We investigate the tragic tale of seven-year-old Connor O'Keefe who was electrocuted and died after using a fake power charger for his electronic game. Fake electricals are produced in the Far East but are potentially lethal. Fake Britain examines fake fuse boxes which are tested with alarming results.There's a look at the fake mini motorcycles that endangered the lives of the children they were bought for, and the case of the company which bought non-organic food, rebranded it as organic and made a small fortune.

Fake Goods

We follow officers from the Metropolitan Police Economic Crime Squad as they battle their way through a heavily reinforced door to reveal a flat used as a fake credit card factory - and catch the forger red handed. Expert Robert Matthews, a former assayer of the Royal Mint, heads onto the streets of London to discover how many fake one pound coins are rattling around in our pockets.

Fake Cash and Cards

When cloned vehicles - cars that have been stolen and given fake identities - are sold on, their unsuspecting new owners can lose both the car and their cash when they are confiscated by the police. The programme shows how to spot a clone by investigating two identical vehicles: one is real, the other is a fake.

Fake Cars

We investigate the huge market in unlicensed and fake medicines and show how easy it is to purchase a wide range of prescription drugs online without a prescription. An analysis of drugs bought by the programme to see what they actually contain brings shocking results. We meet the victims of pharmaceutical industry fakes and see the work of the MHRA, the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority, as they try and track down the infiltration of fake medicine into the UK.

Fake Medicines

Dominic Littlewood reveals the extent of people using fake identities in the UK. We follow the UK Border agency as they intercept people with fake identities entering the country, and go inside the high security National Document Fraud Unit. We show how a man with no qualifications operated as a fake dentist, and look at the criminal gangs who are faking driving tests by getting experienced drivers to take the test in return for a payoff, putting hundreds of inexperienced drivers on our roads.

Fake Identity

Fake Britain carries out the largest independent investigation ever undertaken in Britain of £1 coins given out over the counter by the high street banks - and we reveal how the banks are giving their customers a shockingly high percentage of fakes. We also follow the work of local police, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Royal Mint as they join forces to track down the £1 coin counterfeiters.

We meet the man who was sent parking and speeding tickets but knew he wasn't responsible. We see how eventually the police discover that his car had been cloned, with disastrous results for the innocent purchasers of the cloned car - they lose both the vehicle and the money they paid for it as it is seized by the police.

We meet Julie Smith and her daughter Paige from Oldham and hear the sad story of how they were duped by a fake pedigree certificate into buying a very sick puppy. And we reveal the story of the fake vet who used a fake degree certificate to go into business near Liverpool - with appalling results.

Episode 1

Dominic Littlewood investigates the murky world of the loan sharks and follows the work of trading standards' illegal money lending teams.

There's the story of one heartbroken mother whose son committed suicide as his loan shark debts mounted. How celebrity autographs are being faked and sold on at exorbitant prices. How UK Border Agency teams are stopping millions of pounds worth of fake goods coming into the country via Felixstowe docks, and the sophisticated tracking devices used by criminals on their illegal consignments. Plus the fake parking tickets racket uncovered by Wolverhampton trading standards officers.

Episode 2

Dominic Littlewood reveals how families are being targeted by conmen when their children are on gap year trips abroad. We follow investigators from a leading pharmaceutical company who are hot on the trail of fake medicine dealers.

Plus, the terrifying story of the fake and highly dangerous hair straighteners, and how deadly fake chainsaws were sold to unsuspecting members of the public. And the tragic story of how the offer of a job - which turned out to be fake - brought one young family to financial ruin. And we show the scale of the fake electricals industry in China by following the work of a UK investigator.

Episode 3

With Dominic Littlewood. Birmingham's trading standards and West Midlands Police crack down on the crooks faking parking offences to fleece members of the public.

We follow the South West England scambusters team as they track down a consignment of fake fashion destined for the City of Bristol. We reveal the extraordinary story of the fake educational qualifications racket.

We show how a fake Lowry picture was sold to an unsuspecting buyer and how the seller finally ended in gaol. And UK Border Agency officers at Southampton docks inspect a suspect consignment and reveal fake Mexican beer - from China.

Episode 4

We follow a private investigator working with police and trading standards as he tracks down one of the largest hauls of fake gold and jewellery ever discovered in the UK. And we see the work of the London Assay office as they analyse what the fake jewellery is really made of - with shocking results.

We see how the UK Border Agency are stopping international forgers using air cargo to get fake ID into the country - how they reveal the fake holidaymaker and her 'crib sheet' of how to respond to immigration officials' questions. Plus, how they tracked down the fake footballer - the illegal immigrant who made a fortune by buying property using fake ID while he played football for local clubs.

We meet the woman who was told by her bank that a fake copy of her passport had been presented to them to withdraw a huge sum of money. We see how a London employment agency has had to install high tech anti forgery equipment to check on fake documents - as they are now presented with so many forgeries. We follow the work of the NHS counterfraud unit as they tackle 'hospital hoppers' - fake patients who tie up valuable resources pretending to be ill.

We show the work of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Maxim as they track down and arrest a master forger. We see Westminster Trading Standards officers and Premier league private investigators reveal the latest football shirt fakes on sale in London's West End.

Episode 5

Police and trading standards officers raid a house where the occupants are selling fake fashion. A complete mobile fake vodka factory in a lorry is discovered just outside Scarborough. A huge consignment of fake Persil is tracked by investigators all the way from China to Cheshire and the fakers end up in prison.

We follow the work of investigators from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and see them raid a fake medicines dealer. We see how tourists to London are tricked by criminals offering them fake holiday accommodation. And we follow the incredible story of how 108 million eggs were fraudulently relabelled in Britain's biggest ever fake food scam.

We see how Customs and Excise uncover a huge fake vodka and tobacco factory in London and see how shops sell fake booze. And we reveal how a grandmother helped bring down a multi-million pound criminal empire selling fake golf equipment.

Episode 6

We investigate the murky world of the loansharks and reveal the extraordinary case of the 78-year-old grandmother peddling fake loans. We meet Jane Badger, who was arrested in her own home and accused of fraud, even though she was entirely innocent, because a fraudster had made fake withdrawals on her credit card.

We follow the story of the fake car brake pads being sold in Northern Ireland and see how they dramatically fail safety standards on the test track. We see a trading standards team as they go undercover, setting up a fake hen night to catch a limo company putting lives in danger.

And we follow the investigators targeting the fakers who are making money out of one of the UK's most successful industries - computer games.

Episode 7

We reveal the extraordinary story of the secret consignment of fake oil drilling parts tracked down by trading standards officers in Peterborough. We follow Customs and Excise officers on the trail of fake diesel - agricultural fuel that has had its red tell tale dye removed - and the criminals who peddle it.

We meet the owners of so called mini pigs who have seen the fake perky porkers grow to be a lot bigger than expected. We meet the victims of an incredible scam; they have come home to find someone else living in their house - it's been rented out by a fake landlord.

And we show the work of the undercover investigators from a software corporation who are tackling the software pirates.

Episode 8

We reveal the extraordinary amount of fake electrical cable being found in the UK and put some of it to the test with alarming results. We follow the trading standards and police teams in the Midlands cracking down on the huge trade in fake and smuggled cigarettes.

We show how people are being conned into believing that works of art they bought as antiques are anything but - because they have been made recently in Chinese factories. And art forgery expert Curtis Dowling shows us how the conmen go about creating fake collectibles. We meet the woman who paid for stem cell treatment believing it would cure her multiple sclerosis - only to find the treatment was fake.

And we follow the extraordinary identity theft story of how a UK passport stolen on a stag weekend in Amsterdam put an innocent Brit in gaol ten years later in Lisbon - for a crime committed in Germany.

Episode 9

We follow the UK Border Agency teams as they reveal illegal immigrants using fake documents to get work in restaurants in Hampshire. And we see them working with police and a local authority counter fraud team to arrest a fake benefits claimant.

We reveal the extraordinary story of how fake wine was sold in a leading supermarket - and find out what was really in the bottle. We meet the two sisters who were victims of the fake ballet grades - their teacher was forging the certificates of dozens of her pupils. We follow trading standards officers as they discover the shop near London's West End stuffed full of fake designer goods and see how they also tackle the street traders openly selling fakes from market stalls.

And we go out with a local authority blue badge enforcement unit as they confront the people faking their entitlement to use the badges issued to road users with disabilities.

Episode 10

We reveal how fraudsters are counterfeiting the Euro. And we show how innocent British holidaymakers are being arrested abroad for unwittingly having the fake currency - like Carl Redden from Birmingham who was sentenced to 10 months in a prison in Cyprus and found himself locked up with hardened criminals.

We reveal the distressing story of the fake pet cremations. Owners found the pets they had loved and thought had given dignified individual cremations to, were in fact dumped in fields. And the ashes of their pets, which they had treasured, turned out to be fake.

We meet the woman who helped expose the fake DNA paternity test - as the father of her daughter tried to con his way out of his responsibilities. We meet the young woman who bought diet pills online only to find they included a banned substance that had a disastrous effect on her. And we reveal the extraordinary story of the fake buggy salesman who conned money out of young mums - but was tracked down by a campaigning grandmother.

Episode 11

We reveal the distressing story of how Alfred Mason's daughter Lorna discovered that her father had lost his entire life savings of 800,000 pounds after falling victim to conmen selling fake investments - and how she found he had ended up living in squalor. 

We follow police and trading standards officers as they raid a suspected fake numberplates factory. We follow the work of the London Borough of Hillingdon's benefit fraud investigators as they search for fake claimants and discover a fraudster using fake ID.

And we follow the story of the young woman who was conned by the fake faith healer. He pretended to be a supportive advisor but was tracked down by local trading standards officers who discovered he charged huge fees and lived a lavish lifestyle at the expense of his victims. And we meet Raymond Kaye and his wife Paula from Hull and hear the story of how Ray's desperation to win the holiday of a lifetime to Canada for Paula, led to his addiction to a fake prizes scam. It cost him their savings and almost their marriage.

Episode 12

We reveal the extraordinary case of the holidaymaker who was arrested in Jamaica after luggage containing drugs was checked in under her name on a flight to the UK. We also meet the woman who booked a ski chalet for herself and a group of friends only to discover that the chalet did not exist. We investigate fake withdrawals from bank accounts and show sinister new equipment that could allow criminals to carry out what appear to be genuine transactions - by faking our pin numbers. We follow the story of how one man's visit to his family abroad was ruined after he was sold a fake airline ticket, how a fake literary agent conned dozens of victims - including one woman who was told the book she had written about her father was going to become a big budget movie - and we show how the lives of thousands of workers all over the country are being put in danger by fake safety equipment.

Episode 13

We follow the UK Border Agency teams as they uncover illegal workers using fake documents to work in restaurants and take aways in Liverpool. We visit Newquay in Cornwall and show the increasing problem of fake IDs used by underage drinkers - and we see how a trading standards team shut down a company supplying the fake identification online.

We meet the Suffolk businessman who fell for the fake overseas inheritance scam - which ultimately cost him his home and his life savings. We follow the work of an undercover insurance investigator as he tracks down a woman believed to be faking an insurance claim. And we meet the mother and daughter who thought they were buying their dream horse.

Episode 14

We follow the UK Border Agency teams as they discover illegal immigrants using fake documents to get jobs in the capital. We meet the teaching assistant who believed her online romance was with an American soldier in Afghanistan - but it was a fake soldier and she was conned out of thousands of pounds.

We see immigration officers at heathrow airport investigate a woman trying to enter the UK on a fake passport she had bought for thousands of dollars in Africa. We show some of the bizarre fake documents that travellers try and use to gain entry to the UK. We follow trading standards teams as they crack down on the burgeoning business of fake champagne and we reveal how people are faking their entitlement to disability blue badges so they can park for free and save thousands of pounds.

Episode 15

Police and UK Border Agency officers find more than they bargained for when they go on the hunt for fake passports. Fake Britain investigates the shocking cruelty of the fakers skinning animals alive in order to copy popular footwear brands, and goes on the trail of the fake landlords cheating the council house waiting list by illegally subletting council flats. And how safe are you when buying perfumes and fragrances online? Some of the most notorious internet sellers are put to the test.

We're on the inside of an operation aimed at stopping the trade in fake medicines, and the dealers that make thousands from peddling them. Also featured are the story of the art forger whose fake Victorian fairy paintings were so good, they almost fooled the art world; the fake holiday villa conman who cost British tourists thousands; and how insurance investigators busted the bus-crash-for-cash fakers who thought they had come up with the perfect insurance fraud.

We're on the road with the Greater Manchester police as they crack down on the fakers at the heart of the counterfeiting capital of Britain, the city's Strangeways district. We put the fake energy-saving plugs being targeted at the elderly to the test, and find out they could cost a lot more than just cash. And we catch up with the fake dental technician making illegal dentures from a laundry room.

In this episode, the fake DVD factory making £100,000 a week - we're out with the enforcement agencies who'll stop at nothing to halt their illegal activity. Could your child be playing with dangerous fake toys? We put cheap Chinese counterfeits, from cuddly animals to babydolls, to the test. Plus, the art forger who made tens of thousands faking the paintings of famous fine artists. And the story of the NHS dentist who treated hundreds of patients after faking her qualifications - we find out how the authorities brought her career of lies to an abrupt end.

In this episode, the banknote counterfeiting gang that tried to beat the Bank of England - we're with the City of London police as they give the money forgers a very rude awakening. Plus the battlefield tour conman who took war veterans for a ride by taking them nowhere at all, and the terrifying new credit card fakery that's almost completely undetectable.

In this episode, we're with the City of London police as they go in pursuit of one of the country's most audacious ID fraudsters, whose fakery is taking hundreds of thousands of pounds off the state and into his pocket.

We reveal the fake veterinary medicines that made two fraudsters millions but could cost you more than just money. Plus the fake baby carriers putting your child's safety in jeopardy, and how one faker even compromised aircraft fire extinguishers.

This episode features a look at the latest in cutting-edge insurance fraud: faking pet insurance claims, including the woman that kept dead puppies in her freezer to try and hoodwink the insurers.

Brent and Harrow Trading Standards take on the market traders that are the public face of the multi-million pound industry in fake clothing.

Plus the fake cigarette factories on your doorstep, and the dangers that lurk inside fake cigarette; and the fakery that is going on in pubs and clubs up and down Britain: the pint that is not a pint.

Fake Britain is a UK BBC consumer rights programme, currently presented by Matt Allwright since 2013, however the show was previously presented by Dominic Littlewood between 2010 to 2012.

The programme airs weekdays in a daytime slot, however shortened down repeats are often shown in the primetime evening slot.

The programme covers various aspects of counterfeiting and effects on consumers including dangerous tools, ineffective or dangerous medicines, shoddy goods sold under reputable names, documents used for identity theft.

All Episodes of Fake Britain

Season 1

Fake Goods

Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 3/8/2010

Fake Cash and Cards

Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 3/9/2010

Fake Cars

Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 3/10/2010

Fake Medicines

Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 3/11/2010

Fake Identity

Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 3/12/2010