Dispatches (1987)
Long-running Channel 4 documentary series covering issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment. Known for featuring a mole inside organisations under journalistic investigation.
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2007x01 Fighting the Taliban
08 January, 2007 8:00 pm
Sean Langan reports from Helmand Province where he risked death by firing squad to talk to Taliban commanders and a would-be suicide bomber aged just 14. (Also shown as 'Sean Langan: Welcome to Hell Part 1)
2007x02 Meeting the Taliban
11 January, 2007 8:00 pm
Having witnessed the battle for the town of Garmser in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, Sean Langan goes to meet the fighters British troops are facing - The Taliban. He recounts the experience. (Also shown as 'Sean Langan: Welcome to Hell Part 2)
2007x03 Undercover Mosque
15 January, 2007 8:00 pm
Documentary investigating the extreme views being preached in a number of British mosques run by organisations that claim to advocate moderation.
2007x04 Labour's Gambling Addiction
22 January, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches explores relations between ministers and gambling industry bosses in which secret meetings and backroom dealings are uncovered in a bid to understand just why New Labour are keen to massively expand gambling operations in the UK.
2007x05 Iraq's Death Squads
29 January, 2007 8:00 pm
Iraq's Death Squads follows on from a previous Dispatches investigation that revealed the close links between high-ranking Shia politicians and the death squads that rampage through Iraq's main cities.
2007x06 At Home With The Terror Suspects
05 February, 2007 8:00 pm
Introduced as an emergency security measure in 2005, 18 control orders are currently enforced on individuals described as dangerous international terrorists. Dispatches has gained exclusive access to some of these detainees.
2007x07 The Supermarket That's Eating Britain
19 February, 2007 8:00 pm
Tesco is Britain’s favorite supermarket. With 2,000 stores and 15 million customers a week, it’s almost twice as big as its nearest rival. Dispatches shows how Tesco could soon become even bigger, and asks if this retail giant is abusing its power.
Dispatches’ information shows how that dominance could become even greater. The programme examines the ways in which Tesco avoids paying tens of millions of pounds in tax by exploiting legal loopholes and using complex networks of companies and partnerships here and overseas.
2007x08 NHS: Where Did All the Money Go?
26 February, 2007 8:00 pm
Why are increasing numbers of NHS-trained doctors and nurses unable to get jobs? Over the last five years, the amount of taxpayers' money being spent on the NHS has almost tripled. In this edition of Dispatches, award-winning journalist and economist Liam Halligan asks: "Where has all the money gone?"
2007x09 Greenwash
05 March, 2007 8:00 pm
The government is set to achieve only a third to a half of its overall policy target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
2007x10 Charles: The Meddling Prince
12 March, 2007 8:00 pm
Prince Charles will one day be crowned King of England - a position which by constitutional convention is politically neutral. But in this six-month investigation, Dispatches reveals a number of serious concerns: the extent of his political ambition and interference, the measures his office have employed to silence critics and questionable financial arrangements, which raise questions about his suitability for the throne and the future of the monarchy.
2007x11 When Did You Last Beat Your Wife?
19 March, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches examines why women frequently refuse to press charges against their abuser. It follows one young victim from the point at which she walks into the police station to make a complaint.
2007x12 Cameron - Toff At The Top
26 March, 2007 8:00 pm
Political columnist Peter Hitchens gives a personal assessment of Conservative Party Leader David Cameron, looking at his background, career, image changes and copying New Labour spin and image tactics with regard to image and policy making.
2007x13 Undercover Prisoner
02 April, 2007 8:00 pm
For the first time, a covert camera investigates prison life. A prisoner has secretly filmed for 15 days inside one of Britain's most controversial open prisons as part of a major investigation into the effectiveness of such prisons in protecting the general public and the successful rehabilitation of offenders.
2007x14 Murdering the Truth
16 April, 2007 8:00 pm
When world-famous investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, one of President Putin's fiercest and most effective critics, was assassinated last October in Moscow, there was international outrage.
At home, her colleagues at her newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, were determined that an investigation into her murder was not going to run into the sand, like so many before. So they set up their own private investigation. Dispatches has been granted exclusive access to that investigation. And as the body count of journalists, businessmen and politicians mounts, the programme asks whether the hope of a new, democratic Russia is falling apart.
The programme meets the former Deputy Prime Minister of Chechnya, now in hiding, who claims he is the last person alive on a Chechen hit list that included Anna.
2007x15 Between The Mullahs And The Military
23 April, 2007 8:00 pm
A Muslim nuclear state, ruled by a military dictatorship for two-thirds of its existence, modern-day Pakistan has become a key player in America's 'war on terror.'
2007x16 The Indian Miracle?
30 April, 2007 8:00 pm
Underneath the glittering surface of India's economic boom lie the ugly realties of modern day India: mass suicide by debt-ridden farmers, a rise in Hindu nationalism, discrimination against Muslims and a caste system which condemns millions to a life of servitude.
2007x17 Gordon Brown: Fit For Office?
14 May, 2007 8:00 pm
Over the last nine months Dispatches has carried out the most in-depth study ever done for television on the Chancellor, interviewing cabinet ministers, MPs, top civil servants, economists, journalists and friends. The programme, presented by Peter Oborne, forensically examines why these claims have been made by some of Gordon Brown's colleagues.
2007x18 Afghanistan Unveiled
17 May, 2007 8:00 pm
Journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy returns to Afghanistan to find out how life has changed for women in the five years since the invasion by America and its allies and to investigate whether women have been "liberated" as President Bush has claimed.
2007x19 Bin Wars
24 May, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches investigates whether the nation's anger over fortnightly collections is justified, examining why the changes have been brought about and why they have resulted in a level of protest reminiscent of the petrol crisis of 2001.
2007x21 Kidnapped to Order
11 June, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches exposes a new phase in America's dirty war on al Qaeda: the rendition and detention of women and children. Last year, President Bush confirmed the existence of a CIA secret detention programme but he refused to give details and said it was over.
2007x22 Drinking Yourself To Death
18 June, 2007 8:00 pm
Based on medical research and personal findings Dispatches investigates the effects binge drinking can have on a consumer's health and whether low-priced (supermarket bought) alcohol is one of the causes for an increase in alcohol consumption.
2007x23 The Man Who Lost Himself
25 June, 2007 8:00 pm
2007x24 The War On Britain's Jews
09 July, 2007 8:00 pm
Richard Littlejohn investigates trends of antisemitism across Britain in the wake of the September 2006 Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism.
2007x25 Great Green Smokescreen
16 July, 2007 8:00 pm
Channel 4 News Science Correspondent Tom Clarke dissects the many 'solutions' to global warming being marketed to consumers, from tree planting and carbon offsetting to green energy tariffs.
2007x26 Undercover Mother
23 July, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches investigates the overstretched maternity services which are resulting in new mothers having traumatic births and at worst, putting lives at risk.
2007x27 Britain's Bad Housing
30 July, 2007 8:00 pm
2007x28 Britain Under Attack
06 August, 2007 8:00 pm
With Britain facing a 'severe' level of terror threat, Dispatches investigates the roots of Islamic extremism in the UK and examines the government's attempts to win the battle for British Muslims' hearts and minds
2007x29 The Olympic Cash Machine
10 September, 2007 8:00 pm
For the past six months, Dispatches has been investigating the London 2012 Olympics. Undertaking a forensic examination of who the real winners and losers are likely to be as a result of hosting the Games, reporter Antony Barnett reveals that, for a lucky few, the personal, financial benefits could be huge.
2007x31 Nice Work If You Can Get It
24 September, 2007 8:00 pm
Political journalist Peter Oborne examines how politicians and MPs use their power to gain financial benefits.
2007x32 China's Stolen Children
08 October, 2007 8:00 pm
More than a decade after producing The Dying Rooms - a powerful film about the neglect of abandoned babies in Chinese orphanages - the same award-winning team returns to a very different China, where the infamous One Child Policy has created the horrific side-effect of a boom in stolen children.
2007x33 Abortion: What We Need to Know
17 October, 2007 8:00 pm
Featuring the findings of a survey into doctors' opinions on abortion, Dispatches reveals why many doctors would like to see the law changed, and lifts the lid on the private debates that are happening within the medical profession.
2007x34 Searching For Madeleine
18 October, 2007 8:00 pm
What has really happened in the 168 days since Madeleine was last seen? Dispatches sent a team of five of the UK's best-qualified criminal investigators to Praia da Luz.
2007x35 Why Our Children Can't Read
22 October, 2007 8:00 pm
New research shows that positive intervention during primary school can make children better readers and significantly improve their life chances.
2007x36 The Housing Trap
05 November, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches asks whether Britain's house-price boom will create a new generation unable ever to afford a home of their own. The programme follows three sets of first-time buyers as they begin looking for ideal homes in summer. How will the would-be purchasers cope with pricing hot-spots, competition from buy-to-let investors and the meltdown in consumer lending caused by the international credit crunch?
2007x37 Bottleneck Britain
12 November, 2007 8:00 pm
Britain stands on the brink of gridlock. But when the Government proposed pay-as-you-drive motoring, the driving public revolted against it, dubbing it the Toll Tax. This week, Dispatches will conduct its own experiment to find out if road pricing is indeed the answer to congestion.
2007x38 Mark Thomas on Coca-Cola
19 November, 2007 8:00 pm
Investigative report by Mark Thomas into the accusations of exploitation of workers, human rights violations, environmental damage, and questionable business practices by Coca-Cola. Looks at its suppliers and operations in India, South America and the US.
2007x39 Britain Under Water
03 December, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches investigates what the authorities are doing to protect the public from an increased risk of flooding and questions whether adequate resources are being spent on flood defences.
2007x40 Christmas Credit Crisis
10 December, 2007 8:00 pm
With higher interest rates and the UK banks burnt by the global credit crunch, reporter Tazeen Ahmad investigates the unsettling implications for those who've borrowed too much.
2007x41 How safe are your Christmas toys?
17 December, 2007 8:00 pm
Dispatches reveals that many top-selling toys incorporate a type of tiny but powerful magnet, a component that the toy companies now know can kill and seriously injure children who swallow them.
2007x42 Mark Thomas on Coca-Cola
19 November, 2007 8:00 pm
Coca-Cola is one of the most iconic brands of both the 20th and 21st centuries. Promoting itself as the drink of freedom, choice and US patriotism, the company's feel-good factor is recognised worldwide and reflected in its enormous profits.
But behind this carefully crafted image exists a company accused of environmental damage, human rights violations and questionable business practices.
Political activist and journalist Mark Thomas travels to South America, India and the US to investigate the way in which Coca-Cola and its suppliers operate and the extent to which they upholds moral and ethical obligations.
Thomas, a long-term critic of Coca-Cola's more controversial practices, finds disturbing evidence which undermines its effervescent image as a force for good and which has prompted a global consumer backlash.
2007x43 How To Get Ahead In Africa
29 October, 2007 8:00 pm
In this 2007 Channel 4 (UK) documentary "BAFTA Award-winning journalist Sorious Samura shows how in Africa corruption has become normal and accepted, even though it's tearing the continent to pieces. Despite the billions in western aid poured in, Samura claims Africa is heading into oblivion: but it's not war, famine and disease strangling development; it's corruption.
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