The BEST episodes of Panorama season 2018
Every episode of Panorama season 2018, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Panorama season 2018!
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme. First broadcast in 1953, it is the world's longest-running public affairs television programme.
#1 - Profits before Pupils? The Academies Scandal
Season 2018 - Episode 30 - Aired 9/10/2018
More than 7,000 schools in England have been turned into academies and are now run by private trusts. The people in charge are not supposed to profit from children's education, but what's to stop them from cashing in? Reporter Bronagh Munro investigates a businessman whose companies have been paid millions from school budgets and asks whether it's the pupils who are paying the price.
#2 - Trump Voters: One Year On
Season 2018 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/15/2018
Donald Trump has changed the face of American politics, but what do the people who voted for him make of his tumultuous first year in office? Filmed over a year in Michigan, Wyoming, Texas and Florida, this programme hears from Trump supporters who hoped that he would 'make America great again'. But with so much promised, Panorama asks whether his supporters are still happy and if they would vote for him again.
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#3 - Evicted for No Reason
Season 2018 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/21/2018
Richard Bilton sheds light on the difficulties faced by many private tenants in the UK, who have no long-term right to stay in their homes, and can be ordered to leave with little by the way of notice or explanation. Courts ordered more than 24,000 'No-fault' evictions last year and Richard meets some of the people whose lives have been plunged into chaos by their landlords. He also talks to landlords. Britain depends on the private sector, and 'no fault evictions' are a lifeline for Britain's millions of landlords.
#4 - Getting a Fair Trial?
Season 2018 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/30/2018
Everyone has the right to a fair trial, but how sure can people be that, if it came to it, they would get one? Panorama reporter Katie Razzall investigates cases where crucial evidence had not been investigated by the police or where evidence had been withheld from defendants. One man was wrongly jailed for four years, another had the case against him thrown out just before his trial was due to start and a man was put on trial for rape despite the alleged victim saying he should not have been charged. All rape prosecutions are now being reviewed after the collapse of some high-profile trials. Former High Court judge Richard Henriques tells the programme there have been too many cases recently where only at the last moment the truth comes to light and the system must do better.
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#5 - Syria's Chemical War
Season 2018 - Episode 34 - Aired 10/15/2018
Panorama investigates the use of chemical weapons in the civil war that's torn Syria apart in the last seven years. President Assad and his allies Russia and Iran have consistently denied the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons. But Nawal Al-Maghafi's shocking expose reveals the true extent of chemical weapons use by the regime and shows they are a crucial part of his war-winning strategy, terrorising and driving out civilians from opposition-held areas. Never before have chemical weapons have been used in this way and to this extent, but Panorama shows the west has been unable to prevent it. Nawal hears from families who have fled their homes and joined the 13 million displaced people and refugees. Though the Syrian government is now saying it's safe for refugees to return, few dare to go back home. With extraordinary footage from inside the city of Idlib, the one remaining rebel outpost, Panorama reveals the lasting impact of these weapons.
#6 - Millionaire Bankrupts Exposed
Season 2018 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2018
Bankruptcy isn't always what it seems. Some of Britain's biggest bankrupts are going to great lengths to hide their money while declaring bankruptcy to escape their debts. In this investigation, reporter Sam Poling goes undercover to expose the tricks wealthy business people can use to keep hold of their wealth, while those they owe money to are left with nothing. She meets the millionaire bankrupts making a mockery of the system and asks how they can get away with it.
#7 - Can Violent Men Change?
Season 2018 - Episode 33 - Aired 10/8/2018
Panorama explores courses and therapies designed to stop domestic abusers from reoffending, asking how effective these interventions are and if violent men can ever really change.
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#8 - Who Wants to Be a Bitcoin Millionaire?
Season 2018 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/12/2018
Panorama investigates what Bitcoin is and what it means, going inside a Bitcoin mine in Iceland - where currency is made - and spending time with the Bitcoin millionaires of Silicon Valley. The programme also hears from others who have been scammed out of their life savings and investors who think the cryptocurrency is an enormous scam and that the writing is on the wall. In Britain, and around the world, authorities are sounding the alarm that Bitcoin is too risky - is it too late, or too crazy, to try to become a Bitcoin millionaire?
#9 - White Fright: Divided Britain
Season 2018 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/22/2018
In 2007 Panorama made a programme in Blackburn, which was becoming segregated along ethnic and religious lines. Now Panorama has returned and found a town that is even more divided. Some parts of Blackburn are almost entirely Muslim Asian, while other parts are only lived in by white residents. This kind of social segregation has been described as a national crisis, despite decades of government policy aimed at bringing people together. So why do such divisions persist? Panorama visits one town to answer that question and illustrate the impact of social segregation on local communities.
#10 - Kids in Crisis
Season 2018 - Episode 32 - Aired 9/24/2018
Britain is in the grip of a child mental health crisis. Nearly half a million children are either waiting for treatment or receiving it. The government has promised more money for child mental health but in the meantime getting help is a postcode lottery. Some children are waiting up to two years to be seen and others are being sent hundreds of miles away from home for treatment. In this Panorama, Sean Fletcher, whose own teenage son Reuben has been hospitalised with severe obsessive compulsive disorder, investigates the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service - CAHMS. He investigates whether care is being rationed in some areas, leaving children to deteriorate until they have to be hospitalised. And he speaks to children who have been let down by the system and despairing parents who believe their children's lives have been put at risk.
#11 - The Universal Credit Crisis
Season 2018 - Episode 37 - Aired 11/12/2018
As the government's controversial new benefits system, universal credit, is rolled out, Panorama is with families as they struggle with their claims. The programme follows one council as it deals with mounting rent arrears and tenants in crisis. The government has responded to criticism of the new system by announcing more funding, but is it too little too late?
#12 - Gangsters' Dirty Money Exposed
Season 2018 - Episode 12 - Aired 4/23/2018
Why does London attract so much dirty money? Panorama tracks down a violent Ukrainian crime gang using offshore companies and professionals to hide suspicious wealth in the UK. An in-depth investigation of leaked documents reveals gangsters, their families and associates taking advantage of offshore secrecy and ineffective money laundering controls to buy luxurious property and expensive works of art. Reporter Andy Verity follows the gangsters' trail from Odessa to Rome and London.
#13 - Exposed: Northern Dreams, Failed Schemes
Season 2018 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/27/2018
When the government launched the Northern Powerhouse, the plan was to attract investment and improve infrastructure. But four years on, some of the big projects have failed. These high-profile property developments were marketed with great fanfare, and some were promoted and backed by local authorities. Now building sites stand abandoned, local investors have lost millions and confidence in the north has been badly damaged. So what went wrong? Reporter Michelle Ackerley investigates why some projects have failed, as well as the local developers and businesses that made big promises but have failed to deliver.
#14 - Weinstein: The Inside Story
Season 2018 - Episode 7 - Aired 3/1/2018
Harvey Weinstein was once one of the most successful producers in Hollywood history, but beneath the glitz and glamour, there was a dark story of threats, bullying and allegations of sexual assault. As Hollywood prepares to celebrate the 90th Academy Awards, Panorama investigates Weinstein's spectacular fall from grace and the extraordinary efforts he made to silence his accusers. This one-hour special, co-produced with PBS Frontline, examines the complex web of lawyers, journalists and private detectives deployed to keep Weinstein's secrets hidden.
#15 - Taking on Putin
Season 2018 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/14/2018
Vladimir Putin is about to face the voters, and most think his victory is a foregone conclusion. If the Russian president does win six more years in power, he will become the country's longest-serving ruler since Stalin. So why is Putin so powerful? Reporter John Sweeney investigates allegations that the Kremlin has subverted democracy in Russia. He meets the Putin opponent who has been banned from the election, hears from the opposition activists who say they have been attacked and finds out for himself what it is like to be targeted by the Russian state.
#16 - Trump: Is the President a Sex Pest?
Season 2018 - Episode 22 - Aired 7/9/2018
Donald Trump has been accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour by more than 20 women, but he has dismissed them all as liars. Now one of those women is suing him for defamation. An American court will have to decide what really happened and whether the President of the United States is a sexual predator. So what is the truth about Donald Trump's behaviour towards women? In the week of his visit to Britain, reporter Richard Bilton investigates new allegations about Mr Trump and meets the women who say the president is a sex pest.
#17 - Ripped Off? Join The Club
Season 2018 - Episode 41 - Aired 12/3/2018
Panorama investigates a businessman targeting sports and social clubs with offers of financial help that can end up costing them everything. With little or nothing in the bank but assets worth thousands, these clubs are often the lifeblood of local communities across the UK. In one case, a football club claims to have lost its pitch, clubhouse, car park and nearly a million pounds from the sale of a plot of their land. As reporter Jon Cuthill reveals, they are just one club among many, including Conservative clubs and working men's clubs, who say they have been ripped off after seeking help with relatively small debts. Some, with long and proud histories, have ended up closing altogether, while many have had premises they once owned outright sold from under them.
#18 - Salisbury Nerve Agent Attack: The Inside Story
Season 2018 - Episode 39 - Aired 11/22/2018
Panorama reveals the inside story of how Russia sent an assassination squad to Salisbury to murder former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
#19 - Catfish: The Billion Pound Romance Scam
Season 2018 - Episode 38 - Aired 11/19/2018
It's a crime that breaks the hearts of victims as well as emptying their bank accounts. Thousands of people lose money to romance frauds each year after being conned on internet dating sites. The criminals are called catfish, and they promise love and marriage to get cash. Reporter Athar Ahmad turns the tables on the fraudsters by using his own fake dating profile to expose the international gangs behind the crime.
#20 - Trump: What Next?
Season 2018 - Episode 36 - Aired 11/5/2018
Will President Trump be forced out of office? On the eve of the most important US midterm elections for a generation, Panorama examines allegations that Trump colluded with Russia to win the presidency, and looks at the similarities with the Watergate scandal which brought down Richard Nixon. Reporter Hilary Andersson joins the campaign trail in West Virginia, where the president's message of a vast political witch-hunt against him has fired up Republican voters. If the Democrats do well tomorrow, it could open the door to impeachment, but Trump's supporters believe they will win and warn of riots should the establishment try to take their man down.
#21 - Inside No 10: Deal or No Deal?
Season 2018 - Episode 31 - Aired 9/17/2018
The Brexit deadline is looming - just weeks left to get a deal, just months until the country is due to leave the European Union. The stakes are high for Britain, and at the centre of it all is the prime minister. Theresa May has to strike a deal with the EU and convince the public and MPs that her plan is the best plan. The only alternative, the government say, is no deal at all. But many disagree - and her own party, the opposition and the country are divided. So what does the prime minister's plan really mean, and what else could we do? At a crucial time for the country, Panorama has been inside Downing Street with Theresa May as she seeks to navigate Britain's negotiations with the EU. Nick Robinson interviews the prime minister and hears from all sides about deals and no-deal.
#22 - Police Under Pressure
Season 2018 - Episode 15 - Aired 5/16/2018
With a surge of violent crime in London and recorded crime rising across the country, Panorama films with four police forces to ask if Britain's police can cope. The film reveals forces stretched to crisis point by eight years of austerity and a national shortage of detectives. An exclusive analysis of police data for Panorama shows how fewer crimes are ending up with any suspect charged. Chief constables speak about the strains on their forces and how changes have had to be made not only in the way they prioritise crime, but how they investigate it too. But do the public accept these changes? Panorama hears from victims of crime and communities who fear Britain's streets are no longer being properly policed. Less
#23 - Murder on the Streets
Season 2018 - Episode 29 - Aired 9/3/2018
Across Britain serious violence is rising. There have been over 80 murders in London in 2018 alone, which includes eight children, under 18. Panorama investigates why young people are losing their lives, by focusing on just one of these murders. 17-year old Rhyhiem Barton grew up on the Brandon Estate in South London, and was killed on the streets there. Filming with his family and friends, the programme looks at the devastation and loss caused by Rhyhiem's death- from their perspective. It explores what might have led to his murder and how the community has responded to try and prevent more of their children being killed.
#24 - Get Rich or Die Young
Season 2018 - Episode 25 - Aired 7/30/2018
Life expectancy in Britain varies dramatically depending upon where you live. The rich live longer and the poor die younger. Reporter Richard Bilton visits Stockton, the town with the country's worst health inequality. He investigates why people in the town centre can only expect to live to 69, while their wealthier neighbours a couple of miles away will live an average of 18 years longer.
#25 - Hacked: Smart Home Secrets
Season 2018 - Episode 14 - Aired 5/14/2018
Smart devices and the latest technological gadgets give us remote control of our homes and our cars - but how safe are they? Reporter Fiona Phillips investigates their hidden dangers and reveals how products designed to make life easier around the home can be hacked. She discovers families whose children are being spied on because their baby monitors are being streamed live online, and meets a couple who had no idea they were being watched, in their own home, by thousands of strangers around the world.