to these children Romanian film-maker Liviu Tipurita embarks on a journey through Europe which takes him inside the closed world of the Gypsy community, and talks to the authorities and institutions meant to be dealing with this disturbing phenomenon.
On June 20th, a young Iranian woman was shot in the street in Tehran. The video of her death, filmed on a mobile phone, was seen by millions around the world. This World tells the story of Neda Agha Soltan, with exclusive accounts from those who really knew her. Many young Iranians have claimed her as a 'martyr' for Iran's protest movement; but the Iranian regime has tried to blame the West.
Justin Rowlatt reports on whether President Obama is on target to keep his climate-change promises. Travelling across the States, using public transport only, Justin encounters coal miners and car manufacturers; activists and politicians; a pig farmer and a film star. He goes ice-fishing in Michigan, finds a thriving wind industry in the oil state of Texas and, in Detroit, drives a test car of the future.
Joseph Stalin is back. Or is he? Reporter John Sweeney travels more than 5000 miles through the old Soviet Union, from Stalin's birthplace in Georgia to a former labour camp in Russia, to find out if one of the twentieth century's most notorious mass-murderers is really being rehabilitated.
On his second day in office, President Obama pledged to close the Guantanamo Detention Centre within a year. Michael Portillo reports for This World on why it has proved impossible for him to keep his promise. Over the past eight months, Portillo's visited the prison camps, and travelled to Yemen, Bermuda and Washington to investigate what could be done with the 240 remaining prisoners - some of whom are thought to be too dangerous to release, but impossible to successfully convict. As a former Defence Secretary, Portillo has first-hand experience of the political conflict between security and civil liberties. He looks at how the President has got stuck between a rock and a hard place. What way forward can Portillo see for Obama?
It has been quite a year for America's first black president. Promising change and appealing for unity, Barack Obama won his way into two wars and the worst recession since the 1930s. But his freshman year soon became a bitter battle over cash, colour and capitalism. Across the USA, This World has followed the lives of ordinary Americans, among them a reformed gangster and the wife of a US airforce captain. They voted for Obama and had high hopes for his presidency; but how have their lives been changed in Obama's first year? Can the president deliver on the huge promise of his candidacy, or will their hopes be dashed? One year on, they give their verdict.
The Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 was just the beginning, for those who survived. A massive earthquake caused a tidal wave that killed a quarter of a million people, but many millions more found their lives changed forever. This documentary tells the powerful story of how the survivors have tried to rebuild their lives. In Thailand, a mother fights property developers to protect the memory of her drowned daughter. While in Indonesia, villagers now live under strict religious law in the belief that the catastrophe was a judgement from God.
Violence is running out of control in Mexico as rival drug cartels battle over the smuggling routes to America. Mexico's president has declared war on the gangsters but the only result appears to be an escalation of the killings. Katya Adler journeys deep into the heart of a shocking conflict, uncovering the human stories behind the seemingly random and disturbing violence. She asks whether the continuing freedom of the world's most powerful drug runner, Joaquin 'Chapo' Guzman, is evidence that the Government's war is toothless.
Reporter Lucy Ash travels to Chechnya to investigate the extraordinary practice of bride stealing. Young women are being kidnapped off the street and married to men they may never have met. Although officially disapproved of, this centuries-old tradition is flourishing. From the moment a young woman is snatched, to her wedding one week later, Lucy follows the twists and turns as two families struggle to negotiate a compromise. She’s also with the mullah whose job it is to arbitrate between the two families and prevent the incident spilling into bloodshed. After a week of tense negotiations, she attends the colourful wedding celebrations where it seems there are as many guns as guests. Chechnya’s President, Ramzan Kadyrov, is an ally of Moscow and governs the Republic with a firm hand. In an interview he explains he is promoting a particular Chechen interpretation of Islam. Lucy joins a state-sponsored patrol on the streets of Grozny. Its job is to persuade women to wear headscarves and dress appropriately. Lucy also meets human rights campaigners to learn how dangerous it can be to oppose the authorities. Lucy Ash also visits the new Islamic Medical Centre. Many thousand troubled and disturbed women have been sent there for treatment. Lucy witnesses a harrowing and violent exorcism performed on a woman in an effort to cure her unhappy marriage. What emerges is a picture of a country and its people struggling to balance the often contradictory forces of Russian Law, Islamic Sharia law and ancient Chechen tradition. Six weeks later Lucy makes a further trip, this time to Kazakhstan, to meet up again with the newly-weds to find out how they are adapting to married life and how the bride is getting on with a husband she barely knew on her wedding day.
The earthquake that struck Haiti on 12 January caused death and destruction on a massive scale. Tens of thousands were killed instantly, thousands of others were buried under the rubble and a lucky few were dug out alive. Filmed over the six months after the disaster, This World follows four of the few who were rescued from a death beneath the rubble: a three-year-old child, a musician, a student and a family whose daughter was rescued after nine days. Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, was ill-equipped to cope with a catastrophic earthquake. But as the months pass, the film shows that life for its survivors is hard, but not without moments of hope.
Since the Iraq War began, 17 US soldiers based at Fort Carson, Colorado, have been charged or convicted in 14 murders, manslaughters and attempted murders. Many of these crimes involved men who had served in the same battalion in Iraq, and three of them came from a single platoon. The Wounded Platoon tells the dark tale of the modern-day 'Band of Brothers', and how the war followed them home. It is a story of heroism, grief, combat, drugs, alcohol and brutal murder, and a shocking portrait of what multiple tours and post-traumatic stress are doing to a generation of American soldiers.
Ingrid Betancourt was the world's most famous hostage. On February 23rd 2002, Ingrid, a presidential candidate in Colombia's elections, was kidnapped by the left-wing FARC rebel group along with her assistant and friend Clara Rojas. She was held for over six years in the jungle - with only occasional news coming out including a shocking picture which showed her clearly on the verge of collapse, if not death, in 2007. This is the first documentary account of what happened in the jungle in her words and of those who were there with her: Clara Rojas, her Campaign manager and Marc Gonsalves, one of three Americans who were also held by FARC for many years. The film tells how Ingrid and Clara fell out, ending up virtual enemies with completely different strategies of survival. The film explores the dynamics of captivity, including remarkable interviews with both the FARC soldier who kidnapped Ingrid and Clara - along with their main camp commander, who actually presided over Clara's caesarian section in the middle of the jungle. The film ends with the most daring rescue mission since Entebbe. The Colombian Military sent in twelve unarmed men and women pretending to be aid workers and lured the guerrillas into believing that they were transferring them on a humanitarian mission.
The fastest-growing political movement in the US today is the so-called Tea Party - a right-wing grassroots revolt with hundreds of thousands of supporters and local branches all over the country. Now as the US prepares to vote in crucial mid-term elections, political journalist Andrew Neil is off on a whistle-stop tour of the country to find out what is behind it and why it is spreading like wildfire. The Tea Party wants to change America - but their first target is the Republican Party. Urged on by the likes of Fox News' most prominent host, Glenn Beck, and the Tea Party darling Sarah Palin, they are trying to replace established Republican politicians with Tea Party candidates. But as Andrew Neil discovers, their real target is the man in the White House. They believe Obama is an out-and-out socialist and the Federal Government well on the way to what they see as tyranny. This extraordinary eruption of anger is certainly changing the face of America.
Documentary. Doctor Shershah Syed is a man with a mission - a famous surgeon from Karachi who has spent his life caring for vulnerable women in Pakistan. Now he's caught up in the greatest disaster to hit his country in living memory - the floods. Jane Corbin travels with Doctor Shershah through flood ravaged Sindh province as he performs life-saving operations and delivers medical aid to desperate people.
Film following the agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they track down, arrest and extradite American paedophile sex tourists. In Cambodia, ex-cop Chris Materelli works alongside former Khmer Rouge boy soldier Vansak Suos, investigating Americans who have abused children as young as four, who are sometimes sold by their own parents. Although these agents work under the radar, as in extraordinary rendition, so far eighty-five offenders have been brought back to America to face justice in American courts.
He was once refused entry to Britain. He has called for the Qur'an to be banned and has proposed a tax on wearing headscarves. And he is also the first politician ever to stand trial on charges of 'incitement to hatred'. Geert Wilders, instantly recognisable for his quiff of platinum blond hair, is one of Holland's most controversial and well-known politicians and, some argue, Europe's most dangerous man. Bafta-winning filmmakers Mags Gavan and Joost van der Valk follow Wilders on his campaign trail during the recent Dutch elections, meet members of the international anti-Islamic network who support him, and find out about a conspiracy theory promoting the belief that Europe is being taken over by Islam. With anti-Islamic, anti-immigration parties on the rise all over the European continent, why has Wilders, on the brink of real power in the Netherlands, become the poster boy for the far right?
Nicolas Sarkozy is a different kind of French President; he's populist, flamboyant, some critics even say vulgar. He came to office on a wave of popular support, and his marriage to supermodel Carla Bruni catapulted both of them to global celebrity. But four years on many of the bold reforms Sarkozy promised have ground to a halt, his poll ratings have taken a battering, and France has seen the worst riots in a generation. Emily Maitlis travels to Paris to find out why the French have fallen out of love with the man they nicknamed "President Bling-Bling".
After confronting death 800 meters under the Chilean desert, the 33 trapped miners were then thrust into the glare of the international media's spotlight. Invitations have flooded in from around the world for guest appearances on TV shows, at charity events, even from Sir Bobby Charlton. This film is a vivid and moving account of how three of the miners have coped with the whirlwind of fame, including charismatic Edison Pena who became known around the world as the underground runner and Elvis impersonator. They may now be the toast of the world, but many of the miners are suffering from the anxieties that come with recurring nightmares, and some from psychological issues and addiction - all of which have an inevitable impact on their wives and families. This is the story of how these ordinary working men and their families are struggling with the pressure of sudden fame and wealth, while still coming to terms with the trauma of those 70 days.
How a crisis on a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean is changing the face of immigration in Europe. This spring, in the wake of the uprisings across the Arab world, the Italian island of Lampedusa, just 70 miles from the African coast, has seen the arrival of over 40,000 migrants from Tunisia and Libya. This programme charts how, within weeks, its small migrant reception centre is overflowing, and the island's tourist economy faces meltdown. The islanders openly revolt, blockading the small port and riot in the streets. Local mayor Bernadino de Rubeis makes desperate attempts to keep everyone calm, with limited results. Only the arrival of beleaguered president Silvio Berlusconi seems to solve the problem, but his solutions are short-lived - weeks later, thousands more Libyans are arriving seeking asylum, prompting panic in Brussels, the closing of European borders and the possible collapse of the EU's celebrated Schengen Agreement.
The Camorra, the Naples mafia, is Italy's bloodiest organised crime syndicate. It has killed thousands and despite suffering many setbacks is as strong as ever. It is into drug trafficking, racketeering, business, politics, toxic waste and even the garbage disposal industry. Naples's waste crisis was in part blamed on the crime syndicate. Its grip on the city is far reaching. Talking to Camorra insiders who have never spoken to the media before, Mark Franchetti investigates Italy's deadliest mafia.
In Thailand a charismatic woman leader has just won a general election promising justice for the victims of army violence. Last year more than ninety people were killed in bloody clashes between demonstrators and the army in central Bangkok. Award-winning correspondent Fergal Keane investigates the struggle of victims' families as they seek the truth about what happened to their loved ones. He explores claims of cover-up and impunity for the powerful.
Spain is reeling from an avalanche of allegations of baby theft and baby trafficking. It is thought that the trade began at the end of the Spanish civil war and continued for 50 years, with hundreds of thousands of babies traded by nuns, priests and doctors up to the 1990s. This World reveals the impact of Spain's stolen baby scandal through the eyes of the children and parents who were separated at birth, and who are now desperate to find their relatives. Exhumations of the supposed graves of babies and positive DNA tests are proof that baby theft has happened. Across Spain, people are queuing up to take a DNA test and thousands of Spaniards are asking 'Who am I?' Katya Adler has been meeting the heartbroken mothers who are searching for the children whom they were told died at birth, as well as the stolen and trafficked babies who are now grown up and searching for their biological relatives and their true identities.
When South Sudan became independent this summer, it brought the return of many who had fled the long civil war. Among them were some of the 'Lost Boys' - the name given to more than 20,000 child refugees, some as young as seven, who walked more than a thousand miles to refugee camps in Ethiopia. More than half fell victim to war, disease and starvation along the way. Many of the survivors were recruited as child soldiers in the rebel army; others were exiled abroad. Now some of the Lost Boys are coming home. For some it's a chance to trace lost relatives and come to terms with childhood trauma, for others an opportunity to help build the new nation and their own careers.
In February 2011, millions of Egyptians came together to bring down President Hosni Mubarak in what became the defining moment of the Arab Spring. For the past year Children of the Revolution has followed three young revolutionaries as their differing visions for the new Egypt have begun to collide. Ahmed Hassan hoped a new Egypt would mean finding work. Socialist activist Gigi Ibrahim's desire was for an Egypt that would respect freedom for all. Tahir Yasin, tortured in Mubarak's jails, joined a new ultra-conservative party hoping to realise his vision of Egypt as an Islamic state. Children of the Revolution goes into homes, markets and mosques, witnessing families at war and personal dreams of revolution unravel.
When a tsunami struck Japan in 2011, it swamped the Fukushima nuclear complex causing nuclear meltdown and releasing radiation that ultimately would leave hundreds of square miles uninhabitable, and cost a hundred thousand people their homes. With unique footage and powerful eyewitness testimony from key figures in the drama - the engineers in the plant, firemen, soldiers, pilots, tsunami survivors, the Japanese prime minister and even the MD of the company operating the plant - Inside the Meltdown reveals what really happened in the extraordinary days after the tsunami as a disaster unfolded that Japan's nuclear industry said would never happen. It tells the story of workers inside the plant's pitch-dark, radio-active reactor buildings desperately trying to stop reactors exploding as radiation levels rose inexorably. 'In the control room people were saying we were finished,' says one. 'They were saying it quietly but they were saying it.' It meets the helicopter pilots who desperately dropped water from above the radioactive cores, and the firemen who braved radiation to spray water onto melting nuclear fuel. 'We chose all the over 40s', their chief tells the programme. 'These were the guys who were not going to be having any more children.' Inside the Meltdown also reveals the tensions between the plant's owners and an increasingly distrustful Japanese prime minister, struggling to get at the truth of what was happening, fearful the owners planned to abandon the plant. He reveals his experts at one point warned he might need to evacuate vast areas of Japan, even the capital Tokyo. 'That first week, we walked a razor thin line,' he tells This World.
This World tells the story of White Horse Village, a tiny farming community deep in rural China. A decade ago, it became part of the biggest urbanisation project in human history, as the Chinese government decided to take half a billion farmers and turn them into city-dwelling consumers. It is a project with a speed and scale unimaginable anywhere else on Earth. In just ten years, the Chinese Government plan to build thousands of new cities, a new road network to rival that of the USA and 300 of the world's biggest dams. Carrie Gracie follows the lives of three local people during this upheaval, filmed over the past six years.
Every Saturday night in China, millions gather around their televisions to watch Interviews Before Execution, an extraordinary talk show which interviews prisoners on death row. In the weeks, days or even minutes before they are executed, presenter Ding Yu goes into prisons and talks to those condemned to die. Combining clips from the TV show, never-before-seen footage of China's death row and interviews with a local judge who openly questions the future of the death penalty in China, This World reveals a part of China that is generally hidden from from view.
John Sweeney investigates the beliefs of Mitt Romney, the man most likely to take on Barack Obama later this year, and asks whether America is ready for a Mormon president. Sweeney travels to Utah to examine the appeal of the world's fastest growing religion. He meets the stars of its expensive ad campaign 'I'm a Mormon', who tell him of their dedication to family and charity. He meets polygamists, followers of an old Mormon tradition the official Church has turned its back on, he talks to missionaries who recruit people around the world just like Mitt Romney in the sixties, finds ex-members who claim they are cut off from their families and accuse Mormonism of being a cult, and he explores the faith with a Mormon apostle.
This World tells the inside story of the 2011 massacre in Norway, offering new insights into the life and mind of the perpetrator Anders Breivik, and exposing the hidden hatreds that inspired him. Through interviews with key players, including the Norwegian prime minister, survivors, the commander of the police response and the head of the Delta Force team that arrested Breivik, and including unique footage and unseen archive, the film pieces together, minute by minute, the course of the attacks and the response of the security services.
Decades of clerical abuse and cover up have left the Catholic church in Ireland at breaking point. Now Darragh MacIntyre reveals new evidence of a scandal that goes to the very top of the Irish church.
Self-confessed Eurosceptic Michael Portillo visits debt-stricken Greece. He believes that the euro crisis must have shaken the Greeks' faith in Europe's single currency and wonders if there'll be a desire to revert to the free-floating drachma. In Athens he meets everyone from a destitute young family to the former finance minister and the outgoing Prime Minister, and is surprised by some of their answers. Meanwhile in Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, Michael encounters the taxpayers who are paying most towards Greece's mammoth financial bailout while having to watch angry Athenians burning the German flag. With tensions rising in the Eurozone, is this the moment it becomes more united, or will it be pulled apart?
Documentary which captures the moment when the Nobel Prize-winning dissident Aung San Suu Kyi took the huge, risky step into everyday politics in Burma. This tells Suu Kyi's extraordinary personal and political story, how she turned from Oxford housewife into national leader and then international icon of resistance.
Andrew Marr looks back at Barack Obama's first term in office. When Obama stood before a crowd of nearly two million people, preparing to take the oath of office, it was a moment that many never believed they would see: the inauguration of a black American president. Now, through informal and candid interviews with some of Obama's own White House staff and those who have worked closely with him, Andrew Marr assesses how far this presidency has lived up to the huge expectations. Administration insiders like Austan Goolsbee, the economics professor who advised Obama through the worst economic crisis since the great depression, and Former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs PJ Crowley recount the stories behind the moments that have defined a tumultuous presidency, revealing how this extraordinary orator who entered the White House with a flourish of bold idealism and grand promises to change the ways of Washington has ultimately been replaced by a very different man.
Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to Cuba to find a communist country in the middle of a capitalist revolution. Two years ago Cuba announced the most sweeping and radical economic reforms the country has seen in decades. From ending state rationing to cutting one million public-sector jobs, one of the last communist bastions in the world has begun rolling back the state on an unprecedented scale. Simon Reeve meets ordinary Cubans whose lives are being transformed, from the owners of fledgling businesses to the newly rich estate agents selling properties worth up to 750,000 pounds. In this hour-long documentary for the BBC's award-winning This World strand, Simon gets under the skin of a colourful and vibrant country famous for its hospitality and humour and asks if this new economic openness could lead to political liberalisation in a totalitarian country with a poor human rights record. Will Cuba be able to maintain the positive aspects of its long isolation under socialism - low crime, top-notch education and one of the best health systems in the world - while embracing what certainly looks like capitalism? Is this the last chance to see Cuba before it becomes just like any other country?
Paul Mason travels to Spain to investigate how this once thriving economy has become the latest casualty of the Eurozone crisis. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have all received massive bailouts with strict conditions. But Spain is different. One of the largest economies in the world, for nearly twenty years "cool Espana" meant cutting edge architecture, the world's best restaurants and the magic of Barcelona Football Club. Spain was a European success story. For BBC Two's award-winning strand This World, Mason reveals how the transition to democracy after Franco's dictatorship created a financial and political system that left the country vulnerable to catastrophe when the world economic crisis struck in 2008. One of the keenest advocates of the European single currency, Spain is now the biggest victim of the Eurozone crash with youth unemployment running at more than 50%. Interviewing key players, including former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez and European commissioner Joaquin Almunia, Mason reveals how Spain's extraordinary credit and construction boom has collapsed, leaving millions facing poverty and the politicians still bickering about a massive potential bail out.
In the United States, child poverty has reached record levels, with over 16 million children now affected. Food banks are facing unprecedented demand, and homeless shelters now have long waiting lists, as families who have known a much better life sometimes have to leave their homes with just a few days notice. This World asks three children whose families are struggling to get by to explain what life in modern America really looks like through their eyes. Told from the point of view of the children themselves, this one-hour documentary offers a unique perspective on the nation's flagging economy and the impact of unemployment, foreclosure and financial distress as seen through the eyes of the children affected.
Dan Snow travels to Syria to see how the country's fascinating and tumultuous history is shaping the current civil war. For thousands of years, empires and despots have fought for control of the strategically vital region, leaving behind stunning temples, castles and mosques, as well as a diverse cultural heritage. Those conflicts - from the Roman conquests to the crusades, from the French colonial invasion to the military coups of the 1960s - loom large in today's conflict. For those confused by the seemingly random nature of the bloodshed and slaughter, Dan Snow unpicks the historic divisions between Sunnis and Alawites, Islamists and secularists, east and west.
Ten years after the invasion of Iraq, retired headteacher, Geoff Dunsmore, travels to Basra to follow in the footsteps of his son Chris, an RAF reservist who was killed there in 2007. Geoff has never believed for a second that Chris died in vain, saying that his son believed in what he was doing and believed in why he was going to Iraq. Now, Geoff is going to see exactly where his son was killed and find out the impact of the war and occupation on the lives of the ordinary people of Basra. Has the western involvement in Iraq improved things for ordinary Iraqi people? Accompanied by local guide, Mazin Altayar, Geoff hears firsthand what life was like for Iraqis under the dictator Saddam Hussein. He visits a rundown primary school that British troops tried to help during the occupation and hears from a man who claims 12 of his family were killed when American soldiers opened fire on his vehicles. For the most part, with the country still suffering from terrorist violence, the repercussions of the conflict have been devastating and long lasting. Yet on the streets of Basra Geoff also meets a group of young people who have grown up knowing nothing but war but believe that they can build a different future in Iraq today.
In August 2012, 34 miners were shot dead by police as they protested outside a mine in Marikana, just outside Johannesburg. Nearly 50 years after he left South Africa as a teenager, Peter Hain MP returns to ask how the country of his childhood, once such a beacon of hope, is now the scene of such tragedy. In this documentary for the BBC's award-winning This World strand, Hain speaks to the families of some of the men killed at Marikana and uncovers a day of shocking brutality with many disturbing allegations. With unprecedented access to Lonmin, the company at the centre of the tragedy, he visits the mine and talks to the CEO. But what led the South African ruling party, always the champions of black people and their rights, to turn their guns on some of the poorest of their own people with dreadful echo's of the apartheid era? Hain meets legends of the ANC struggle, talking to Ahmed Kathrada and Ronnie Kasrils about whether the moral legacy of Nelson Mandela has been betrayed. Finally Hain meets President Jacob Zuma to put to him the allegations of corruption, cronyism and brutality against their own people.
Italy's most powerful organised crime group is no longer Sicily's Cosa Nostra but the 'Ndrangheta', a shadowy Mafia from the southern region of Calabria. With unique access to the extraordinary underground bunkers the gangsters use for hiding out and to the hi-tech war being fought by the Italian authorities against this murderous criminal brotherhood, author and mafia historian John Dickie uncovers the truth about Europe's biggest cocaine traffickers. This is a world of special forces, spy planes and super grasses, as well as a culture of fear and silence where people simply do not trust the Italian state to defeat the Mafiosi.
Anita Rani travels to Mumbai to investigate the obesity epidemic engulfing India's growing middle class. She meets some of India's overweight teenagers who can't stop bingeing on western fast foods, including 13-year-old Kaleb who weighs more than 15 stone. She visits the clinics at the centre of a booming industry in weight loss surgery. Regulation of the fast food industry is much looser than in Western countries and wealthy Indians are susceptible to the lure of advertising and the promise of a western lifestyle. What is more, Indians are more genetically disposed to obesity and to the diabetes that all too often accompanies it. And now that the international fast-food chains and their Indian imitators are opening up branches beyond the big cities in India, the obesity problem is set to explode into a national pandemic
In November last year the American state of Colorado voted to legalise the recreational use of cannabis. It is the most radical experiment in drugs policy for generations and the world will be looking to see what happens, particularly to drug use amongst teenagers. In this hour long documentary for This World, clinical psychologist and addiction expert Professor John Marsden heads to Denver, the state capital, to assess the likely impact of legalisation on a country already suffering an epidemic of teenage marijuana use. At a local high school, John hears from A grade students who explain that getting stoned is now more socially acceptable than getting drunk. At an addiction clinic that treats children as young as 12, John hears how marijuana is already the number one reason for kids to enter residential programmes more than alcohol, cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs combined. With rates of teenage cannabis use in the USA the highest that they have been in years, it is widely acknowledged the war on drugs has failed. However the question is, will full legalisation manage to take the selling of the drug out of the hands of the street dealers and into the hands of the legitimate business people and be the answer to stopping America's kids from getting stoned?
British survivors of January 2013's terrorist attack on a gas plant in Algeria tell their dramatic and harrowing stories. Thirty nine people died and dozens of foreign workers were taken hostage after al Qaeda terrorists stormed the sprawling facility in the Sahara desert and the Algerian army responded with overwhelming force. For the first time survivors tell the inside story of their miraculous escape playing cat and mouse with their captors, being forced to wear a necklace of explosives and coming under fire from Algerian army helicopter gunships. BBC2's award winning This World strand asks why it was seemingly so easy for the terrorists to enter the plant and why the Algerians reacted in the way they did.
Dan Snow goes on an adventure across one of the wildest countries in the world. He reveals how its history of slavery, colonialism, corruption and war has turned what should be one of the richest countries in the world into one of the poorest. He discovers how the country’s natural resources helped make Britain rich through the centuries and win two world wars and also takes us on a trip to a gold mine in eastern Congo.
In a world where people panic about the rising global population, Japan is facing a very different future which could see their population shrink by a third in just 40 years. One reason is that the Japanese are not having enough babies and the causes of that form the basis of Anita Rani's intriguing journey. Part of a season of programmes on population for This World, No Sex Please, We're Japanese explores Otaku culture - the world of nerds and geeks obsessed with computer games and Manga cartoons - which has led to a withdrawal of many Japanese men from the whole dating game. Anita meets two men in their late thirties who have in depth relationships with virtual teenage girlfriends as part of a role playing game: 'I think twice about going out with a 3D woman', says one. The Japanese have far less sex than other nations and Anita also meets the women who struggle to work and have children in a society still dominated by traditional gender roles. Added to this, Japan also has the oldest population in the world, 25% are over 65 and 50,000 over a hundred years old. Anita visits a group of pensioners cheerleaders and a prison with a wing especially designed for pensioners. Too few young people to pay tax, too many old people needing support - it has all led to a debt problem worse than that of Greece and an uncertain future for a country that still is the third largest economy in the world.
The head nurse in Manila's busiest maternity ward estimates that she has delivered 200,000 babies during her career. On a busy day, a hundred babies are born at the Jose Fabella hospital and women in labour lie four or five to a bed. Anita Rani travels to the crazy crowded capital of the Philippines, to see how the countries of the developing world are facing a future with a rapidly growing population by following the lives of three different women. Rosalyn, whose seventh child will have to survive on less than a pound a day; Rose, a middle-class mum who can afford the best care in the world; and Junalyn, on a journey out of the slums to a better life. Amid the drama of new life Anita finds a story of economic growth and hope in Manila. Across the developing world birth rates have plummeted, life expectancy has increased and young vibrant workforces are beginning to compete with the established economies of the West.
Using state-of-the-art 3D graphics and the timing of a stand-up comedian, world-famous statistician Professor Hans Rosling presents a spectacular portrait of our rapidly changing world. With seven billion people already on our planet, we often look to the future with dread, but Rosling's message is surprisingly upbeat. Almost unnoticed, we have actually begun to conquer the problems of rapid population growth and extreme poverty. Across the world, even in countries like Bangladesh, families of just two children are now the norm - meaning that within a few generations, the population explosion will be over. A smaller proportion of people now live in extreme poverty than ever before in human history and the United Nations has set a target of eradicating it altogether within a few decades. In this as-live studio event, Rosling presents a statistical tour-de-force, including his 'ignorance survey', which demonstrates how British university graduates would be outperformed by chimpanzees in a test of knowledge about developing countries.
Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to east Africa to uncover the stories behind the nation's favourite drink. While we drink millions of cups of the stuff each day, how many of us know where our tea actually comes from? The surprising answer is that most of the leaves that go into our everyday teabags do not come from India or China but are bought from an auction in the coastal city of Mombasa in Kenya. From here, Simon follows the tea trail through the epic landscapes of Kenya and Uganda and meets some of the millions of people who pick, pack and transport our tea. Drinking tea with the everyone from Masai cattle herders to the descendants of the original white tea planters, Simon learns that the industry that supplies our everyday cuppa is not immune to the troubles of the continent - poverty, low wages and child labour.
Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to Vietnam to uncover the stories behind the nation's morning pick-me-up. While we drink millions of cups of the stuff each week, how many of us know where our coffee actually comes from? The surprising answer is that it is not Brazil, Columbia or Jamaica, but Vietnam. Eighty per cent of the coffee we drink in Britain isn't posh cappuccinos or lattes but instant coffee and Vietnam is the biggest supplier. From Hanoi in the north, Simon follows the coffee trail into the remote central highlands where he meets the people who grow, pick and pack our coffee. Millions of small scale famers, each working two or three acres, produce most of the coffee beans that go into well known instant coffee brands. Thirty years ago Vietnam only produced a tiny proportion of the world's coffee, but after the end of the Vietnam war there was a widescale plan to become a coffee growing nation and Vietnam is now the second biggest in the world. It has provided employment for millions, making some very rich indeed, and Simon meets Vietnam's biggest coffee billionaire. But Simon learns that their rapid success has come at a cost to both the local people and the environment.
China has the second largest economy in the world and has been growing at an astonishing rate for the past 30 years. In a documentary for the This World strand, the BBC's new economics editor Robert Peston reveals that the vast majority of the enormous investments in industry and infrastructure has been built on credit, leaving huge debts and questions over how much of the money can ever be paid back.
As Brazil prepares to host the World Cup, Copacabana Palace follows the lives of the staff and guests at one of Latin America's most iconic hotels.
In Britain we give thousands of tons of our unwanted clothes to charity shops every year. But where do they actually go? It turns out most don't ever reach the rail of the local charity shop; they are exported to Africa. And even though we have given them away for free, our castoffs have created a multi-million pound industry and some of the world's poorest people pay good money to buy them. In this revealing film for BBC Two's This World, Ade Adepitan tells the fascinating story of the afterlife of our clothes. He follows the trail to Ghana, the biggest importer of our castoffs. One million pounds' worth of our old clothes arrive here every week. Ade meets the people who making a living from our old castoffs, from wholesalers and markets traders to the importers raking in a staggering £25,000 a day. But not everyone is profiting. With cheaply made western clothes flooding the market, the local textile industry has been decimated. Ade visits one of the last remaining cloth factories and finds it on its knees. And the deluge of our clothes isn't just destroying jobs, it has also had a seismic effect on Ghanaian culture. Western outfits are fast replacing iconic West African prints and traditional garb. Ade travels to remote villages to finds everyone wearing British high street brands.
In April 2013, 18-year-old Shirin became one of thousands of people trapped inside the Rana Plaza building when it collapsed in the worst industrial disaster in the 21st century. In this moving documentary for BBC Two's This World, Shirin and some of the other survivors tell their remarkable story of survival and escape. Many were rescued by ordinary local people who risked their own lives crawling into the rubble to save them. But Clothes To Die For also reveals the incredible growth of the Bangladeshi garment industry and the greed and high level corruption that led to the Rana Plaza tragedy. This tiny country has become the second largest producer of clothes in the world after China, transforming the country and providing employment for millions of people, most of them young women. As the personal stories of survivors reveal, in Bangladesh even a wage as low as £1.50 a day can be completely life-changing and many don't want that opportunity taken away. Producing goods for several British and European high street stores, the tragedy at the Rana Plaza sent shock waves around the world about the safety of the Bangladesh garment industry. As one local factory owner said 'At the end of the day if the retailers want more compliant factories they have to pay us more. Get the retailers together and make sure they pay us five cents more. Not even ten, we don't even want ten cents, we want five, we're happy with five cents on each garment'.
In 2013 the movie Philomena was shown in cinemas across the world and earned four Oscar nominations. The film was based on the true story of Philomena Lee, who was forced by the Catholic Church to give up her illegitimate son for adoption, and detailed her journey with journalist Martin Sixsmith to find her child 50 years later. In the weeks and months after the film went out, Martin was contacted by other mothers who had their own stories to tell. Now, Martin Sixsmith goes on a journey to investigate the Irish Catholic Church's role in an adoption trade which saw thousands of illegitimate children taken from their mothers and sent abroad, often with donations to the Church flowing in the other direction. In Ireland and in America, Martin hears the moving stories of the parents and children whose lives were changed forever and discovers evidence that prospective parents were not properly vetted - sometimes with tragic consequences.
In America, thousands of prisoners are locked up in solitary confinement for years, even decades. With unique access to the punishment wing of a supermax prison, award-winning director Dan Edge paints a shocking picture of this hidden and often violent world. Filmed over six months in Maine State Prison, this film follows the institution's new warden as he tries to reform the system and release some of the prison's most dangerous inmates back into the general population. Unsurprisingly, some of his staff are nervous and resistant to the reforms and he faces a prison culture which has always emphasised punishment over rehabilitation. The film also features younger inmates, inside for less serious crimes, who are driven to shocking self-harm and even suicide by the mental stress of being locked up alone for 24 hours a day.
In 2013, four gunmen walked into a crowded shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya and set about systematically murdering shoppers. The entire attack was recorded by more than 100 security cameras. Drawing on the thousands of hours of footage, this is the chilling and dramatic account of a terrorist attack that shocked the world. Featuring moving interviews with the men, women and children who came face-to-face with the terrorists and survived, such as Amber Prior. She had already been shot in the hip - and her two young children had witnessed people killed around them - when she made a remarkable decision to confront a gunman. As well as documenting the brutality of the gunmen from the Somalian group al Shabaab, who killed 67 people, the film charts the extraordinary bravery of the plainclothes police officers and civilians who risked their lives to rescue trapped shoppers.
Twenty years on from the Rwandan genocide, This World reveals evidence that challenges the accepted story of one of the most horrifying events of the late 20th century. The current president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has long been portrayed as the man who brought an end to the killing and rescued his country from oblivion. Now there are increasing questions about the role of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front forces in the dark days of 1994 and in the 20 years since. The film investigates evidence of Kagame's role in the shooting down of the presidential plane that sparked the killings in 1994 and questions his claims to have ended the genocide. It also examines claims of war crimes committed by Kagame's forces and their allies in the wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo and allegations of human rights abuses in today's Rwanda. Former close associates from within Kagame's inner circle and government speak out from hiding abroad. They present a very different portrait of a man who is often hailed as presiding over a model African state. Rwanda's economic miracle and apparent ethnic harmony has led to the country being one of the biggest recipients of aid from the UK. Former prime minister Tony Blair is an unpaid adviser to Kagame, but some now question the closeness of Mr Blair and other western leaders to Rwanda's president.
When Adam Lanza entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and murdered 20 small children, many believed it was a tragedy that would change America's attitude to gun violence forever. Filmed by award-winning director Jezza Neumann, Surviving Sandy Hook follows three families involved in the shooting over two years as they try to make sense of the tragedy, comprehend America's complex relationship with guns and violence, and find a way to move on and rebuild their lives. Gilles Rousseau, whose daughter Lauren was a teacher murdered in the attack, has found his campaign for moderate reform met with implacable resistance from America's gun lobby. Scarlett Lewis, whose six-year-old son Jessie was killed, believes that the malaise in American society goes deeper than gun control and has begun a crusade to get a message of hope to some of the country's most deprived and violent fringes. This a deeply moving film about grief, hope, love and guns.
The arrest of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'el Chapo' Guzman in February 2014 was hailed as a victory in America's war on drugs, but the truth behind the capture could be just another murky chapter in the scandal-ridden history of US involvement in Latin America and the Mexican drug wars. BBC2's award-winning This World strand investigates the American authorities' relationship with the biggest and most powerful criminal organisation in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel, a multi-billion dollar international corporation with franchises in 58 countries. Despite its leader's arrest, the cartel is still enjoying extraordinary success, and this programme examines allegations that the group has been given an easy ride in return for informing on other cartels. High-level informants, immunity deals, government-sanctioned gun trafficking and a mysterious go-between charged with carrying messages between the DEA and the cartel: a picture emerges of a dirty war being fought with little regard to the thousands of victims of the violent conflict being fought for control of Mexico's drug-smuggling routes to America.
For years we have looked on in envy at a French way of life that combined high living standards, generous welfare benefits and superb public transport. But now Robert Peston investigates how economic stagnation is threatening the treasured 'social model', and how a potential political earthquake could undermine the very fabric of the European Union itself. In the wake of the great economic crash of 2008, as other countries embarked on financial belt-tightening, the French shunned austerity and eventually voted in a left-wing president who instead promised tax rises and a continuation of the high public spending the country was accustomed to. Now even Francois Hollande has had to perform a U-turn and is promising reforms. This in turn has led to a surge in support for the right-wing politics of Marine Le Pen and the Front National, with their ferociously anti-European agenda. Like left-wing anti-austerity movements in Greece and Spain, Le Pen promises to shield the French from the rigours of global competition. 'There is no more left and right. There are nationalists and globalists. That's the big demarcation line that determines the fate of the world today.' As the Front National achieves ever more electoral gains and Le Pen has a realistic run at the presidency of France, the consequences for the rest of Europe, including Britain, could be enormous.
More than sixty young British women have travelled to join the so-called Islamic State in Syria, lured by a combination of slick marketing, social media and religious fervour. With access to the friends and family of the some of the girls, Britain's Jihadi Brides reveals how the sophisticated recruiting tactics of IS have shattered so many lives.
Christianity is facing the greatest threat to its existence in the very place where it was born. Jane Corbin travels across the Middle East to some of the holiest places in Christendom and finds that hundreds of thousands of Christians are fleeing Islamic extremists, conflict and persecution. From the Nineveh plains in Iraq to the ancient city of Maaloula in Syria, Kill the Christians reveals the story of how the religion that shaped Western culture and history is in danger of disappearing in large parts of its ancient heartland.
The inside story of how a small band of fanatical jihadi fighters became the world's richest terror army ever. Featuring the first major TV interview with an imprisoned senior leader of the so-called Islamic State, Peter Taylor looks behind its medieval savagery and investigates how it became so fabulously rich and resilient. Part of a season of films on BBC Two about the Islamic State.
The inside story of how and why the worst Ebola outbreak in history wasn't stopped before it was too late. Award-winning filmmaker Dan Edge traces the roots of the outbreak back to the jungles of Guinea and tracks down key witnesses and survivors responsible for its spread across West Africa. They include the father of 'Patient Zero', the child who was believed to be the first person to die in the outbreak, as well as a young woman considered to be among the first to bring Ebola across the border from Guinea to Sierra Leone. The film includes revelatory interviews and candid admissions of failure from key government officials and those responsible for the woeful international response to the disaster. From the jungles of Guinea to the slums of Monrovia, the film exposes tragic missteps in the response to the epidemic. It's a real-life disaster movie that sounds a warning: the world is not safe from future epidemics.
When an elite team of American special forces stormed a compound in Pakistan and killed the world's most wanted terror target it was the high point of Barack Obama's presidency. But as more and more information emerges, the doubts about the official account of Osama Bin Laden's death have been raised - to the point where veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has now alleged that the whole story was fabricated. For the BBC's award winning This World strand, Jane Corbin examines the evidence for this supposed conspiracy and uses a treasure trove of newly released documents to reconstruct Bin Laden's life in his secret compound.
The legendary statistical showman Professor Hans Rosling returns with a feast of facts and figures as he examines the extraordinary target the world commits to this week - to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide. In the week the United Nations presents its new goals for global development, Don't Panic - How to End Poverty in 15 Years looks at the number one goal for the world: eradicating, for the first time in human history, what is called extreme poverty - the condition of almost a billion people, currently measured as those living on less than $1.25 a day. Rosling uses holographic projection technology to wield his iconic bubble graphs and income mountains to present an upbeat assessment of our ability to achieve that goal by 2030. Eye-opening, funny and data-packed performances make Rosling one of the world's most sought-after and influential speakers. He brings to life the global challenge, interweaving powerful statistics with dramatic human stories from Africa and Asia. In Malawi, the rains have failed as Dunstar and Jenet harvest their maize. How many hunger months will they face when it runs out? In Cambodia, Srey Mao is about to give birth to twins but one is upside-down. She's had to borrow money to pay the medical bills. Might this happy event throw her family back into extreme poverty? The data show that recent global progress is "the greatest story of our time - possibly the greatest story in all of human history". Hans concludes by showing why eradicating extreme poverty quickly will be easier than slowly. Don't Panic - How To End Poverty In 15 Years follows Rosling's previous award-winning BBC productions Don't Panic - The Truth About Population and The Joy Of Stats. Wingspan Productions for BBC produced in partnership with The Open University.
In November 2015, when gunmen attacked Paris, France declared war on the Islamic State. But that war - and France's 'year of terror' - began a year ago with the attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. With unprecedented access to the French authorities and previously unseen footage, five-time Bafta-winning director Dan Reed reveals the untold story of the massacre and of the first Islamic State strike in Paris at a kosher grocery store. Key witnesses, police officers and survivors - many speaking for the first time - piece together the dramatic attacks and the unprecedented manhunt that gripped the world for three extraordinary and terrifying days.
Following the crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s involvement in Syria, the world is closer to super power confrontation than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Now a committee of senior former British military and diplomatic figures comes together to war game a hypothetical ‘hot war’ in Eastern Europe, including the unthinkable - nuclear confrontation.
Robert Preston presents a show exploring China's dramatic economic slowdown and the impact that it could have on Britain.
Reggie Yates investigates the reality behind the global super rich's insatiable appetite for luxury goods. Top of the list is animals, but how much is known about where exotic skins and furs come from? And what is the real cost? To find out, Reggie visits Siberia in search of the world's most expensive fur. In Australia, he discovers the reality behind croc farming, and in Indonesia he searches for the pythons that end up as bags and phone cases. As the fashion for animal products trickles down to the high street, is it sustainable?
The BBC's award-winning This World strand goes inside the world of Romania's super-rich Gypsy popstars - a world of fast cars, lavish houses and gangsters. The Roma community is one of the most marginalised and impoverished in Europe and for years their traditional music has been their most famous export. Now a new type of Gypsy sound called Manele has swept across the country. Manele stars can earn 20,000 euros a night at opulent weddings, with cash showered over them by guests. Their videos can get millions of hits on YouTube. But Manele is controversial - some of its lyrics glorify gangsterism and some of its biggest fans are notorious underworld figures. Filmmaker Liviu Tipurita takes us into the heart of this extraordinary world.
America's college fraternities are notorious for hard drinking and hard partying, but they are also accused of fostering a culture of brutality and sexual assault. During one term at the University of Central Florida, the BBC's award-winning This World programme follows the life of a group of frat boys as they embark on the pledging process, when new recruits have to prove themselves before they can become a fraternity brother. Most kids are joining because fraternities provide access to a powerful network of alumni throughout the US. But each year, students die or are injured in barbaric initiation rituals, known as hazing, and some argue that the way fraternity system is set up allows sexual assaults to occur during drunken campus parties. Research has shown that fraternity men are three times more likely to sexual assault than non-fraternity men.
Film following the murder trial of a white police officer in Portsmouth, Virginia, accused of shooting an unarmed black teenager. On 22 April 2015, Officer Stephen Rankin responded to a report of shoplifting at a Walmart store. Minutes after arriving in the parking lot, he shot and killed William Chapman. After Chapman's death, Rankin was fired from Portsmouth Police Department and charged with first-degree murder. Chapman was just one of 306 black men who were killed by police in the US last year, but just 14 police officers faced any charges - Rankin was one of them. With extraordinary access to the prosecution and defence, as well as Chapman's family and friends and those closest to Officer Rankin, this powerful 90-minute documentary from award-winning filmmaker James Jones forensically follows the drama as the trial unfolds and unpicks Rankin's troubling prior record in the police department. During a summer of increasing tension across America, this film explores the reaction of a divided community to the prosecution of a local police officer. Part of the award-winning This World strand on BBC Two.
Around the world there has been a huge increase in the number of children being referred to gender clinics - boys saying they want to be girls and vice versa. Increasingly, parents are encouraged to adopt a 'gender affirmative' approach - fully supporting their children's change of identity. But is this approach right? In this challenging documentary, BBC Two's award-winning This World strand travels to Canada, where one of the world's leading experts in childhood gender dysphoria (the condition where children are unhappy with their biological sex) lost his job for challenging the new orthodoxy that children know best. Speaking on TV for the first time since his clinic was closed, Dr Kenneth Zucker believes he is a victim of the politicization of transgender issues. The film presents evidence that most children with gender dysphoria eventually overcome the feelings without transitioning and questions the science behind the idea that a boy could somehow be born with a 'female brain' or vice versa. It also features 'Lou' - who was born female and had a double mastectomy as part of transitioning to a man. She now says it is a decision that 'haunts' her and feels that her gender dysphoria should have been treated as a mental health issue. This documentary examines Zucker's methods, but it also includes significant contributions from his critics and supporters of gender affirmation, including transgender activists in Canada and leading medical experts as well as parents with differing experiences of gender dysphoria and gender reassignment.
The European Union faces the biggest challenge in its 60-year history with the rise of populist eurosceptic movements across the continent. As Britain prepares to begin the process of withdrawing from the EU, the BBC's Europe Editor Katya Adler asks whether the Union itself can survive. For BBC Two's award-winning This World strand, Katya Adler travels across the continent, from France, Italy, Hungary to Germany, meeting leading populist politicians who now pose a major threat to the EU establishment. She also meets ordinary voters who feel angry and left behind after years of Eurozone turmoil and the international migrant crisis. The film begins in Sicily, where Katya has full backstage access to the annual political rally of Italy's populist Five Star Movement. Travelling on to Rome she talks with the pro-European reformist Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, in a candid interview. Over the course of the film Katya charts the collision course between these two forces, resulting in Renzi's resignation and a major victory for Five Star. Across the continent - from Italy to France, where the Front National's Marine Le Pen is now in contention for presidency, to Hungary, where the football-loving Prime Minister Viktor Orban is launching his own counter-revolution against Brussels - the film looks at how populist forces are challenging the European Union like never before. Back in Brussels, Katya meets some of the EU's top eurocrats and politicians, including Martin Schulz, the outgoing President of the European Parliament and Guy Verhofstadt, a former Prime Minister of Belgium and the man charged with negotiating Brexit on behalf of the European Parliament. Can this 60 year-old project survive, or will it be swept away by a populist revolution?
At the 2016 European Championships, violent clashes between Russian and English supporters in Marseille put the spotlight on Russian hooliganism. Russian hooligans injured over 100 English supporters, beating two into a coma, and it raised serious concerns ahead of Russia hosting the 2018 World Cup. Filmmaker Alex Stockley von Statzer travels to Russia to experience the country's football fan culture first hand. Featuring footage filmed in Marseille in 2016, rare interviews with members of some of the most feared firms like the Spartak Gladiators and Orel Butchers, and new footage of an organized fight for wannabe recruits, this show uncovers a world where brutal violence has become a mark of honor and a symbol of newly resurgent Russian masculinity. Most Russian hooligans have moved away from the English movement that inspired them in the 70s and 80s. Today they are organized in firms that are teetotal, physically fit and trained in mixed martial arts. Police have enacted new laws promising bans and jail for any fans that cause trouble and are heavily policing stadiums. Alex travels to Oryol to speak to the Orel Butchers who violently attacked English fans in Marseille. We hear one hooligan taking relish in describing a merciless attack by a number of Russians who kicked an England fan in the head - an attack that was also caught on camera. Alex also travels to Rostov, which will host five games at the World Cup, to film an organized fight in the woods. Here he meets with a local firm getting ready to audition for new members. Young men fight in a no-holds-barred brawl against young fighters from another local firm. It's a vicious clash similar to what was witnessed in Marseille and is one of the hundreds of fights that firms arrange all across Russia.
Documentary uncovering the discrimination and persecution of people with albinism in Tanzania and Malawi in East Africa. NHS doctor Oscar Duke, who himself has albinism, embarks on a personal journey to discover what life is like for people who share his condition in these countries. In Tanzania, home to among the highest proportion of people living with albinism in the world, people with albinism are vulnerable not only to bigotry, but also mutilation and murder. Oscar has taken a long time to come to terms with his condition, even hiding it from his wife when they first started dating. Now that they are planning a family, he has become even more interested in albinism and discovered that in East Africa, many live in fear of their lives. Oscar himself struggled with the visual impairment albinism causes, but feels he has never really suffered from serious discrimination. In contrast, the stigma that surrounds people with albinism has been greatly ingrained within some African societies for many generations. In the last ten years alone, there have been a staggering 170 attacks in Tanzania, 70 of which were fatal. This film explores why these terrible crimes are taking place and who is responsible. Oscar meets young people facing the brunt of this discrimination, from a boy whose arm was hacked off to the children placed in a secure camp for people with albinism in Tanzania. Oscar also attempts to challenge the very people responsible for making the lives of people with albinism a living hell. He confronts locals and their superstitions head-on, meeting a traditional 'healer' to understand the sway witchcraft has over African society, and in Malawi, comes face to face with an 'albino hunter' imprisoned for murder.
With the UK terror threat level at “severe”, the drama-documentary episode based on real-life stories focuses from inside the UK’s counter terrorism unit. It tells the incident of an ISIS-inspired terrorist group planning a firearms attack, and follows with the ongoing police investigation. The story follows with Joseph, a young man who, while in prison on drugs charges, is recruited and radicalised by an Islamic extremist. Through drama and interviews, it also reveals how UK agencies are working to keep the public safe from what experts fear is the most likely scenario for a UK next major terror attack
Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to one of the most spectacular countries in the world, Colombia, to explore the country's precarious future.
On 13 February 2017 the North Korean dictator’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam walked into Kuala Lumpur airport to catch a flight to Macau. Two hours later he was dead. He’d been assassinated using one of the most deadly chemical weapons on earth, VX. Within days two women from Vietnam and Indonesia were arrested for his murder, but the CCTV appeared to show several North Korean secret agents orchestrating the events in the airport that day. With brand new accounts from those close to Kim Jong-nam, the award-winning This World strand examines in greater detail the astonishing story of a bitter family feud, secret agents and international arms dealing - lifting the lid on why he was assassinated and how North Korea’s powerful international business network has allowed the brutal Kim family dictatorship to remain in power in North Korea for nearly 70 years.
Filmed deep inside the notorious migrant camp, this film documents the final days of the Calais Jungle as the largest migrant camp in Europe erupted into flames. A year on from the eviction, five-time BAFTA-winning director Dan Reed charts the impossible dilemmas faced by the French police and the dedicated team of British volunteers largely responsible for the creation of the Jungle. The film shows extraordinary footage of hundreds of migrants storming lorries on the approaches to Calais. It captures the scale of the British volunteer aid effort that resulted in a huge influx of donations in the wake of the Syrian refugee crisis. Though an orderly eviction was planned, filmmakers captured the chaos correctly predicted by volunteers as shelters were consumed in vast fires. The film explores the impact that the volunteers had on the course of the camp's growth and underground economy. It also asks whether the eviction has actually made anything better. A year on, there are no more roadblocks and there is no more camp. Instead, there is mass homelessness and hundreds of migrants still playing an endless game of cat-and-mouse with the French police. Part of the award-winning This World strand.
100 years ago, just 67 words on a single sheet of paper lit a fire in the Holy Land, igniting the most intractable conflict of modern times. The Balfour Declaration was the first time the British government endorsed the establishment of 'a national home for the Jewish people' in Palestine. While many Palestinians see it as a betrayal, many Israelis believe it was the foundation stone of modern Israel and the salvation of the Jews. The legacy of the declaration is one that BBC reporter Jane Corbin has watched unfold over the last 30 years - charting the conflict on both sides. But it is also a story that Jane has a personal connection to. One of her own ancestors, Leo Amery, a British politician and Cabinet minister, played a key part in drafting the original declaration and then oversaw Britain's governance of Palestine in the 1920s. Now, on a journey starting in her home village, Jane explores what Leo did and whether the aspirations of The Balfour Declaration - for both sides to live peacefully and prosper together - were doomed to inevitable failure or if there is still hope of a peaceful solution in the Holy Land?
On 14 July 2016, Bradford girl Samia Shahid flew to Pakistan to visit her family. Six days later she was found dead. She was 28 years old. Eight days later, her first husband and father were arrested in connection with her murder. The case was taken up by Bradford MP Naz Shah, who wrote to the prime minister of Pakistan describing the case as an honour killing.
The story of Shiori Ito, the woman who shocked Japan with a public allegation of rape, in a country where sex crimes are rarely discussed.
In February 2018, the 32-year-old daughter of the ruler of Dubai boarded a boat and set sail for India with a plan to start a new life in America. But within days her boat was stormed by Indian commandos - she was captured and presumably returned to Dubai. No one has heard from her since.
When Hugo Chavez stormed to power in Venezuela in 1998 he promised to transform the lives of the poor. He was at the helm of the country with the largest proven oil reserves in the world and set about spending Venezuela's vast oil wealth. Around the world he was hailed as a new hope for socialism by left wing politicians, including Ken Livingstone and then back bench Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn. But now 20 years on, 90 per cent of families in Venezuela say they do not have enough to eat and the United Nations predicts that over five million people will have fled the country by the end of 2019. This film tells the extraordinary story of Chavez's 14-year presidency. A precursor to many of today's populist leaders, Chavez bypassed traditional media and spoke directly to the people through his weekly live TV show. Told by many of those who knew him, it is the story of incredible short-term achievements in health and education, but also of the tragic legacy of his idealism, populism and ruthless pursuit of absolute power. With populist movements increasingly taking power in countries around the world, it is a story that is now more relevant than ever. Part of BBC2's award-wining This World strand.
The extraordinary story of General Qassem Suleimani with first-hand accounts of his secret deals and shifting alliances across Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. For decades one Iranian commander has dominated the brutal struggle for power and influence across the Middle East. This film tells the extraordinary story of General Qassem Suleimani with first-hand accounts of his secret deals and shifting alliances across Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. During the Iraq War, Suleimani smuggled thousands of sophisticated bombs into the country arming the Shia militias who killed hundreds of British and American troops. But just a few years later the western coalition found themselves on the same side as Suleimani as they both fought to defeat the Islamic State. “We saw Suleimani as a very capable charismatic, skilled, professionally competent, diabolically evil human being” says General David Petraeus, who was head of US forces in Iraq. With Suleimani now coming out of shadows and taking centre stage in Iran’s strategic ambitions, this film asks whether he is shaping up for a new conflict with the west in the region. “We can see him as the Darth Vader of contemporary middle eastern politics" says US Diplomat Ryan Crocker.
In 2017, 25-year-old Anna Campbell from Lewes in East Sussex travelled in secret to northern Syria. She was heading for Rojava, the Kurdish territory in the north of the country. In the midst of the civil war in Syria, a fledgling feminist democracy had been established but almost immediately came under threat from the so-called Islamic State. Just eight months after arriving and with no military background, Anna went to the front line to fight with Kurdish YPJ. A month later she was killed by a Turkish air strike.
One year ago this August, tragedy struck in Italy following the collapse of Genoa’s Morandi bridge, resulting in 43 deaths. But with problems connected to the structure identified years prior to the collapse, could this disaster have been prevented? Chief magistrate of the region Francesco Cozzi is determined to uncover the truth. With 74 people currently under investigation in connection to the collapse, this documentary takes a closer look at potential reasons behind the bridge’s failing and the allegations surrounding the privatised motorway operator responsible for its safety. Featuring powerful first-hand survivor testimonies from a foreman who was rescued from a truck suspended 30 metres from the ground and a former footballer who emerged without a scratch following a 40-metre fall. In the last six years, six other bridges have collapsed across Italy. How many other bridges like this are at risk and is the necessary action being taken in order to maintain them?
As vaccine-sceptics are blamed by many for surging measles, what do they really believe? Is their fight even about science? And who is spreading their ideas – and why?
Lelian Chew is a wedding planner to the super-rich in the East Asia. With Asia now home to more billionaires than the USA or Europe, this film goes inside a world of unimaginable wealth and luxury.
The chilling account of the 2018 megafire that swept through northern California, containing moving interviews with the firemen, police and survivors who came face to face with the disaster.
On Easter Sunday 2019, eight men inspired by the Islamic State Group triggered huge suicide bombs in churches and tourist hotels across Sri Lanka, killing more than 270 people. It was one of the worst Islamic terror attacks since 9/11. Jane Corbin talks to survivors and those who came face to face with the killers. Drawing on hours of CCTV footage that track the bombers' every move, the film pieces together how the attacks were carried out and discovers how some of the bombers came from wealthy and respected families. One was even educated and radicalised in the UK. The film investigates how the Sri Lankan government received dozens of warnings in the months and years before the bombings, yet somehow the bombers remained free.
Southern Spain, famous for its beaches and sunshine, has become the main gateway for drugs into Europe. Violent turf wars between drug cartels have caused the government to issue a crackdown. For the last two years, the police have been fighting to take back control.
An intimate and profound portrait of one doctor’s struggle as she fights to save lives at the height of the coronavirus pandemic in one of Italy’s worst-hit cities.
When Aung San Suu Kyi was released after 15 years of house arrest in Myanmar, she was celebrated as an icon of democracy. She had stood up to the country’s military dictatorship and been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ten years on, she is now seen by many as an international pariah, condemned for complicity in brutal atrocities. In this film, those who know Aung reveal how key events have shaped her reputation in the last ten years, from her decision to become a politician in the military-created parliament to her struggle to bring democratic reform and her recent appearance at the International Court of Justice to face allegations of genocides against the Rohingya Muslims. Was Aung San Suu Kyi misunderstood? Did she lack the skills necessary to succeed as a politician? Or has she been the victim of fiendishly complicated circumstances?
Investigation into the initial Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, examining the gulf between what the authorities knew and what was made available to the public. Over the course of 54 days, Chinese officials maintained that the outbreak was under control, with only a few cases linked to a live animal market. However, the infection soon proved to be far more widespread, necessitating stricter lockdown measures.
Through moving and intimate interviews with public health officials and scientists, this film chronicles 54 days in which the United States made crucial decisions about the spread of Covid-19.
Governments around the world are uncovering secret operations to expand China's influence - the work of a little-known branch of the Chinese Communist Party called the United Front Work Department. President Xi has called it his 'magic weapon'. Australia has changed its laws to combat foreign interference, and America says eight out of ten industrial espionage cases now involve China. So what is the United Front doing in the UK? Jane Corbin investigates this powerful but shadowy organisation. Has influence become interference as China bids to become the most powerful nation on earth?
On 23 March 2021, the Ever Given – one of the largest container ships ever built – ploughed into the sandy bank of the Suez Canal, blocking the entire waterway. It stopped all traffic in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world for almost a week, causing a ‘ship jam’ of over 300 vessels, and delaying deliveries of billions of pounds of vital food, fuel, and medical supplies. The disruption to the global supply chain lasted for many months. How did such an advanced ship crash in one of the most closely monitored shipping lanes in the world? How did a team of engineers free the ship in just six days? And who – or what – is to blame?
What happens when the fixer of the world’s problems, the UN, is itself faced with allegations of wrongdoing and corruption? Or when UN staff try to call out their own managers?
In 2021, Champlain Towers South – an apartment building near Miami – collapsed, killing 98 people. This film forensically examines what happened and asks: what went wrong?
The story of what the fossil fuel industry knew about climate change more than four decades ago, as scientists working for Exxon reveal how they sounded the alarm about the effects of fossil fuels.
Even as the science grew more certain, the oil industry continued to block action to tackle climate change in the new millennium.
How the 2010s became another lost decade in the fight against climate change – as the move to natural gas delayed a transition to more renewable sources of energy.
At 15, Shamima Begum left London to join the terror group Islamic State. It made global headlines. She and her two friends became known as the Bethnal Green Girls.
Mobeen Azhar explores the suffocating reality of being a J-pop idol, the influence that Johnny Kitagawa had on the media and exposes the brutal consequences of turning a blind eye.
In 2008, student Martine Vik Magnussen was killed after a night out. The only suspect, the son of a billionaire, fled the UK to Yemen. Reporter Nawal Al-Maghafi is determined to speak to him.
Erdogan becomes mayor of Istanbul, is imprisoned and banned from politics, but fights back and wins the election. Ten years of Erdogan's rule lead to mass protests in Istanbul.
Erdogan faces a military coup and responds with a brutal crackdown on dissent, taking control of the military and judiciary to become the most powerful president of modern Turkey.
In September 2022, a 22-year-old Iranian girl, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody. She had been arrested by Iran’s religious police, accused of not wearing her hijab properly. The authorities said she had died of a heart attack, but rumours spread that she had been beaten on arrest. Citizens took to the streets in their thousands in fury. This is an extraordinary and shocking insight into what has been happening across Iran, revealing a regime under huge pressure and resorting to extreme cruelty to control its citizens.
After three recent fatal shark attacks in Egypt, this film investigates whether pressure from human activity and climate change is altering the behaviour of sharks.
The war in Ukraine has had a huge impact on the eastern European countries that share a border with Russia. On a road trip from Poland, north through the Baltic States, Katya explores the consequences of Putin’s war on the west. She discovers a region still reeling from the legacy of the Soviet Union, where the war in Ukraine has reopened old wounds. But she also meets the people fighting back against the new threat in any way they can – from those travelling to Ukraine to fight on the front line, to the people making armoured ambulances in their garages.
Continuing her journey north along Russia’s border, Katya travels from Estonia into snowy Scandinavia. In Finland, a country scarred by past war with Russia, she discovers a state of hyper-preparedness as she travels deep into the bunkers beneath Helsinki. In Norway, she finds a more relaxed attitude, but one where personal relationships are breaking down in all sorts of ways – between reindeer herders, families and nuclear scientists.
Nine years ago, a group of students were attacked on their way to a protest in Mexico City. Forty three young men were forced off passenger buses, never to be seen again. Federal investigators blamed corrupt municipal police working with the local drug cartel. With the aid of testimony by survivors and families of the abductees, this film takes a closer look at the case.
The second part of the documentary looks at what happened in the years after the disappearance of 43 students in Iguala, Mexico. As the parents of the missing continued to search for their sons, renewed hope emerged in 2018 with a new government and the appointment of special prosecutor Omar Gomez Trejo, who spearheaded a fresh investigation into the disappearances.
With the Doomsday Clock the closest it's ever been to midnight, Jane Corbin investigates the proliferation of nuclear weapons across the globe and the breakdown of systems of constraint.
Ten years after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and its 239 passengers and crew vanished, can new evidence help locate the plane and finally solve aviation’s greatest mystery?
On 2 June 2023, a triple train crash killed nearly 300 people and injured more than 800 in India’s eastern Odisha state. This film examines what went wrong and explores the causes of train disasters.
MV Dali, a huge container ship, crashes into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, tragically killing six people and completely destroying the bridge. Investigators reveal how it happened.
A 12 year old boy is sold by his mother for £25 to a fisherman in Ghana. The boy will spend his childhood diving to disentangle nets in the murky waters of Lake Volta. In Saudi Arabia, a six year old boy who has been trafficked into the country from Yemen, in order to beg on the streets for a gang master, is picked up by the Saudi authorities and deported. Meanwhile in Cambodia, a 17 year old girl recalls her horrific life as a sex slave, sold to a brothel aged 12. These are just three of the lives encountered in this special documentary looking at the extraordinary, global story of child slavery today, in which eight and a half million children are estimated to be involved.
With 2021 set to be one of the hottest years on record, this film reveals how extreme temperatures around the world are wreaking havoc on nature, forcing climate migration, causing water shortages and triggering dangerous health conditions. By following people in seven countries, it also shows the resourcefulness and resilience of many communities as they struggle to adapt and survive.
