The Best Episodes of Panorama Season 70

In a little under three months, residents of what was a thriving city witnessed the deaths of women and children in a maternity hospital and bodies left abandoned on the streets of Mariupol. Filmed and told by many of the citizens of Mariupol, this powerful documentary records the deaths of thousands and daring escapes, and is the story of their loss, bravery and determination.

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Offshore money, huge fees, suspicious payments and a phantom head of the KGB - just some of what a group of ordinary British savers discovered when the £46 million fund they had invested in collapsed. Each year, a billion pounds is lost in failed investment schemes. Panorama tells the story of one of them and follows investors as they try to unravel the truth about the Blackmore Bond, a Manchester-based scheme, and challenge the regulators they believe failed them.

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Panorama tells the extraordinary story of how Downing Street parties led to the greatest crisis of Boris Johnson’s career. Senior Conservatives, backbench MPs and former civil servants explain how the allegations of lockdown breaches have consumed the party and engulfed government. Tracing other recent scandals, reporter John Ware asks what 'partygate' says about the prime minister’s character - and his relationship with sticking to the rules and honesty.

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It was supposed to be a joyous end to an unforgettable season, but it quickly turned into a nightmare. Journalist Layla Wright investigates events as they unfolded at the 2022 UEFA Champions League final in Paris between Liverpool and Real Madrid to try to understand what went wrong. Drawing on extensive first-hand testimony and mobile phone footage, Panorama pieces together the definitive forensic picture of what took place, examines mistakes made by UEFA and the French authorities, and asks what lessons can be learned for the future of fan safety.

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Panorama investigates the disturbing online trade in sexually explicit images and video of women, often taken and posted online without their consent. Reporter Monika Plaha meets women whose lives were ruined when intimate pictures of them were put on social media. She asks whether some tech companies are doing enough to combat this illicit trade, and she tracks down one man responsible for running an online community awash with explicit material.

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The story of the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history and those whose lives were devastated by it.

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As Boris Johnson is forced from office, for Panorama Laura Kuenssberg follows the dramatic events of the last seven days in Westminster. She looks back at the scandals that defined his premiership and ultimately led to his downfall. She hears from the insiders who tried to persuade him to go, the candidates vying to replace him and the colleagues who warned it was always going to end like this.

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It is being described as a national emergency. Energy bills are soaring and families across the UK are struggling to cope. Millions are falling into fuel poverty and are wondering how they will heat their homes in winter. But not everyone is suffering from the energy crisis. Reporter Bronagh Munro investigates the big companies that are profiting from rising bills and asks whether some are cashing in at our expense.

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When a Middlesbrough homeowner shouted at kids climbing onto a neighbour’s roof, he had no idea it would trigger a series of violent attacks on his property, some caught on CCTV. Panorama reporter Rory Carson investigates how anti-social behaviour blights communities across Britain and discovers how hard it can be to get help. Research by Panorama reveals that many local councils and police forces are failing to use the full force of the law to stop anti-social behaviour and how, if left unchecked, it can have serious consequences.

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Panorama investigates how survivors of major terror attacks are hounded and abused by conspiracy theorists who claim they are 'crisis actors'. US conspiracist Alex Jones has just been ordered to pay nearly $1bn to families of the Sandy Hook school shooting after claiming the attack was a hoax. Now the BBC’s disinformation correspondent Marianna Spring hunts the disaster trolls who target survivors of terror attacks in the UK and reveals new research about the popularity of these beliefs.

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British special forces killed hundreds of people on night raids in Afghanistan. The SAS say they were insurgents who were posing an imminent threat. But were some of the shootings executions? Panorama investigates a series of raids where people were shot dead after they surrendered to British troops. Reporter Richard Bilton uncovers new evidence and tracks down eyewitnesses who say they saw unarmed Afghans being killed in cold blood.

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Strikes, delays, cancellations. With the peak summer holiday season almost here, many of the UK’s airports and airlines are struggling to cope. For Panorama, Rachel Burden investigates the aviation industry at home and across Europe. She hears from holidaymakers fighting to get compensation and reveals the best and worst performing airlines. She also gets tips on the key consumer advice you need to know before you try to get on a flight this summer.

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The wood-burning Drax power station in Yorkshire provides 12 per cent of the UK’s renewable energy. It has already received £6 billion in green energy subsidies from the government. But are the wood pellets the power station burns really as sustainable as the company claims? Reporter Joe Crowley investigates where the wood comes from and uncovers an environmental scandal. He reveals how Drax is chopping down trees and taking logs from some of the world’s most precious forests.

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Four days after Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, Panorama reports on the conflict. With Paul Kenyon in Kyiv and Jane Corbin in London, the programme asks what lies behind Putin's invasion, and how Ukraine and the rest of the world have responded.

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Thousands of vulnerable people are housed and supported by not-for-profit social housing providers, many of them charities. Panorama investigates one charity and its links to a millionaire developer who has turned taxpayer-funded housing benefit into a personal fortune through the supply of properties. Reporter Rory Carson speaks to tenants who feel they’ve been let down by the charity, former employees who say serious problems of anti-social behaviour were sparked by the charity's focus on expansion and hears calls for better regulation of social housing to protect both tenants and the taxpayer.

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School’s back, but not everyone is turning up. Covid lockdowns have left a legacy of persistent absence amongst some students, and schools are under pressure to get them back through the gates. For Panorama, the BBC’s Education Editor, Branwen Jeffreys, has spent three months following the lives of students struggling to return to the classroom and asks whether harsher measures, including fining parents, can work.

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There are more cyclists on our roads than at any time in the last 50 years, and the government is spending billions trying to encourage even more people to get on their bikes. So why are there so many incidents of road rage and injury? Research suggests most people think the UK’s roads are too dangerous to cycle on. Filmed confrontations with motorists are now commonplace. Reporter Richard Bilton hits the road to investigate what’s going on between drivers and cyclists.

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Sending asylum seekers to Rwanda is part of a government plan intended to help cut the number of small boats crossing the Channel and force people smugglers out of business. But will it really deter migrants trying to come to the UK? Reporter Jane Corbin investigates the smugglers who get people into Britain and finds out what the government’s plan means for those attempting the potentially deadly journey.

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Will Donald Trump run for president again? On the eve of the US midterm elections, reporter Hilary Andersson visits Selma, North Carolina, to find out whether voters want him back. Trump’s final days in office saw his supporters attack the US Capitol, bringing the country to the brink. The country has remained dangerously divided. As many Republican candidates line up to support Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, Panorama asks whether American democracy can withstand the destructive forces now converging upon it.

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Food prices are rising at their fastest rate in more than 40 years. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to squeeze household budgets, Panorama explores why food prices are so high and looks at the impact food inflation is having on our pockets and on our health. Reporter Kate Quilton asks whether supermarkets, food producers and the government are doing enough to help shoppers. And what can people do to help make food bills more affordable?

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Chelsea-owner, Roman Abramovich, has been sanctioned by the UK government for his ties to Vladimir Putin. But where did the Russian billionaire’s money come from? Panorama reporter Richard Bilton travels to Siberia to investigate the corrupt deals that made his fortune. He uncovers new details about Mr Abramovich’s murky past and his relationship with the Kremlin.

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Two years since the start of the pandemic, the NHS is facing a new Covid crisis. The latest coronavirus variant, Omicron, is producing the biggest wave of infection yet, adding to the normal winter pressures and a waiting list that now stands at nearly six million in England. Panorama reporter Jane Corbin returns to University Hospital Coventry, where she was when the pandemic first hit, to see how it is coping now with a surge in cases and a shortage of beds and staff.

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Richard Bilton investigates the increased risks we face when we get behind the wheel of a car and asks whether weaker policing could be to blame.

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It is being described as the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet. After decades of war, eight million people are now facing starvation in Afghanistan. A million children could die. Reporter John Simpson goes back to explore the shocking unravelling of a country he has been reporting on for more than 40 years. The Taliban takeover and sanctions imposed by the west have contributed to economic collapse. There is food in the markets, but families are being driven to the edge because they simply don’t have the money to buy it.

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Most of us drink cow’s milk, but are we paying enough for it? Panorama investigates the dairy industry to find out whether animal welfare is being compromised in the drive to keep milk prices low. The film features disturbing undercover footage of farmworkers abusing cows, while reporter Daniel Foggo speaks to farmers and vets about the lives most dairy herds can expect to lead.

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