First Aired: November 11st, 1953
Status: Continuing
Genre: News, Documentary
Network: BBC One
Summary: Current affairs programme, featuring interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects.
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# of Episodes: 3369
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Season 2013
Episode 1: Immigration Undercover
Air Date: January 21st, 2013
Summary: More than half a million foreign migrants are estimated to be hiding from the authorities in the UK. Some are failed asylum seekers who live in graveyards and abandoned garages or 'disappear' within their own communities. They include bogus students planning to work illegally and others who have crossed the Channel hidden in the back of a lorry.
Many of those without papers turn to a life of criminality involving drugs, violence and prostitution - and with money Panorama has discovered they can come and go on an illegal travel network which smuggles them OUT of the UK as well as in.
Reporter Paul Kenyon goes undercover with this new type of smuggling gang - charging £1,500 a time - to help illegals out of the UK right under the nose of the British authorities.
Episode 2: The Great Disability Scam?
Air Date: January 28th, 2013
Summary: Only half of all people with a disability are in work. Panorama investigates if one of the government's most ambitious welfare reforms, costing billions of pounds, can solve the problem of disability unemployment. Reporter Sam Poling reveals the private companies who are getting rich from the new reforms despite only being able to get a small fraction of disabled people back to work, and speaks to the charities who feel the most vulnerable in our society are being failed.
Episode 3: The Great Abortion Divide
Air Date: February 4th, 2013
Summary: Abortion is more controversial than ever, with pro-life activists challenging pregnant women as they try to enter clinics. Doctors in most of the UK are signing off terminations on questionable mental health grounds, while in Northern Ireland women and doctors risk life in prison over abortion. So is our legislation hopelessly outdated? Victoria Derbyshire investigates the great abortion divide and asks if it is time to change the law.
Episode 5: What's Really in our Food?
Air Date: February 18th, 2013
Summary: Panorama investigates the horse meat scandal and reveals ever growing concerns about what is really in our food. With industry insiders saying shoppers should prepare themselves for more uncomfortable truths, Richard Bilton asks whether 'light touch' regulation of the food industry has left the stable door open to the cowboys.
Episode 7: America's Gun Addiction
Air Date: March 11st, 2013
Summary: The Newtown massacre, in which 20 primary schoolchildren died, has been hailed as a turning point on gun control in America. President Obama wants to ban assault weapons, but his opponents say more guns are the answer, not fewer. At a gun range, Panorama meets the teachers who want to take guns into their classrooms to protect their pupils.
With many of America's mass killers having both mental health issues and easy access to guns, Panorama reveals the national crisis in mental healthcare which has left 4.5 million severely mentally ill Americans untreated.
And reporter Hilary Andersson goes undercover to show how easy it is in Texas to buy the type of assault weapon used at Newtown, even if you are mentally unstable. Will Newtown finally change things, or will the mass killings continue?
Episode 8: The Spies Who Fooled the World
Air Date: March 18th, 2013
Summary: On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War, Panorama reveals how key aspects of the secret intelligence used by Downing Street and the White House to justify the invasion were based on fabrication, wishful thinking and lies. Peter Taylor tracks down some of those responsible and reports on the remarkable story of how, in the months before the war, two highly-placed sources - close to Saddam Hussein - talked secretly to the CIA and MI6. Their intelligence said Iraq did not have an active WMD programme - but it was simply dismissed.
Episode 10: North Korea Undercover
Air Date: April 15th, 2013
Summary: While North Korea's 'Supreme Commander' Kim Jong-Un has been threatening thermo-nuclear war against the United States, Panorama reporter John Sweeney spent eight days undercover inside the most rigidly-controlled nation on Earth. Travelling from the capital Pyongyang to the countryside beyond and to the de-Militarised Zone on the border with South Korea, Sweeney witnesses a landscape bleak beyond words, a people brainwashed for three generations and a regime happy to give the impression of marching towards Armageddon.
Episode 12: The Russians Are Coming
Air Date: April 29th, 2013
Summary: Russian money has poured into London, but is organised crime coming with it? Reporter Darragh MacIntyre investigates a death in a Russian prison that has brought the threat of violence to the UK. Could a whistleblower found dead on the streets of Surrey be the latest victim of the Russian crime wars?
Episode 13: Jobs for the Boys?
Air Date: May 13rd, 2013
Summary: Former England and Arsenal footballer Sol Campbell investigates why the unemployment rate for young black British men is roughly double that of their white counterparts. He follows four under-25-year-olds in their search for that all-important first job, and asks - are employers to blame, or do young black men need to work harder at finding work?
Episode 14: Hillsborough - How They Buried the Truth
Air Date: May 20th, 2013
Summary: A Panorama investigation reveals how police, politicians, lawyers and judges all played a part in burying the truth about Britain's worst football disaster.
Never-before-broadcast footage of the FA Cup semi-final in which 96 Liverpool fans died reveals a catastrophic failure by the emergency services, how lives might have been saved and how subsequent inquiries were misled.
And a former home secretary and former police chiefs are put on the spot about why a succession of official investigations left the truth hidden for a generation.
Episode 15: Cancer - Hope for Sale?
Air Date: June 3rd, 2013
Summary: A controversial American doctor claims he can cure cancer. Celebrities have helped raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to send British patients to his clinic. But Dr Burzynski's treatment has been dismissed by mainstream medicine and the US authorities have tried to close him down. So why has he been allowed to sell an unproven and experimental treatment for 30 years?
Episode 16: Cash for Questions Undercover
Air Date: June 6th, 2013
Summary: Three years ago, David Cameron declared that lobbying was the 'next big scandal waiting to happen'. Now this Panorama special goes undercover to reveal lobbying practices which raise serious questions about standards in our political life. The programme's allegations have already contributed to a series of high-profile resignations and suspensions in Westminster.
Episode 17: Blacklist Britain
Air Date: June 10th, 2013
Summary: For years some of the biggest names in British business subscribed to a secret blacklist containing thousands of names with the power to deny work and destroy livelihoods. From the Millennium Dome to the iconic Olympic Park, some construction firms paid for information on workers they feared could delay work and cost them money. Reporter Richard Bilton does the first television interview with the bookkeeper for the organisation which ran the list. And he discovers that even though the list has now been closed down, blacklisting still appears to be alive and well in Britain.
Episode 18: Traffic Fines - Highway Robbery?
Air Date: June 12nd, 2013
Summary: When a CCTV camera snaps your car and you get a ticket in the post, how annoyed do you get? More motorists face this frustration as councils are now fining drivers in ever-greater numbers after capturing them on CCTV. They claim they do it to keep the traffic flowing smoother. But private emails obtained by Panorama reveal a different story, with officials congratulating each other on the number of tickets issued - 'Another record month, guys. Well done,' says one. The programme visits the box junction where the council fines so many drivers - 29,000 last year alone - that it's known as the 'Money Box', and tries to find new ways to cut down the mountain of traffic tickets now issued every year.
Episode 19: Elderly Care - Condition Critical?
Air Date: June 17th, 2013
Summary: Using secret filming and exclusive research into the mortality rates of care and nursing homes for the elderly in England, Panorama investigates evidence of death hastened by neglect and exposes the pain of poor care.
This film is the story of two daughters and a whistleblower, fighting for better care. And a leading doctor and statistician, who uncovered death rates and mistreatment at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Hospital Trust, says the care sector is decades behind in using mortality rates to pick up poor care.
The national regulator, the Care Quality Commission promises to get tough with providers who fail to report deaths and commits to looking at death rates more widely in an effort to drive out poor care.
Episode 21: The Truth about Pills and Pregnancy
Air Date: July 1st, 2013
Summary: Many women have to take medicines while pregnant. But could they be risking the health of their unborn child? Decades after the Thalidomide scandal shocked the world, Panorama reveals how another medicine has damaged far more children. Drugs cannot be tested on pregnant women for ethical reasons, so doctors do not know if most prescription drugs are safe for the unborn child, and the system set up to monitor side-effects appears to be flawed. As evidence emerges that some common antidepressants are linked to heart defects in babies, the programme asks how much we really know about the safety of medicines women take while pregnant.
Episode 22: The Trouble With Trump
Air Date: July 8th, 2013
Summary: When Donald Trump offered to bring six thousand jobs and a billion pounds in investment to Scotland with two world class golf courses, a five star hotel and hundreds of homes, it seemed to many an opportunity not to be missed, even though it would mean sacrificing an environmentally protected part of the Scottish coastline.
Five years on from Trump's controversial planning victory, one golf course has been built, the hotel and property build is on hold while the accounts show investment of around £25 million and, according to the Trump Organisation, 200 jobs have been created rather than the thousands promised.
With the land estimated now to be worth around ten times what it was thanks to the outline planning consents, Panorama reporter John Sweeney asks if the Scottish government knew enough about the self-proclaimed billionaire before saying yes and challenges Donald Trump to reveal what is behind the Trump brand.
Episode 25: Tainted Love - Secrets of the Dating Game
Air Date: July 29th, 2013
Summary: Panorama exposes the tricks of the UK's online dating industry, worth millions of pounds a year. Reporter Fiona Walker investigates how some unscrupulous dating websites are preying on those looking for love and searching for their perfect partner.
Episode 26: The Brothers Who Bombed Boston
Air Date: August 5th, 2013
Summary: On the 15th of April, in the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, two homemade bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 200 participants and spectators. With interviews with those who knew them, Panorama reporter Hilary Andersson explores how the two suspected bombers - brothers raised and educated in the US - became radicalised, and asks if America's war on terror has come home.
With the surviving brother due to stand trial later this year, she goes on patrol with New York Police Department's anti-terrorist squad which uses the latest technology to protect New Yorkers from future terrorist attacks. But she finds a backlash amongst many Muslims in America against law enforcement programmes they believe are designed specifically to profile, map and spy on Muslims. Panorama asks - are the authorities spying on the right people?
Episode 27: Locked Up For Being Ill?
Air Date: September 9th, 2013
Summary: There is a crisis in police cells across the country, and it is not to do with crime, according to senior officers. The police say they regularly have to detain mental health patients who should be dealt with by psychiatric professionals. The problem is so bad that police estimate it takes twenty five per cent of their time.
With exclusive access to police custody, reporter Paul Kenyon discovers a world of self-harm and suicide attempts which is stretching police to their limits. But he also spends time in a mental health unit, where they say police are dealing with fewer mental health patients than they used to.
Nevertheless, one of the UK's most senior police officers tells Panorama that enough is enough - it is time the police refused to detain any at all, and got on with their job of tackling crime.
Episode 28: Tax, Lies and Videotape
Air Date: September 16th, 2013
Summary: The government says it is cracking down on tax avoidance and evasion, but does the tough talk really stand up to scrutiny? Panorama goes undercover in the City to investigate the truth about UK tax policy. The programme discovers how London is still home to the tax avoidance industry and how new laws could allow big companies to avoid billions in tax.
Episode 29: The Honeymoon Murder - Who Killed Anni?
Air Date: September 19th, 2013
Summary: When a beautiful young bride was murdered on her honeymoon in South Africa - allegedly on the orders of her British husband - it made headlines around the world. Nearly three years on, the truth about Anni Dewani's killing remains a mystery, while in July a British judge ordered Shrien Dewani - still sectioned under the mental health act in the UK - should be extradited to South Africa to stand trial. BBC Panorama has obtained the secret police files which make up the prosecution case against the 33-year-old Bristol businessman, and has commissioned leading forensic experts to review all the evidence. Their findings expose fundamental mistakes both in the police investigation and in the interpretation of forensic evidence. Could Shrien Dewani be - as he has always claimed - an innocent man?
Episode 31: Terror in Nairobi
Air Date: September 30th, 2013
Summary: With at least 67 people killed, the murderous assault on the Nairobi shopping centre has brought the terrorist group al-Shabab to world attention. A gang, armed with machine guns and grenades, stalked the mall singling out non-Muslims for execution - Kenyans and foreigners alike. Pregnant women and children were among those murdered in the name of Jihad. With its roots in war-torn Somalia and formally allied to al-Qaeda since last year, al-Shabab is banned in the US and the UK. Panorama reporter Peter Taylor was already in Kenya as final preparations for the attack were underway, investigating the network the terror group uses to cross the Somali-Kenyan border at will and its appeal to radicalised Muslim youths in Britain and beyond.
Episode 32: Saving Syria's Children
Air Date: September 30th, 2013
Summary: In a special edition, Panorama travels with British doctors inside Syria to exclusively reveal the devastating impact of the war on children caught in the conflict. The doctors witness the aftermath of the bombing of a school by a suspected napalm-like incendiary device and medical facilities constantly under attack - both war crimes under international law. Filmed in the north of the country after the chemical weapons attack in Damascus which inflamed world opinion and brought America, Russia and the UN to the table, the film shows how the conventional war is intensifying with children bearing the brunt of this humanitarian catastrophe.
Episode 37: After Savile - No More Secrets?
Air Date: November 4th, 2013
Summary: Why was it so easy for paedophiles like Jimmy Savile to get away with abusing children? In other countries evidence of abuse must be reported to the authorities. But here, turning a blind eye to child abuse in a school, or a hospital, or a church is not a crime. Reporter Sanchia Berg talks to victims, police and senior figures who are now calling for Britain to change the law and uncovers secret files which show that the government knew for decades that children's homes and schools covered up abuse. Head teachers and governors routinely moved abusers, sending them on with a good reference, rather than call the police. Even today, some head teachers still fail to act on reports and complaints.
Episode 44: The Romanians are Coming?
Air Date: December 16th, 2013
Summary: We're told there could be a crime wave and even riots on the streets when Romania and Bulgaria gain full employment rights in the UK next year. But how many will really come, and what's at the root of our fear?
Paul Kenyon travels to a Romanian village where most of the men have already left to pursue work in the black markets of London. He joins British police in an unprecedented operation to stem the flow.
With Romanians and Bulgarians set to be given full access to work, benefits, the NHS and schooling, many worry that this latest piece of European integration is a step too far.
Episode 45: Woolwich - The Untold Story
Air Date: December 19th, 2013
Summary: With two British Muslim converts found guilty of the murder of 25 year-old soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby, this Panorama special reveals the story the jury never heard.
Featuring interviews with Lee's parents and his former comrades in the Royal Fusiliers, Peter Taylor asks if the security services among others missed opportunities to stop Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebolawe and prevent Lee's death.
Episode 46: The Romanians are Coming?
Air Date: December 16th, 2013
Summary: We're told there could be a crime wave and even riots on the streets when Romania and Bulgaria gain full employment rights in the UK next year. But how many will really come, and what's at the root of our fear?
Paul Kenyon travels to a Romanian village where most of the men have already left to pursue work in the black markets of London. He joins British police in an unprecedented operation to stem the flow.
With Romanians and Bulgarians set to be given full access to work, benefits, the NHS and schooling, many worry that this latest piece of European integration is a step too far.
Episode 47: Woolwich - The Untold Story
Air Date: December 19th, 2013
Summary: With two British Muslim converts found guilty of the murder of 25 year-old soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby, this Panorama special reveals the story the jury never heard.
Featuring interviews with Lee's parents and his former comrades in the Royal Fusiliers, Peter Taylor asks if the security services among others missed opportunities to stop Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebolawe and prevent Lee's death.
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