Seasons & episodes
S69 · E10Cashing in on Covid 2021-03-15
As the government faces mounting criticism that well-connected people made millions out of Britain's PPE crisis, Panorama investigates who won out. More than £12 billion was spent in the first six months of the pandemic on contracts to provide personal protective equipment. Reporter Richard Bilton meets one man who made £40 million on a deal and speaks to others who felt ignored in favour of less-experienced suppliers. As the government refuses to reveal the full details of all its so-called VIP deals, the programme reveals the high-profile connections to one lucrative contract.
S69 · E11Salmond v Sturgeon 2021-03-18 · 29 min
The inside story of the most sensational break-up in recent political history. Once close friends and allies, Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon took the SNP from nowhere to government, and Scotland to the brink of independence. Now sworn enemies, former first minister Salmond accuses some of those he once led of plotting to have him imprisoned. Reporter Mark Daly investigates and asks what the split could mean for the future of Scotland and of the United Kingdom.
S69 · E12Syria's Schools under Attack 2021-12-14 · 50 min
Thousands of schools have been totally or partially destroyed during the Syrian conflict, which began ten years ago this month. Iqra School in Aleppo was one of those schools, bombed by a fighter jet in 2013. Some pupils were killed immediately and more died of horrific injuries soon after. A BBC Panorama team were filming in a children's hospital nearby and captured the desperate attempts to save lives after the attack. Supporters of the Syrian regime falsely claimed that these scenes had been faked. Eight years later, Panorama has met with survivors and relatives of the dead to discover how profoundly their lives have changed as a result of that day.
S69 · E13Covid: Who Got It Right? 2021-03-22 · 26 min
Journalist Jane Corbin has reported on epidemics, medical emergencies and global conflicts since the 1980s. When Britain went into its first national lockdown in March, she was filming on the NHS Frontline in Leicester and Coventry. It was an unprecedented point in history - there was no playbook and no firm evidence base to guide decision-making. With every government on the planet faced with the same challenge at the same time, it could have been an unprecedented opportunity for global learning and cooperation. Instead, different countries took very different views of the virus, followed different strategies and have, as a result, seen different outcomes. In this Panorama, Jane wants to know ‘Who Got It Right?
S69 · E14Undercover: Inside the Covid Testing Lab 2021-03-29 · 29 min
Panorama goes undercover inside a lab analysing thousands of Covid-19 tests per day. Secretly filmed footage reveals a failing service with shoddy practices, where staff complain they are under pressure to meet targets despite the lab often running well below capacity. The programme discovers there have been three outbreaks of coronavirus among staff and that social distancing is poorly maintained. Test samples sometimes arrive poorly packaged and labelled, with equipment frequently malfunctioning, leading to contamination of results. The programme also discovers that tests, including some intended to find new variants of coronavirus, have been wrongly discarded or lost.
S69 · E15The River Pollution Scandal 2021-04-12 · 29 min
Panorama investigates the scandal of our polluted rivers. Reporter Joe Crowley obtains data that reveals how some big water companies have been illegally dumping untreated sewage. He meets local people campaigning for a wholescale clean-up and exposes one company discharging sewage without a permit.
S69 · E16Is the Church Racist? 2021-04-19 · 29 min
Panorama investigates allegations of racism in the Church of England. A year after the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, admitted that the Church was still 'deeply institutionally racist', and that he was 'ashamed' of its record, reporter Clive Myrie meets vicars, curates and theological trainees to understand the scale of the problem. He hears stories of racist abuse and claims of a culture that creates a hostile environment for Christians of colour. Some say they have been told to ‘turn the other cheek’ when they have raised complaints, others say they have suffered in silence for fear of further discrimination or losing their jobs.
S69 · E17Am I British? 2021-05-05 · 29 min
Thousands of young people born or brought up in the UK are having their dreams destroyed or lives disrupted because of their immigration status. Reporter Greg McKenzie meets those who say they’re treated as second-class citizens. They can’t vote, can’t claim benefits, struggle to go to university and may even face deportation. Panorama investigates a Home Office policy that gives them a chance to stay in the UK, but which takes ten years and costs thousands of pounds.
S69 · E18Drugs, Cops and Lockdown 2021-12-14 · 29 min
For the past year Panorama has been filming with Kent police as they try to disrupt the ‘county lines’ that transport millions of pounds of drugs from London to towns across their county. With an estimated 1,000 county lines operating across the UK, criminals have increasingly turned to children and the vulnerable to carry out the risky job of distributing drugs. Despite months of lockdown, the illegal trade in class A drugs has flourished. Panorama films drug deals openly taking place on the streets, with police involved in a game of cat and mouse to pick off the street dealers while building the intelligence and evidence to go after those that supply them.
S69 · E19Hospital Secrets Uncovered 2021-12-14 · 29 min
Panorama investigates what happens when care goes wrong in hospitals and reveals how some NHS trusts keep critical reports hidden from the regulator and the public. Repeated scandals have shown how transparency is vital to make sure lessons are learned. But after a year-long investigation uncovering around one hundred unpublished independent reports, reporter and GP Faye Kirkland discovers how hospital failings are being buried and asks, is reputation being put before patient safety?
S69 · E20Princess Diana, Martin Bashir and the BBC 2021-05-20 · 29 min
Twenty-five years ago, Panorama reporter Martin Bashir secured his global scoop interview with Princess Diana. Now, a new Panorama team fronted by journalist John Ware has carried out its own four-month investigation, with exclusive interviews and revelations from internal BBC documents. This is the inside story of how Martin Bashir obtained his career-defining interview, and how the BBC responded when it discovered he had faked bank statements and shown them to Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer.
S69 · E21Are You Scared Yet, Human? 2021-05-26 · 59 min
From Amazon’s Alexa to improvements in cancer care, artificial intelligence is changing our world. But today leading tech figures from Silicon Valley worry about the future that’s being created. Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, believes George Orwell's 1984 could become reality by 2024. Panorama has uncovered new evidence of AI being used by police in China to recognise the emotions of detainees in order to help determine guilt or innocence. China has vowed to become the world's AI superpower by 2030, sparking a new arms race with America. Both countries are pouring billions into cutting-edge military tech, including autonomous weapons. AI could usher in a golden age, but without urgent regulation, experts warn we could lose control of artificial intelligence, a prospect, they say, that should scare us all.
S69 · E22Paralympics: The Unfair Games? 2021-06-09 · 59 min
With the Tokyo Paralympic Games approaching, Panorama investigates the sport’s classification system. Designed to make competition between athletes with different disabilities fair, it is accused of being flawed, easily manipulated and lacking credibility. Former Paralympic athlete and coach Richie Powell says para-sport saved his life after he was injured in a motor cycle accident. But he retired as a wheelchair racer, disillusioned with a classification system that he says pitted athletes with different abilities against each other. In this film, he meets other former athletes, coaches and classifiers who share their experiences of Paralympic competition, hearing that Britain, the home of the Paralympic movement, should be the country that leads change.
S69 · E23Brexit: Six Months On 2021-07-05 · 29 min
When the UK left the EU single market six months ago, Boris Johnson said there would be some bumps along the road to success. Panorama has been following British businesses as they try to negotiate those bumps and navigate their way through our new trading relationship with Europe. From fishermen in Scotland to entrepreneurs in the home counties, business owners are working hard to hold on to their European customers while seeking new markets further afield. So who will survive and who will thrive now Britain is out of the EU?
S69 · E24Long Covid: Will I Ever Get Better? 2021-07-12 · 29 min
BBC correspondent Lucy Adams is one of more than a million people in the UK with long Covid. She has been suffering a range of symptoms for more than a year and wants to know why. Panorama follows her as she speaks to doctors with increasing caseloads, leading scientists carrying out research and other patients desperate to know when they will be well again.
S69 · E25The Dark Side of Horse Racing 2021-07-19 · 29 min
Horse racing is one of the most popular and profitable sports, a £5 billion industry in the UK and Ireland followed by millions. Panorama reporter Darragh MacIntyre investigates what can happen to racehorses when their careers end. The industry says that racing is now safer than ever, that the number of deaths on the track is falling and that the animals are looked after in retirement. Panorama discovers that off the track, many horses suffer career-ending injuries, and rather than being rehabilitated or retrained for life outside the sport, race horses that have been owned and trained by some of the biggest names in the industry have been put down, some meeting grisly deaths.
S69 · E26David Cameron and the Missing Billions 2021-08-09 · 29 min
David Cameron was paid to promote Greensill Capital’s financial products around the world. He helped convince investors their money was safe, and he tried to persuade the British government to invest billions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash. But Greensill Capital is now under investigation after it collapsed leaving investors facing billions in losses. So how much did the former prime minister know about Greensill and the investments it was selling?
S69 · E27Hunting the Social Media Fraudsters 2021-08-16 · 29 min
Ever wondered who might be behind those dodgy-looking texts trying to get you to part with your money? Panorama is on the trail of a new generation of fraudsters. Reporter Kafui Okpattah speaks to victims and investigates how cyber scammers use social media to promote fraud. Once hidden in the shadows of the dark web, they have moved into the open online. They are in plain sight, so why are the government and big tech companies failing to stop them?
S69 · E28Return of the Taliban 2021-08-23 · 29 min
The speed of Afghanistan's fall to the Taliban has shocked the world – but what sort of country will it become? The BBC’s Yalda Hakim was born in Afghanistan and travelled back there in the weeks before the Taliban took control. She meets a Taliban commander from the front line promising a Sharia state, and the Afghanistan vice president who was adamant he would never surrender. Also she hears from those who are now fearing for their lives and their futures. Panorama asks what is at stake for the Afghans who are now in their first week under Taliban rule.
S69 · E29The Great British Staycation? 2021-08-25 · 29 min
This is the year of the Great British staycation, with millions of us exploring holidays on our doorstep. But the impact of Covid has taken its toll. As the hospitality industry tries to make up for the financial losses of the last 18 months, the cost of some self-catered accommodation has risen by more than 40 per cent. The basic cost of a holiday to the Lake District can be as much as three times more than one to Italy’s Lake Garda. And though business is booming in some areas, tourism bosses say staff shortages are hitting them hard. Reporter Mobeen Azhar explores the truth about our staycations.
S69 · E30Who's Protecting Our Kids? 2021-09-06 · 29 min
Mariella Frostrup meets teenage girls who say they have been abused, assaulted or raped by teenage boys, and asks whether we should be doing more to protect our children. With exclusive new data from police forces, she reveals how reports of abuse have risen sharply in the past four years, despite government promises to tackle the problem. She asks if social media and pornography could be to blame, and if schools could be handling the problem better.
S69 · E31Dirty Secrets of the Cigarette Business 2021-09-13 · 29 min
Panorama unveils new revelations about the corrupt practices deployed by one of Britain’s biggest companies. Six years ago, reporter Richard Bilton revealed how British American Tobacco made secret payments to politicians and civil servants in East Africa. Now the programme uncovers evidence of bribery in South Africa and Zimbabwe. It shows how the multi-billion pound British company secretly paid almost 200 informants as part of a covert operation to damage its competitors.
S69 · E32Football's Broken Dreams 2021-09-20 · 29 min
It was the summer when football almost came home. Now Panorama investigates the system that has produced some of the England team’s brightest stars. Reporter Rory Carson, himself a former professional player, discovers that for teenage footballing prodigies it’s a high-pressure, big-money game, where they can be bought and sold, leaving some feeling discarded when they don’t make the grade. Rory hears from former players and their parents about the mental health impacts of being built up as the next Premier League superstar, only for their dreams to be shattered when they are dropped. He also investigates evidence of agents breaking Football Association rules designed to protect young teenagers from being financially exploited.
S69 · E33NHS: Wait or Pay? 2021-09-27 · 29 min
The number of people waiting for hospital treatment in England has hit a record high of 5.61 million, as the NHS struggles to clear the growing backlog of cases caused by Covid-19. Victoria Derbyshire meets some of those on the waiting list and hears about the profound effects it is having on their lives. She discovers that a growing number of people see no alternative but to pay for their own treatments using savings, bank loans and even crowdfunding sites. And she reveals exclusive research showing just how many people are now considering turning their backs on the NHS and going private instead.