CHANNEL 4 NEWS: Could the Tottenham riots have been prevented?
19th August 2011 - Channel 4
Reporter: Simon Israel
The following current affairs investigations were produced by Contemporary TV's precursor company First Frame TV.
DISPATCHES: The Children Britain Betrayed
Channel 4
An investigation into the failings in Britain's child protection system. A child is killed every seven days by a parent or carer in the UK. Analysis of 180 recent child deaths by the production team revealed that - unlike Baby Peter in Haringey - the vast majority of murdered infants were not on a child protection register. The programme highlights failures by police, GPs, social workers, hospital doctors and mental health agencies to act on evidence that many of the children were at significant risk prior to being killed.
Reporter: Peter Oborne
DISPATCHES: Lost in Care
Channel 4
An investigation into the quality of state provision for the 25,000 children who enter the care system every year. Part of Channel 4's "Britain's Forgotten Children" season, the programme reveals that hundreds of babies are lingering in care for up to three years before being adopted. Young people who've spent time in care speak out about the problems they've suffered, including being shunted from one foster home to another.
Reporter: Rageh Omaar
DISPATCHES: Why Kids Kill
Channel 4
Every week in 2007, a teenager was murdered in Britain. Programme researchers spent six months on the streets of London and Glasgow, talking to youths on the frontline of violence to find out why they are killing each other. The youths deny that most killings are drug related. They say territorialism and disputes between rival gangs are the single biggest reason for fatalities. They reveal that teenagers are increasingly carrying and using deadly weapons, including submachine guns that fire 1,000 rounds a minute. Children as young as seven are filmed gang-fighting in the streets of Glasgow.
DISPATCHES: Britain’s Mental Health Scandal
Channel 4
Using hidden cameras, this investigation reveals the hidden scandal of NHS psychiatric wards. A journalist working undercover as a healthcare assistant exposes dangerous conditions and numerous failings in duty of care including: one suicidal patient who was able to abscond twice from the same ward - and another who was able to hang herself from a curtain rail. Other shocking findings include female patients being sexually harassed by male patients on mixed wards, violent and dangerous patients being admitted to general wards and emergency safety alarms going unanswered.
DISPATCHES: Spiked
A First Frame TV/GuardianFilms co-production
An investigation into the hidden problem of drink spiking in the UK. Rape crisis centres report growing numbers of drug rape allegations, with one Cardiff clinic saying numbers had doubled in the last two years. An analysis of prosecuted cases reveals that perpetrators are more likely to use common tranquilisers than 'specialist' drugs like rohypnol. The programme includes secret camera footage of one convicted rapist spiking his victim's drink with an over-the-counter prescription medication and interviews with some of the women targeted and raped.
Reporter: Maggie O'Kane
DISPATCHES: Thug Life - The Crisis Facing Young Black Men
An LWT/First Frame TV co-production
An investigation into the reasons why a disproportionate number of young black people are joining gangs and getting involved in violent and drug-related crime. The programme uncovers a failure by the authorities and local communities to tackle the root causes - including disproportionate levels of poverty and deprivation, academic under-achievement and school exclusion.
Reporter: Geoff Schumann
DISPATCHES: Gang Wars
Channel 4
This investigation reveals the hitherto hidden and growing scale of youth gang membership in Britain. In the largest ever survey of youth gangs in the UK, Dispatches discovers that teen gang members are committing and suffering horrific violence. Stabbings are routine while youth-on-youth street killings are becoming increasingly common. In some parts of the country, a young person risks being seriously injured or killed, simply by going into another gang's territory. The programme reveals that the police are currently failing to identify and acknowledge the seriousness of the problem.
Reporter: Ishmahil Blagrove
DISPATCHES: Sex on the Street
Channel 4
This programme exposes the scandal that makes Britain's street sex workers the most physically brutalised, yet least protected, group in society. In a six-month long investigation that involved interviewing 110 prostitutes in 18 towns and cities, a terrifying pattern of violence emerged. Most street prostitutes had been robbed, assaulted, or raped. Prostitutes form the single, largest category of unsolved murders. Street workers explain how policing tactics of 'clearing the streets' place them in greater danger and make it far easier for the killers to get away with murder. The programme reveals how a more tolerant approach in Glasgow has resulted in fewer murders.
Reporter: Maggie O'Kane
DISPATCHES: Still Getting Away with Rape
Channel 4
A follow up to the Royal Television Society award-winning Dispatches: Getting Away with Rape. Researchers attended all rape trials in England over a 4 month period to investigate the very low conviction rate for rape. Using dramatic reconstructions based on original court transcripts, the programme exposes the 'dirty tricks' used by defence barristers. These include introducing irrelevant information about the victim's previous sexual partners to discredit their character, and confidential medical information - like past use of anti-depressants - to imply mental instability.
Reporter: Deborah Davies.
CHANNEL 4 NEWS: Nicholas Webb Edwards
7.30pm 21 September 2000
Seven-minute news item on a landmark House of Lords judgement allowing juries to hear about previous rape charges, even if the defendant had been found not guilty. The first use of this new law was in the rape trial of Nicholas Webb Edwards - a serial rapist exposed in the 1994 Dispatches: Getting Away with Rape programme. Edwards had been acquitted of rape on five occasions. At his latest trial, previous victims were able to give 'similar fact' evidence. This time, Edwards was found guilty and given a life sentence.
Reporter: Victoria MacDonald
DISPATCHES: The Fight for a Child
Channel 4
Part of Channel 4's "Adoption on Trial" season, this progamme investigates the large number of children from ethnic minority backgrounds languishing in care because local authorities will only place them with families of the same ethnicity - despite an acute shortage of prospective adopters from ethnic minorities. Child care experts argue that this political correctness by local authorities and social workers is misguided and damaging to children's welfare.