Sam’s Winter Picks

From Tortoise, journalist Polly Curtis tells the story of the Gender Identity Development Service for children and young people at the Tavistock. The Tavi, as it’s known, is the only NHS clinic in England and Wales which treats children suffering from gender dysphoria. Its critics have accused it of fast-tracking young people into changing gender. Its supporters argue it has provided help and support, even a lifeline for some. In a few months’ time the clinic will close. This is the story of what happened. New episodes released weekly.

A story of power and money

Some people do extraordinary things to get rich, but few come close to Big Spender. A criminal mastermind, he grew up poor in Hong Kong and obsessed with money. So, naturally, he decided to pull off the biggest crimes of their kind the world has ever seen, triggering a crisis which reshaped China for good. This is Bad Money, a show about how power and money really work.

A Bitter Feud at Christ Church College

The very reverend professor Martyn Percy left Christ Church, Oxford, as its Dean with a £1.25 million settlement. But big questions remain. In this five-part series The Times’ journalist Andrew Billen returns to his old university college to try and understand why Percy and his employer got into a four year long battle, which left the priest close to suicide and cost the Oxford college millions in charitable funds.

A Mysterious Death

Christopher Allen was trying to make it as a war reporter when, aged just 26, he was shot and killed on the frontline in South Sudan. But as news of his death began to spread, suspicion grew. Some claimed he was really there as a mercenary, a fighter. Others said he was a reckless freelancer, in over his head. And there was another question: was he killed on purpose, or was this another accident of war?

Intimate Stories

One afternoon, Helena Merriman walked into a doctor’s surgery and was given a shock diagnosis. In this series, she interviews people who, like her, were changed by a diagnosis. Told through an immersive sound design, this intimate series shines a light on misunderstood conditions, asking how we cope when our bodies and minds behave in ways that don’t make sense to us.

A Fascinating Insight

A dramatized memoir of a Special Branch officer operating at the outset of the Northern Ireland Troubles. James (not his real name) runs a network of informers and sources operating along the border area of South Down and South Armagh during the worst years of violence. For both handler and source, it’s a matter of life and death. Some names, dates and details have been changed to protect the living.

A Harrowing Mystery

In 2014, Dutch friends Lisanne Froon and Kris Kremers disappeared while hiking a jungle trail in Panama. Two months later, investigators found their remains, as well as a backpack with a digital camera filled with photos that hinted at a darker story. In this investigative series, journalists Mariana Atencio and Jeremy Kryt retrace the last steps of the doomed women. Their explosive new evidence sets off a real-time race to reopen the case, and finally get justice for Kris and Lisanne.

Haunting and Heartbreaking

For more than 20 years the case of the murder of six-year-old Rikki Neave went unsolved. In this new ten part investigation, award-winning journalist Winifred Robinson, has unearthed the truth through unprecedented access to police interview rooms, and follows the investigation as the police move in on the perpetrator.

Hunting The Trolls

What happens when tragedy makes you a target? Why would anybody accuse terrorism survivors of being liars and “crisis actors”? Conspiracy theories are usually associated with the US however the BBC’s disinformation and social media correspondent Marianna Spring uncovers shocking evidence that British trolls are also blighting the lives of people right here in the UK, people who now want answers and justice.