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File on 4 Investigates

BBC Radio 4

News-making original journalism documentary series, investigating stories at home and abroad.

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

36:52

Anatomy of a Firetrap

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/05/06

Around the UK, a hidden crisis has been growing over the past eight years.Since the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, something extraordinary has become clear about many of Britain's high-rise residential buildings. They are nothing like as safe as we had imagined. In fact, the latest statistics show that more than 5,000 high-rise buildings have faults so serious they pose a risk to life. Clearing this up has quietly become one of the biggest infrastructure challenges of our generation, with a bill

38:57

Hell and High Water: Are we ready for the floods?

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/04/29

2024 experienced the wettest period since records began and extreme rainfall events are becoming more frequent because of climate change. So what's being done to protect us from flooding - and is it enough? The Government has said it will build 1.5 million new homes by the end of the current parliament - but File on 4 Investigates has discovered that hundreds of thousands of homes have already been built in areas at high risk of flooding. And a measure to protect new properties against flash floods

38:50

What’s Happening to Your Vet Bills?

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/04/15

Pet ownership has rocketed since the covid pandemic, but so have vet prices. In fact, bills have increased by more than 60% in the last ten years. The Competition and Markets Authority is so concerned about the increases it has a launched an investigation into the industry and is due to reveal its findings this year. Datshiane Navanyagam investigates the pet industry and the corporate takeover of high street vets – talking to whistleblowers about how they feel they're being measured on the amount of

43:05

The Tyre Scandal

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/03/25

Every year the UK produces around 50 million tyres for disposal. They’re supposed to be sent for recycling. Instead, big money is being made by diverting tyres to illegal and dangerous 'pyrolysis' plants they're melted down to extract oil and steel. File on 4 Investigates, together with a team of journalists from Source Material, a not-for-profit group specialising in climate and corruption, follow the tyres from the UK to India using tracking devices. The team discovers just how large scale this

41:34

Femicide

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/03/11

At least two women are murdered every week in the UK in a domestic abuse situation. Newspapers often call it a crime of passion. ‘He lost control’. But what if that’s not true? What if there was a blueprint that, if recognised, could save a woman’s life?The Homicide Timeline contains eight stages that track the escalation of a controlling relationship from before a couple even meet right up to homicide. Families often say “I wish I’d known”. This programme will tell them the signs to look out for so

38:26

Locked up: Woman held in mental health facility for...

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/03/04

File on 4 Investigates tells the story of Kasibba – a woman locked up as a schoolgirl in a mental health hospital. She languished there for 45 years - despite not being mentally ill. She was finally freed two years ago after the intervention of a rookie psychologist. Reporter Carolyn Atkinson asks why so many autistic people and/or those with a learning disability, including children, are still locked up and why successive governments have failed to meet their promises to move people from hospital

42:46

Generation K: Kids on Ketamine

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/02/25

File on 4 Investigates goes to Burnley in Lancashire to meet the young people and their families as they grapple with a ketamine epidemic.Used in human and veterinary medicine as an anaesthetic, experts say the drug is being used by increasing numbers of young people because it's cheap, easy to obtain and fashionable. But the health implications can be catastrophic - even fatal. It can cause mental health problems and irreversible bladder and kidney damage. Reporter Jane Deith hears from the

42:50

Abramovich, the Yachts and the Tax Dodge

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/01/28

With the billions he made at the expense of Russian taxpayers, Roman Abramovich bought six luxury superyachts over the years. Among them were the 162-metre-long Eclipse, with swimming pools, helipads and a missile defence system - and the Pelorus - sometimes lent to Chelsea footballers.They could each cost up to one and a half million dollars just to re-fuel. If they’d been declared as being for his own personal use, VAT would have been payable on costs like that. Instead, for more than a decade,

42:58

Cannabis Kids: The parents breaking the law to help...

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/01/14

Tens of thousands of children and young people across the UK suffer from severe forms of epilepsy which are resistant to treatment.For those with intractable epilepsy the options for treatment are limited and the risk of a catastrophic seizure is very real. But a growing body of evidence has pointed to cannabis having a positive effect on preventing seizures even in people who don't respond to other drugs. In 2018, medicinal cannabis was legalised following a high profile campaign led by parents

42:50

Bad Medicine: Inside the hospital trust at centre of...

File on 4 Investigates ·

2025/01/07

Michael Buchanan examines why the University Hospitals Sussex NHS trust, once considered one of England’s best, has now got the largest number of patients waiting over 18 months for treatment. On top of this there is a growing police investigation into allegations of poor care.

42:16

The abuse survivors calling on archbishop of York to...

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/12/16

The BBC's religion editor Aleem Maqbool hears from sexual abuse victims who say they were let down by senior church leaders for decades. Priest David Tudor was allowed to continue working within the Church of England - despite widespread concerns about his behaviour. Now there are calls for the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell to resign over his handling of the case. He is due to take temporary charge of the church in the New Year following the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin

42:50

The International Student Scandal

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/12/03

Universities in the UK are facing a financial crisis, and with fears some may become bankrupt many institutions are making savings by cutting courses and staff numbers. Falling numbers of international students, who pay higher fees than their domestic counterparts, is partly to blame for the funding gap. File on 4 investigates if universities have become too reliant on overseas students, in some cases favouring the ability to pay over academic ability and overlooking the poor English language skills

42:57

The Asylum Business

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/11/26

The government has pledged to stop using hotels to house asylum seekers. But in early November nearly three hundred people were moved into a hotel in Altrincham in Greater Manchester. The decision has provoked widespread concerns from the community and there are fears that far right protestors could target the premises. It follows violent demonstrations outside hotels in Rotherham, Hull, Tamworth, Manchester, Aldershot and Bristol in the summer. Hotel accommodation is often provided in some of the

42:44

The Labour Market: Women who have babies outside the NHS

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/11/19

A series of scandals involving babies and mothers being harmed in hospital have shaken some people’s confidence in NHS maternity care. As a result, many women are looking for alternatives when they give birth. Some are seeking help from outside of the NHS; including paying independent midwives, and even ‘freebirthing’, where they receive no medical support at all. But how safe is this, and is more regulation needed?Presenters: Rachel Stonehouse and Matthew Hill Producer: Fergus Hewison Production

42:38

Back Street Beauty

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/11/05

File on 4 investigates the cosmetic beauty trade after the first death in the UK following a liquid BBL procedure. Jane Deith meets women who have been disfigured by this and other cosmetic procedures, and considers why existing regulation is struggling to keep up with a growing industry. A beauty salon in Clapham, London is exposed for the first time in this programme by a trainee who is horrified by what she witnesses. Several women have complained, claiming they were injured and disfigured by

43:13

Gig Economy: The Ticketing Business

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/10/28

When the rock band Oasis announced they were reuniting, 10 million fans from all over the world joined the queue for tickets. It was the UK’s biggest ever concert launch. Tickets quickly sold out and within hours, many were being offered for sale on secondary ticketing sites at vastly inflated prices. File on 4 investigates the online ticketing market to discover who's ahead of you in the queue - and how they're getting there.Reporter: Adrian GoldbergProducer: Hayley Mortimer Technical Producer:

37:58

The rise in prison recalls

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/10/22

The number of people being recalled to prison after they’ve been released has nearly doubled in recent years. It has come at a significant cost to the public – but has it made the public significantly safer? Most recalls aren’t for further offending. Could the gains made by the early release scheme be undermined by the huge number of people being recalled to prison?Former prisoner and filmmaker Chris Atkins investigates the opaque world of prison recalls. He speaks to prison reform charities who say

37:49

Lucy Letby: The Killer Questions

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/10/01

File on 4 examines some of the most contentious statistical, scientific and medical evidence in the Lucy Letby trial. The programme reveals new concerns involving medical evidence presented in court where Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others. Reporter: Stephanie HegartyProducers: Fay Nurse, Ben Robinson and Hayley Mortimer Technical Producers: Richard Hannaford and Nicky Edwards Production Coordinator: Tim Fernley Editor: Carl Johnston

37:40

After the Riots

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/08/27

Mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers came under attack during the riots that swept across the country earlier this month. The courts have been tough on violent disorder, but File on 4 examines how tackling the possible root causes may require an even stronger effort. Tensions over immigration are still simmering, particularly in areas that have long been in economic decline. Paul Kenyon reports.Producer: Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer: Nicky Edwards Production Coordinator: Tim

41:46

Invisible Souls

File on 4 Investigates ·

2024/08/18

Fishermen from the Philippines, Ghana and Sri Lanka speak out about how badly, they say, they were treated by a Scottish fishing company that hired them. Most of the fishermen have been waiting in the UK for more than 10 years for their case to be heard. Despite two extensive police investigations, no convictions have been secured for human trafficking or modern slavery. This is the first time the fishermen have spoken out. Reporter and Producer Monica Whitlock. Music by Jon Nicholls. Mix and

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