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Dispatches

Season 2012 2012
TV-PG

  • 2012-02-13T20:00:00Z on Channel 4
  • 45m
  • 22h 30m (30 episodes)
  • United Kingdom
  • English
  • Documentary, News
Covers issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment, and often features a mole inside organisations under journalistic investigation.

30 episodes

Season Premiere

2012-02-13T20:00:00Z

2012x01 Olympic Tickets for Sale

Season Premiere

2012x01 Olympic Tickets for Sale

  • 2012-02-13T20:00:00Z45m

We've spent £9 billion paying for the London 2012 Olympics. The organisers say London 2012 will be an accessible and affordable Games, leaving a lasting sporting legacy. But 1.8 million British people applied for tickets in the public ballot - over a million applied for the 100 metres final alone - and the vast majority were disappointed.

So who got the tickets and for what events? Antony Barnett investigates in this Dispatches Special.

2012x02 The Great Ticket Scandal

  • 2012-02-23T20:00:00Z45m

Fans queuing for hours to buy tickets get turned away empty handed while tickets for the same 'sold out' events appear online shortly afterwards, sometimes at astronomical prices. Channel 4 News correspondent Morland Sander investigates the multi-million-pound world of online ticket reselling where fans desperate not to miss out on in-demand concerts, festivals and sporting events often buy their tickets. Leading 'fan-to-fan' ticket exchange websites say they allow 'real fans' to sell on tickets they can no longer use. Dispatches sent reporters undercover inside two major 'fan-to-fan' ticket exchange websites to investigate who is selling via their websites and why so many tickets appear at over the face value so soon after the box office sells out.

2012x03 Watching the Detectives

  • 2012-05-14T19:00:00Z45m

How safe are your secrets? Channel 4 Dispatches reveals how easy it is to buy our most personal and confidential information.

In a year-long undercover investigation, private detectives sell us access to health and criminal records, mobile phone bills and bank accounts.

The programme discovers the extent of the black market in personal data and reveals how supposedly secure databases are open to exploitation.

Personal finance expert Harry Wallop investigates whether cutting up our credit cards and paying for everything in cash could leave us with more money in our pockets.

Jonathan Miller investigates Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his British-born wife Asma, analysing potential links between the couple and violence in the country. Assad was thought by many western leaders to be a moderniser capable of transforming Syria when he replaced his father in 2000, but the widespread killings and torture that have occurred during the past year have shown a different side to the country's glamorous leaders.

As David Cameron prepares to take the stand at the Leveson Inquiry, Peter Oborne investigates just how close the Prime Minister got to the Murdoch empire. Did the Tories agree to help the mogul secure a business deal worth £8 billion?

Oborne speaks to those close to Cameron, reveals new insight into his relationship with Murdoch's inner circle and explains the magnitude of the political crisis now confronting the country.

Senior journalists stand accused of bribery, police officers of corruption, and now a Prime Minister and parts of his cabinet are fighting for their political lives.

2012-06-18T19:00:00Z

2012x07 Let Our Dad Die

2012x07 Let Our Dad Die

  • 2012-06-18T19:00:00Z45m

In 2005 Tony Nicklinson had a catastrophic stroke, which has left him utterly paralysed. He has what is known as 'locked in syndrome' and cannot move, talk, feed himself or perform even the most basic function without help. He can only communicate via a computer controlled by his eyes.

Tony Nicklinson wants to die, but he cannot kill himself without help, and anyone who helped him would be committing murder.

On the eve of a historic and controversial legal bid to demand the right to be killed, he tells his story, comes face to face with his critics, and hears from the Greek doctor who saved his life seven years earlier, who says he wouldn't wish this condition on his worst enemy.

2012-06-25T19:00:00Z

2012x08 Undercover Undertaker

2012x08 Undercover Undertaker

  • 2012-06-25T19:00:00Z45m

Jackie Long investigates the funeral industry, using undercover filming to discover what really happens to loved ones when they die.

2012x09 Cashing in on the Games

  • 2012-07-02T19:00:00Z45m

Reporter Morland Sanders goes in search of retailers and businesses out to make a quick profit during London 2012. In addition to investigating hotels planning massive mark-ups, he explores illegal ticket touting, meets people losing their homes ahead of the Games, and examines whether the overall economic benefits of hosting the event have been overstated.

2012-07-09T19:00:00Z

2012x10 Secrets of the Taxman

2012x10 Secrets of the Taxman

  • 2012-07-09T19:00:00Z45m

An undercover report partly filmed in the Channel Islands presents new revelations about tax avoidance.

2012x11 Myths About Your 5 A Day

  • 2012-07-16T19:00:00Z45m

Dispatches investigates what's happened to the five-a-day campaign, which was designed to get us all eating more fruit and veg. Reporter Jane Moore reveals how this vital health message has been hijacked as a marketing tactic, and how the food industry uses the campaign to promote sugary, fatty, salty products like ready meals, soups and drinks.

She also looks at confusion over what actually counts as a five-a-day portion and investigates whether the government is effectively regulating what the food industry tells us about the scheme.

2012x12 Can You Trust Your Bank?

  • 2012-07-23T19:00:00Z45m

The Barclays interest rate scandal, unimaginable bonuses and insurance misselling have put the banking sector firmly in the public spotlight. In this special report, Jon Snow travels around the UK, meeting consumers, businesses and bankers, to ask whether we can trust our banks.

2012-07-30T19:00:00Z

2012x13 Britain on the Sick

2012x13 Britain on the Sick

  • 2012-07-30T19:00:00Z45m

Using undercover filming, reporter Jackie Long investigates the controversial processes used to assess whether sickness and disability benefit claimants should be declared fit for work.

Michael Crick investigates the boom in High Street betting shops and their impact on communities. Have the politicians got the gambling laws all wrong?

Reporter Morland Sanders investigates Jobcentre Plus, the organisation tasked with getting Britain back to work and cracking down on dole cheats. With the help of jobseekers, undercover filming and a former insider, the programme reveals the shirkers' tricks that make it easy to cheat the system.

Morland Sanders examines how leasehold properties can expose homeowners to unfair charging, and the government's reluctance to improve regulation.

After Jamie Oliver's high-profile campaign to improve school meals, millions of pounds were pumped into improving school canteens and tough minimum standards on food and nutrition were set and enforced. Reporter Tazeen Ahmad examines evidence that strategies to improve the food served in all our schools are fast coming undone.

2012-09-17T19:00:00Z

2012x18 Secrets of Poundland

2012x18 Secrets of Poundland

  • 2012-09-17T19:00:00Z45m

As other High Street retailers struggle for survival, discount leader Poundland is booming.

With a new store opening on average every five days, its pre-tax profits are up an astonishing 50% in a year.

In this Dispatches investigation, Harry Wallop asks how Poundland sells so cheaply, yet makes so much money.

Dispatches goes undercover to investigate the multi-million pound retirement property industry.

Dispatches goes undercover to investigate the reality of life below deck for the multi-national workforce who toil behind the scenes of glamorous ocean going holidays. Reporter Tazeen Ahmad, travelling as a passenger on a European cruise, discovers working conditions below the legal minimum in the UK.

As the pay packets of Britain's top bosses continue to escalate, Channel 4 Dispatches follows the former Greggs chief executive Sir Michael Darrington as he launches a campaign to call a halt to corporate greed.

Dispatches investigates a new controversial pilot scheme in which men and women are warned by the authorities about their partners' history of violence.

2012x23 Getting Rich on the NHS

  • 2012-10-29T20:00:00Z45m

Under the new health reforms, private firms are being awarded millions of pounds-worth of NHS contracts. One of the major new players is Virgin Care, a global brand more readily associated with planes, trains and record stores. The company is already providing medical services and running entire medical centres and is developing links to GPs across England. Health reforms were meant to improve choice and competition, and put GPs in the driving seat. Morland Sanders examines whether the rapid handover of services to private contractors is really good for the public purse, and good for patient care.

2012-11-05T20:00:00Z

2012x24 Nuclear War Games

2012x24 Nuclear War Games

  • 2012-11-05T20:00:00Z45m

In the midst of a turbulent post Arab-spring Middle East, Israel's threats of military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities have raised fears of a confrontation between the two countries. This film, which has obtained exclusive access to Israeli theoretical war exercises, provides unprecedented insight into Israel's internal tensions concerning an attack between Israel and Iran which, if escalates, could have major implications for global stability.

The film features exclusive access to a theoretical exercise, a 'war game', conducted by the INSS - an Israeli think tank made up of senior Israeli experts and former political and military leaders - the results of which are fed back to the Israeli government.

Dispatches explores the views of those who are both for and against military action and demonstrates how some elements in Israel believe Iran would retaliate - providing a valuable insight into the likelihood of any military attack.

2012-11-12T20:00:00Z

2012x25 Chinese Murder Mystery

2012x25 Chinese Murder Mystery

  • 2012-11-12T20:00:00Z45m

An investigation in to the death of Neil Percival Heywood which sheds new light on his relationship with one of China's most powerful families.

Two years after the MPs expenses scandal, Dispatches examines whether our parliamentarians are still abusing the system. The investigation discovers a system still with problems and a lack of transparency, while unearthing evidence that some MPs are still cashing in.

2012-12-03T20:00:00Z

2012x28 The Chinese Are Coming

2012x28 The Chinese Are Coming

  • 2012-12-03T20:00:00Z45m

As China continues to flex its financial muscle by buying into British airports, water and breakfast cereals, Dispatches investigates growing Chinese power in the UK.

The programme tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Dalai Lama's visit to Britain, and reveals details of how British politicians from the Highlands of Scotland to the heart of Westminster are influenced by the Chinese government.

2012-12-10T20:00:00Z

2012x29 How Safe is Your Cash?

2012x29 How Safe is Your Cash?

  • 2012-12-10T20:00:00Z45m

During the first four months of the year, the number of fraudulent attacks on credit and debit cards almost doubled on that of last year. Morland Sanders learns about a growing concern that some of the major banks are refusing to accept liability if the account holder's personal identification number has been compromised in some way.

The series reports on how on Friday December 14 a gunman walked into his local primary school in Newtown, Connecticut and killed twenty children aged between five and ten as well as seven adults

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