Panorama backdrop
Documentary•News

The Best Episodes of Panorama Season 65

Every episode of Panorama Season 65 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Panorama Season 65!

Binge this in Unknown•Peaking at 8.4/10

Current affairs programme, featuring interviews and investigative reports on a wide variety of subjects.

Airs on
BBC One
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons74

All1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253545556575859606162636465666768697071727374

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Panorama Season 65 Episode 43 - Britain's Offshore Secrets Exposed
    8.4/10(8 votes)

    S65:E43

    Current affairs programme featuring interviews and investigative reports. Richard Bilton explores the secrets of Britain's offshore empire.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. Panorama Season 65 Episode 34 - Africa's Billion Pound Migrant Trail
    8.3/10(8 votes)

    S65:E34

    Panorama investigates the African migrant trade and reveals the extraordinary scale of people-smuggling across sub-Saharan Africa - a multibillion-pound industry described by some as a new 'slave trade'. As theEU desperately tries to cut the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, reporter Benjamin Zand investigates how hundreds of millions of euros of EU funding is being spent and asks if EU efforts to tackle the smugglers could be leaving some migrants in an ever more dangerous limbo.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. Panorama Season 65 Episode 15 - The Spy in the IRA
    7.8/10(11 votes)

    S65:E15

    In the murky world of British intelligence during the Northern Ireland conflict, one agent's life appears to have mattered more than others. Codenamed Stakeknife, Freddie Scappaticci rose through the ranks of the IRA to run their internal security unit. He was the IRA's chief spy catcher, in charge of rooting out those suspected of collaborating with the British. But all the time he was in fact working for the British intelligence services. Panorama reveals that a classified report links Scappatici to at least 18 murders. Some of these victims were themselves agents and informers. Scappaticci, the intelligence agencies who tasked him and the IRA to whom he also answered are the subject of a criminal enquiry. Panorama discloses how he kept his cover by having the blood of other agents on his hands, how the intelligence agencies appeared to tolerate this and why he has been protected for so long.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. Panorama Season 65 Episode 46 - Jihadis You Pay For
    7.8/10(6 votes)

    S65:E46

    Millions of pounds of British aid money have been spent trying to bring security to Syria and to protect the UK from terrorism. But whistleblowers say our development efforts have been undermined by mismanagement, waste and corruption. Using hundreds of leaked documents, reporter Jane Corbin pieces together the shocking truth about one of the government's flagship foreign aid projects. She discovers how some of the cash has ended up in the hands of extremists and how an organisation we are funding has been involved in executions and torture.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. Panorama Season 65 Episode 32 - Undercover: Britain's Immigration Secrets
    7.2/10(7 votes)

    S65:E32

    On the front line of the fight to control immigration, BBC Panorama goes undercover in an Immigration Removal Centre and reveals chaos, incompetence and abuse. The centre is a staging post for detainees who face deportation from the UK. It is a toxic mix, and detainees who have overstayed visas or are seeking asylum can share rooms with foreign national criminals who have finished prison sentences. Some have been held in the privately run centre for many months, even years. The covert footage, recorded by a detainee custody officer, reveals widespread self-harm and attempted suicides in a centre where drugs, particularly the synthetic cannabis substitute spice, are rife. Many officers do their best to control the chaos, but some are recorded mocking, abusing and even assaulting detainees.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. Panorama Season 65 Episode 2 - Trump: The Kremlin Candidate?
    7.1/10(23 votes)

    S65:E2

    On the eve of the new president's inauguration, Panorama investigates Donald Trump's strange bromance with Vladimir Putin. John Sweeney - who has confronted both men in the past - travels to Russia, the United States and the battlefields in Ukraine to report on what's behind their mutual admiration. He investigates whether Russian cyber-warriors helped get Donald Trump into the White House and asks how safe the world will be if they stay friends - or if the bromance falls apart.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 BEST Episodes of Panorama

    READ
  7. Panorama Season 65 Episode 17 - Madeleine McCann: 10 Years On
    7.0/10(15 votes)

    S65:E17

    Madeleine McCann is the world's most famous missing person. Her disappearance ten years ago has been investigated by police forces in two different countries, but they came up with contradictory conclusions. So what really happened to Madeleine in the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz? Reporter Richard Bilton, who has covered the story for the BBC since the first days, examines the evidence and tracks down the men British police have questioned about the case.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. Panorama Season 65 Episode 37 - When Kids Abuse Kids
    7.0/10(6 votes)

    S65:E37

    Panorama investigates a hidden world of child sexual abuse, one in which children sexually assault other children. It's often referred to as 'peer-on-peer' abuse and can happen in classrooms and even in theplaygrounds of primary schools. In this part-animated film, children, interviewed anonymously to protect their identities, talk candidly about the abuse they have experienced and describe how they felt let down when they tried to report it. The programme also speaks to some parents who say they struggled to get help from schools, social services and the police. Using freedom of information requests, the programme reveals an increase in sexual offences carried out by under-18s on other children and a dramatic rise in sexual assaults committed by children even on school premises.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. Panorama Season 65 Episode 16 - Trump's First 100 Days
    6.9/10(17 votes)

    S65:E16

    We're getting used to seeing a new Trump headline every day - or even several times a day. But we're all still clueless about what to expect next. A missile strike on Syria from an avowed America first president? As the unpredictable president approaches his milestone hundredth day in office, Jeremy Paxman crosses the US for a wry and searching examination of the whirlwind past three months. He'll attempt to make sense of the Trump agenda - and ask if it even makes sense to the man himself. Jeremy digs into the stories behind Trump's most controversial policies - visiting the home of North America's largest mosque to hear Arab-American experiences of the travel ban, and a north California migrant law centre that's working double-time. Amid the derelict factories of Detroit, he considers Trump's claims to be restoring America's economic fortunes. In Washington DC, Jeremy unpicks the phenomenon of fake news, and the consequences of Trump's self-declared 'war' on Washington itself. Grassroots critics and diehard cheerleaders tell us why they believe America will never be the same again. And senior figures from across the political divide - from Democrat deputy Senate leader Dick Durbin, Trump ally Ted Malloch, and former secretary of labour Robert Reich - share personal insights into Trump's White House and its new master. Jeremy asks what America - and the world - will look like after four years of Trump, and wonders if America's unlikely president might even have his sights set on four more.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. Panorama Season 65 Episode 36 - North Korea's Nuclear Trump Card
    6.6/10(10 votes)

    S65:E36

    Trump versus Kim - it is the most chilling nuclear stand-off for decades. No longer is the world asking whether North Korea can be stopped from developing nuclear weapons but instead whether it can be stopped from using them. As the two leaders trade threats, reporter Jane Corbin investigates how North Korea has dodged sanctions and thwarted international efforts to stop it becoming a nuclear power. She also asks how the two leaders can move back from the brink and how likely it is this could all end in nuclear war.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. Panorama Season 65 Episode 18 - What Facebook Knows About You
    6.3/10(23 votes)

    S65:E18

    Facebook is thought to know more about us than any other business in history, but what does the social network that Mark Zuckerberg built do with all of our personal information?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. Panorama Season 65 Episode 27 - Trump's Fortress America
    6.3/10(7 votes)

    S65:E27

    Donald Trump fought the US presidential election with a promise to send millions of illegal immigrants back to Mexico. While the world focuses on his troubles in Washington, Panorama investigates how behind the scenes Trump is putting his controversial deportation plans into action. Reporter Hilary Andersson meets families split by immigration arrests and children of detained parents left to fend for themselves. It has been claimed that Trump's policies are dividing America. The programme hears from those who support the deportations and films with police in Arizona as they hunt down illegal immigrants at night.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. Panorama Season 65 Episode 14 - The Big Bank Fix
    6.0/10(6 votes)

    S65:E14

    Following the acquittal of two former Barclay's traders, Panorama asks if the right people are being blamed for what has been called the biggest financial fix of all time. Piecing together explosive new evidence, which calls into question the safety of other convictions, Panorama reporter Andy Verity reveals that manipulation of the world's most important interest rate, Libor, was allowed and even ordered by people at the highest levels of the financial establishment.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. Panorama Season 65 Episode 35 - Germany's New Nazis
    5.9/10(23 votes)

    S65:E35

    Violent right-wing extremism in Germany has surged to its highest level since the downfall of the Third Reich, with a record number of attacks against asylum seekers and their supporters. Panorama has spent sixmonths in Freital, a small town at the heart of the new wave of far-right terror. As Germany goes to the polls, this film hears how long-held taboos are being broken in a country still haunted by its Nazi legacy and far-right views are becoming mainstream once more. Across the world, far-right extremists have been on the march, from Charlottesville in the United States to the suburbs of Paris and the streets of Manchester. But how worried should we be by the rise of the far right in Europe's most powerful country?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. Panorama Season 65 Episode 1 - Terror on the Beach: Why Did It Happen?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E1

    Panorama returns to the scene of the killing of 30 British tourists by a gunman on the beach at Sousse in June 2015. Reporter Jane Corbin investigates whether security concerns were ignored before the attack and if lives could have been saved on the day. She asks why there wasn't tighter security or a warning to holidaymakers to stay away from Tunisia after similar attacks. And should the Tunisian government, the British tour operators and the Foreign Office bear any responsibility for what happened?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. Panorama Season 65 Episode 3 - The Battle Against Legal Highs
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E3

    The drugs that were known as legal highs have become a global phenomenon. They have exploded in popularity in the UK, and deaths from these chemical compounds, designed to mimic illegal drugs like cocaine and cannabis, have tripled here in recent years. In May 2016, the government acted by banning these drugs with the introduction of the Psychoactive Substances Act. The north east of England is one of the worst-hit areas for drug addiction. Panorama spent six months in Newcastle to see how the city is tackling the problem and asks whether the new law is working.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. Panorama Season 65 Episode 4 - The Mystery of the Unknown Man
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E4

    The police and social services were baffled when an elderly man with an American accent was found lost on the streets of Hereford. He didn't know who he was or have any ID, and he was dressed from head to toe in brand new clothes from Tesco. He was in a nursing home before Panorama took up his case. Reporter Darragh Macintyre follows the clues to America and unravels the mystery of the unknown man - before confronting the person responsible for bringing him to Britain.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. Panorama Season 65 Episode 5 - Revealed: Britain's Mental Health Crisis
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E5

    One month after prime minister Theresa May promised to 'transform the way we deal with mental health problems right across society', reporter Sophie Hutchinson investigates the troubled state of NHS mental health services. She hears the concerns of staff and patients at the first mental health trust in England to be placed in special measures, and learns of the deteriorating national picture for mental health care funding, exclusively revealing new figures that show a shocking increase in unexpected deaths of mental health patients.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. Panorama Season 65 Episode 6 - Behind Bars: Prison Undercover
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E6

    An undercover investigation reveals the reality of life behind bars in Britain's crisis-hit prison system. Footage recorded by a reporter also working as an officer at a Category C adult prison shows how inmates are effectively running the prison, with many of them off their heads on drugs and drink. It also reveals how prison officers don't feel able to maintain control and how they are at risk themselves. The programme also finds little evidence of rehabilitation or change, where some weak prisoners suffer, career criminals profit while jailed, drug addicts simply change which drugs they smoke, and the prisoners who could change their ways are being ignored. It comes as the government faces repeated warnings about the crisis inside Britain's prisons. There have been up to four riots in the last three and a half months, 354 deaths in prison last year and 6,430 assaults on staff in the year to September 2016.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. Panorama Season 65 Episode 7 - Life in Immigration Town
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E7

    What happens when a community is changed by immigration? Slough has gone from a majority white British town to a place where they are the minority. Ten years ago, Panorama's Richard Bilton reported on how Slough was struggling to cope with its migrant population. Now he's back. He finds a town with a booming economy and new families arriving every day. But there is a darker side. White British people are abandoning Slough, and some foreign workers say the dream is over.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. Panorama Season 65 Episode 8 - Sleepless Britain
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E8

    Britain's kids are going to bed later and sleeping less, and hospital visits triggered by poor sleep have tripled in ten years. This is playing havoc with children's health and education and causing obesity, problems for parents and teachers, and even family breakdowns. In this film, reporter Jenny Kleeman finds that children's rocketing use of technology coupled with more lax modern parenting is creating an epidemic of poor sleep. Jenny visits a sleep charity in Doncaster that gets up to 200 emails a day from desperate parents. She meets Jayne, mum to a toddler who takes up to four hours to go to sleep, and follows them as they trial a firmer bedtime routine. At Honley High School in Yorkshire, Jenny investigates how poor sleep is affecting pupils' concentration and behaviour in class. Jenny also visits the sleep lab at Sheffield Children's Hospital, which has seen a tenfold increase in referrals in the last decade.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. Panorama Season 65 Episode 9 - Marine A: The Inside Story
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E9

    Three years ago Alexander Blackman, better known as Marine A, became the first serving British soldier to be convicted of murder since the Second World War for the killing of a badly injured Taliban insurgent on the battlefield. He has now had his murder conviction reduced to manslaughter. Panorama re-examines the case to find out what really happened on that fateful day, six years ago. Film-maker and anthropologist Chris Terrill has been following the case since the beginning, including meeting Blackman a number of times in prison. Chris has spent many years working with the Royal Marines and was embedded with Blackman's unit at the time the incident occurred in Afghanistan. He has tracked down some of the men who were with Blackman that day and they speak for the first time about the six-month tour that proceeded the killing and reveal disturbing new insights about the day itself. Questions are raised about whether there were other pressures on Blackman to act. Using material Chris shot in Afghanistan when embedded with Blackman's unit, the film provides a stark sense of what it was like to be stationed in a 'kill or be killed' outpost set in what was then described as 'the most dangerous square mile in the world'. The new evidence is presented for the first time and raises concerns about the way our soldiers fight wars and apply ethics on the battlefield. The outcome of the Marine A case could well shape the way we fight our wars in the future.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  23. Panorama Season 65 Episode 10 - Britain's Home-Care Crisis
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E10

    As hospitals struggle to cope with growing numbers of older patients, Panorama investigates the challenges facing those on the front line of a social care system buckling under the strain, and reveals a nationwide shortage of home-care workers. Filming in North Wales and Liverpool, reporter Sian Lloyd meets domiciliary care company owners struggling to recruit carers because they can't afford to pay them enough, whilst others are handing back council contracts because they can't make the numbers work. At the heart of this crisis are the people waiting for care - many of them in NHS beds, fit to go home, but unable to be discharged until a home-care package can be found.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  24. Panorama Season 65 Episode 11 - Westminster Terror Attack
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E11

    Last week, the UK Parliament came under attack in the most serious terror incident in the country for over a decade. Speaking to witnesses and the injured, BBC Panorama pieces together what happened during the attack that left five people, including the attacker, dead and many more injured. The programme also looks into the life of Khalid Masood to ask what motivated him to carry out this fatal terror attack in the heart of London.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  25. Panorama Season 65 Episode 12 - Marine Le Pen: Who's Funding France's Far Right?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S65:E12

    France votes for a new president in a few weeks, and far right candidate Marine Le Pen has her sights set on victory. She is trying to detoxify her party to distance herself from its racist and anti-Semitic past. However, Gabriel Gatehouse explores how the Front National's desperate need for money could be undermining this process. He meets fixers and insiders who have helped Marine Le Pen run her campaign and raise money from some controversial sources around the world.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Season 65 Ratings Summary

"Britain's Offshore Secrets Exposed" is the best rated episode of "Panorama" season 65. It scored 8.4/10 based on 8 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 11/6/2017. This episode is rated 0.1 points higher than the second-best, "Africa's Billion Pound Migrant Trail".