The BEST episodes of Panorama season 2012
Every episode of Panorama season 2012, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Panorama season 2012!
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 - Poor America
Season 2012 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/13/2012
Panorama's Hilary Andersson comes face to face with the reality of poverty in America and finds that, for some, the last resort has become life in a tented encampment. Just off the side of a motorway on the fringes of the picturesque town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a mismatched collection of 30 tents tucked in the woods has become home - home to those who are either unemployed, or whose wages are so low that they can no longer afford to pay rent. Conditions are unhygienic. There are no toilets and electricity is only available in the one communal tent where the campers huddle around a wood stove for warmth in the heart of winter. Ice weighs down the roofs of tents, and rain regularly drips onto the sleeping campers' faces. Tent cities have sprung up in and around at least 55 American cities - they represent the bleak reality of America's poverty crisis.
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#2 - Murdoch's TV Pirates
Season 2012 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/26/2012
As Rupert Murdoch faces accusations of law-breaking and corruption at his British tabloid newspapers, Panorama reveals fresh hacking allegations striking at the heart of News Corporation's pay-TV empire. The investigation examines the role of former senior police officers in recruiting people to break the law - in order to bring down Murdoch's commercial rival. Vivian White reveals fresh allegations of hacking at the heart of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, this time involving its pay-TV services. The investigation examines the alleged role of former senior police officers in recruiting people to break the law in order to bring down one of the media mogul's commercial rivals. Postponed from Monday March 12.
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#3 - Kony: Hunt for the World's Most Wanted
Season 2012 - Episode 29 - Aired 8/20/2012
Somewhere in the vast, dense jungles of central Africa, is hidden Joseph Kony, one of the world's most wanted men. For the past 25 years, Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army have waged one of the continent's darkest conflicts; using an army of abducted and brutalised children to kill and maim tens of thousands of people. But how has one man, said to take his orders from the spirit world, managed to escape capture for so long? In the wake of the infamous 'Kony 2012' internet campaign to bring him to justice this year, Bafta-winning reporter, Sorious Samura, investigates the myths surrounding Kony and travels to the front line of the fight to bring one of Africa's most bizarre and brutal leaders to justice.
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#4 - Britain's Hidden Alcoholics
Season 2012 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/20/2012
Alastair Campbell examines Britain's complicated relationship with alcohol and visits the exclusive Clouds House addiction treatment centre in Wiltshire to meet some of the growing numbers of middle-class "functioning alcoholics".
#5 - The Money Farmers
Season 2012 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/5/2012
Samantha Poling reveals how millions of pounds of public money are being paid out to businessmen and millionaire farmers in an abuse of the farming subsidy system. Investors tell us how they have been paid without having to do any farming at all. And Samantha also sets out to see if she can take advantage of the subsidy system and become rich from the loophole. The programme also examines the rest of the subsidy system and hears criticism of large payments to wealthy individuals like the Queen and the Duke of Westminster simply on the basis of owning large amounts of land.
#6 - Britain on the Brink: Back to the 70s?
Season 2012 - Episode 23 - Aired 7/9/2012
Britain today is suffering the longest peacetime slump in decades. Our economy is in a double-dip recession for the first time since 1975. Panorama asks whether Britain is ready and able to cope with a new age of austerity with surprising echoes of the 1970s. Reporter Adam Shaw examines if we're about to suffer the same social and political upheaval that emerged from that decade.
#7 - Hunting the Internet Bullies
Season 2012 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/6/2012
Online bullying is rapidly growing in size and intensity. A new breed of self-styled "trolls" are stalking social networking websites, aiming their vicious attacks at victims who range from TV celebrities to grieving teenagers. Declan Lawn meets X Factor star Cher Lloyd, who describes how cyber attacks are ruining her life, and highlights a new survey revealing that one in thirteen young people face persistent online bullying. Panorama tracks down some of the bullies and asks: what more could be done to stop them?
#8 - Kill at Will? America on Trial
Season 2012 - Episode 38 - Aired 10/15/2012
Ahead of America's costliest-ever elections, Raphael Rowe investigates how powerful lobby groups helped create laws blamed for one of the most controversial killings in recent US history. The shooting dead of a 17-year-old teenager by a neighbourhood watchman polarised America, provoked presidential intervention and shone a light on an extreme American law, called 'Stand Your Ground'. It provides immunity from prosecution or, as some say, a 'License to Kill'. But does gun politics also show how America really works? Panorama asks: is American democracy for sale?
#9 - Justice Denied: The Greatest Scandal?
Season 2012 - Episode 28 - Aired 8/13/2012
The case of the Cardiff Three - wrongly convicted of murder in 1992 - refuses to go away. Twenty years after a BBC Panorama investigation helped to clear the original men, the same team returns to investigate why the trial against the police officers accused of perverting the course of justice collapsed last year, and asks: is this the biggest scandal in British legal history?
#10 - Return of the Supergrass
Season 2012 - Episode 37 - Aired 10/8/2012
The recent shootings of two Manchester policewomen have highlighted Britain's problem with violent crime. Now a previously-discredited weapon is being used to try to fight the most serious and organised crime - the supergrass, criminals prepared to turn on their own and give evidence in court. Panorama investigates the remarkable deals that these often violent gangsters are being offered to become the next generation of supergrasses. The agreements have led to gunmen getting off life sentences. A teenage gang member has also escaped prosecution, despite helping to cover up a fatal shooting. And Panorama reveals cases where the credibility of the supergrass is already in question.
#11 - Britain's Secret Health Tourists
Season 2012 - Episode 36 - Aired 10/3/2012
Declan Lawn reports on how 'health tourists' are obtaining free NHS treatment they should be paying for - at a cost of millions to our health service. Panorama goes undercover inside a black market where NHS access is being bought and sold, and finds an NHS practice manager taking money to register health tourists. Declan also discovers how easy it is for foreign nationals to get free treatment - with many hospitals across the country not making the required checks.
#12 - Undercover: Debt on the Doorstep
Season 2012 - Episode 35 - Aired 10/1/2012
The economy is showing few signs of recovery, but one area of business is doing well: door-to-door loans. Panorama investigates the debt business, a world of cash on the doorstep and high interest rates. We go undercover to reveal the tactics of the trade: the real costs of a loan and the techniques which mean that some customers may never clear their debt. And we find victims - the vulnerable and mentally ill, who are sold loans in apparent breach of industry guidelines.
#13 - Reading, Writing and Rip-Offs
Season 2012 - Episode 34 - Aired 9/24/2012
Panorama investigates the computer supply companies whose directors have grown rich signing up hundreds of schools across the country to deals that have taken them to the brink of bankruptcy. Parents are usually unaware that their school can be carrying debts of up to £1.9 million for overpriced or sub-standard equipment.
#14 - Price Tag Wars
Season 2012 - Episode 33 - Aired 9/17/2012
Jane Corbin reports on the Israeli terrorists who think that every Palestinian attack and every effortto hand back land should be met with an act of revenge.
#15 - Trouble on the Estate
Season 2012 - Episode 32 - Aired 9/11/2012
Drugs, anti-social behaviour, family break-ups and joblessness: all part of life on Britain's poorest housing estates. Filming with families, kids and police, as well as undercover with drug dealers, Panorama spent months on one estate in Blackburn finding out what it's like to live and grow up there. There's eight-year-old Oshi who is desperate to see his dad after a two year absence. Jordan, who at only 15, is threatening to leave his family home because of the trouble and 20-year-old Jessie, whose behaviour frightens other residents and keeps landing him in prison. Richard Bilton asks, is this really a picture of 'Broken Britain' - a place at the edge of where the state can make a difference?
#16 - Old, Drunk and Disorderly?
Season 2012 - Episode 31 - Aired 9/10/2012
Reporter and Labour peer Joan Bakewell investigate the hidden problem of alcohol abuse in older people. She asks why the over 65s are far more likely to drink every day, to drink at home and to drink alone.
#17 - Dial 999... and Wait?
Season 2012 - Episode 30 - Aired 9/3/2012
With police, fire and ambulance services facing cuts in public spending, Panorama examines the effect on 999 response times. Declan Lawn reveals the areas where people needing immediate help from our emergency services are left waiting, and investigates claims that lives are being put at risk.
#18 - Britain's Hidden Housing Crisis
Season 2012 - Episode 48 - Aired 12/13/2012
The series follows the struggles and challenges which are faced by four different people as they face the reality of losing their homes. The show was filmed over five months as it reveals the devastating impact of losing everything.
#19 - Jimmy Savile - What the BBC Knew
Season 2012 - Episode 39 - Aired 10/22/2012
Panorama investigates the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal and asks what the BBC knew and when, and examines the events around the dropping of the corporation's own Newsnight investigation into the subject.
#20 - The Hospital That Stopped Caring
Season 2012 - Episode 40 - Aired 10/29/2012
Last year BBC Panorama exposed the violent abuse of people with learning disabilities at Winterbourne View hospital outside Bristol. Now, using undercover footage never seen before, the programme reveals new evidence of poor training and false record-keeping. A number of former patients have faced further assaults or unnecessary restraints in other care establishments. Following the closure of Winterbourne View, and as 11 of its former staff are sentenced in court, Panorama asks: are the most vulnerable people in society any better protected?
#21 - Gambling Nation
Season 2012 - Episode 41 - Aired 11/5/2012
Even in recession-hit Britain, the gambling industry is still making a profit - £5.6 billion last year. With casino-style gambling now available day or night at the touch of a button in our homes and on our phones, Panorama explores its popularity... and reveals a darker side. Reporter Sophie Raworth hears from those who have found their lives spiralling out of control, and from industry insiders who say violence and frustration, linked to fast-paced high-stake gambling machines, are increasing in our high street betting shops. Panorama goes undercover in some of Britain's bookies to test those claims.
#22 - Badgers: Dodging the Bullet?
Season 2012 - Episode 42 - Aired 11/12/2012
Last month, days before it was due to start, the government suddenly postponed its controversial badger cull. The plan was to shoot thousands of badgers to try to control the spread of tuberculosis in cattle. Animal rights activists were ready for the biggest clash in the countryside since fox hunting was banned, while scientists questioned the evidence justifying the cull. In the face of this opposition, Panorama asks, will the government have the stomach to enforce the badger cull next year?
#23 - The Mind Reader: Unlocking My Voice
Season 2012 - Episode 43 - Aired 11/13/2012
In a world exclusive, Panorama follows a group of severely brain injured patients and reveals the revolutionary efforts made to help them communicate with their families and the outside world. Never before filmed, this Panorama Special spent more than a year with a group of vegetative patients in Britain and Canada. They witness the moment when a patient regarded as vegetative for more than a decade is able to answer a series of questions whilst inside a brain scanner. The findings have profound implications for the patients and their families, as well as ethical consequences for scientists and medical staff.
#24 - Who's Watching the Detectives?
Season 2012 - Episode 44 - Aired 11/19/2012
As the Independent Police Complaints Commission is handed the investigation into Hillsborough, the biggest policing scandal in UK history, reporter Mark Daly investigates whether the body that polices the police is fit for purpose. Panorama hears from families who say they have been failed by the police watchdog and examines growing concerns that it does not have sufficient power or the independence to hold the police to account.
#25 - Undercover: How to Dodge Tax
Season 2012 - Episode 45 - Aired 11/26/2012
Panorama goes undercover to investigate corporate service providers - the people and companies who sell corporate anonymity and access to offshore tax havens.