Dispatches — Season 27

Aired 7 January 2013

Investigates claims that major insurers cash in when you have a crash, through maximizing profits, lucrative referral fees and rebate deals, sometimes at the expense of doing what's best for you and your car.

Aired 14 January 2013

Today, 1 in 3 children in the UK grow up in a home with only one parent. Are we doing what's best for the children of separated parents? Dispatches investigates the current situation surrounding shared parenting after divorce or separation

Aired 21 January 2013

A look at rising food price and the comparison between different supermarket stores, food markets and independent shops.

Aired 28 January 2013

Investigates the UK's largest diet brand: Weight Watchers.

Aired 30 January 2013

In a year-long investigation, other victims of child abuse from this closed community express their anger about the lack of justice caused by their leaders' misguided approach to dealing with the issue.

Aired 4 February 2013

Aired 11 February 2013

As the government unveils its plans to increase the number of children each nursery staff member is allowed to look after, Dispatches investigates whether parents can really trust their child's nursery.

Aired 18 February 2013

From burgers to ready meals, Britain's horse meat scandal has grown and grown. For Dispatches, Morland Sanders asks how Britain's meat supplies became so contaminated with unauthorized horse meat and who is to blame?

Aired 25 February 2013

The Disability Living Allowance helps more than 3 million people lead useful lives. But the benefit bill has to be cut, and the gov't plans to take more than half a million claimants off DLA. What will that mean for those who depend on it?

Aired 4 March 2013

Dispatches investigates the truth behind allegations that tens of thousands of seriously ill people have been put on a pathway to death. That doctors have callously killed off patients who could have had months or even years to live.

Aired 11 March 2013

Designer dogs are all the rage with celebrities and many animal lovers. But Dispatches has discovered a darker side to this canine phenomenon: thousands of puppies are being imported illegally into Britain every year from Eastern Europe.

Aired 18 March 2013

In budget week Michael Buerk investigates claims that Britain's pensioners are part of an untouchable group when it comes to government welfare cuts and that some should not be receiving any help at all.

Aired 25 March 2013

Three years ago, European regulations were brought in to limit hours and to protect both doctors and patients. In this Dispatches, Dr Christian discovers that junior doctors across Britain are still regularly working up to 100 hours a week

Aired 15 April 2013

In this report Morland Sanders investigates whether Britain's immigration system is fit for purpose with reports that tens of thousands of files sit uncleared in the system and a large backlog of immigration cases not dealt with.

Aired 17 April 2013

A remarkable film from award-winning documentary maker Olly Lambert who has spent weeks living deep inside Syrian territory - with both gov't and opposition supporters - to explore how the 2 year old conflict is tearing communities apart.

Aired 22 April 2013

Why are some convicted criminals still enjoying luxury lifestyles funded by their ill-gotten gains? Dozens of fraudsters, drug dealers and money launderers are still enjoying the high life despite being convicted of serious crimes.

Aired 29 April 2013

With shoppers increasingly relying on private parcel companies to deliver online purchases, Dispatches goes undercover to find out why couriers sometimes fail to deliver.

Aired 13 May 2013

In 2011, Jennifer Mills-Westley, a 60-year-old British grandmother, was attacked and publicly beheaded in broad daylight in Tenerife. Traumatized by the event, her family have never spoken in detail - until tonight.

Aired 20 May 2013

Three years ago Telford police allowed cameras to start filming what became one of the biggest child sex abuse cases in the UK. The investigation, Operation Chalice, encompassed over 100 victims, and around 200 suspected perpetrators

Aired 3 June 2013

On 15 April two bombs exploded at the finishing line of the Boston Marathon. Just over a month later a British soldier was run over and hacked to death on a London street. The images from either side of the Atlantic shocked the world.

Aired 10 June 2013

Dr. Deborah Cohen, investigations editor at the British Medical Journal, examines a new generation of diabetes drugs that some drug companies hope could also be a magic treatment for obesity.

Aired 17 June 2013

Councils across the UK have annual budgets in the tens of billions of pounds. But do you know what they really spend it on?

Aired 24 June 2013

Dispatches exposes the shocking story of Britain's secret police and how undercover officers reportedly used sex and lies to spy on members of the public. Dispatches reveals the names of high-profile targets spied on by the police.

Aired 1 July 2013

Last year Prince Charles earned more than £18 million from the Duchy of Cornwall, but how much do we know about this secretive estate? A hugely profitable property empire and the amount of tax Prince Charles is paying.

Aired 15 July 2013

With South Africa's future under the spotlight, Channel 4 Dispatches examines allegations that the country's police have become a brutal and corrupt force.

Aired 22 July 2013

More than 200 children convicted of fighting for the Taliban are currently being held in special prisons across Afghanistan. Their crimes include the laying of improvised explosive devices, ambush and the preparation of suicide missions.

Aired 29 July 2013

Two undercover reporters reveal worrying failings in the new NHS 111 call system. Working as trainee call handlers, the reporters filmed evidence of patients left waiting, concerns about training, and staff shortages.

Aired 5 August 2013

Dispatches investigate what's real and what's fake in the brave new world of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, exposing new tricks used by marketers to plug brands, from buying fake Facebook 'likes' to influencing social media conversations.

Aired 12 August 2013

Channel 4's flagship current affairs programme: Dispatches, hears from pilots of Europe's biggest airline about their concerns around passenger safety.

Aired 12 September 2013

Aired 21 October 2013

Morland Sanders meets employees at some of Britain's biggest businesses who say they're paying for the bosses' cost-cutting measures and, while profits have gone up, their working conditions may never recover.

Aired 28 October 2013

Reporter Antony Barnett secretly films the latest tactics used by estate agents to secure sales and commissions and asks whether some agents are even willing to lie to seal the deal.

Aired 4 November 2013

Energy bills are on the rise and in the news. Consumers are furious. The Labour Party wants a price freeze. John Major wants a windfall tax. But the big six energy firms say it's not their fault prices are so high.

Aired 11 November 2013

Dispatches reveals that failing doctors routinely slip through the system. We've been filming secretly in GP practices and have uncovered concerning evidence of misdiagnosis by doctors who have failed in the past, but are still practicing

Aired 14 November 2013

North Koreans are breaking down the barriers of the gulag state. Following covert filmmakers, this doc shows real life under the new leader Kim Jong Un, highlighting the contrasting ox-drawn farms to the glittering life of the elite in Pyongyang. The starving children on the streets are of artificial food shortages engendered by corruption. See how USBs, cell phones and DVDs from the South are transforming North Koreans' views of their world.

Aired 18 November 2013

Michael Buerk investigates the pensions crises facing us all. As the cost of living rises faster than many pay packets and life expectancy increases, he asks what your pension is really worth?

Aired 25 November 2013

As Britain gets fatter, Channel 4 Dispatches investigates what the real cost is to the nation. The programme follows the treatment of some of Britain's morbidly obese patients to reveal the spiralling cost to the NHS.

Aired 9 December 2013

Lifts the lid on the shops promising luxury labels for less.