Season 1996

Update on the story of a London Civil Servant who was arrested in New York in 1994 carrying her dead baby. After eight months on remand, Caroline awaits her trial date.

25 Million Pounds details the collapse of Barings Bank in the mid 1990s primarily by a broker called Nick Leeson, who lost £827 million ($1.3 billion) by speculating on futures contracts. The film contextualises the downfall as the history of Barings Bank was one of the oldest and most prestigious merchant banks in Britain, run by the same family for decades with extensive ties to Britain's elites. But in the late 19th century Barings almost went bankrupt after investing heavily in South American bonds, including backing the construction of a sewer system in Buenos Aires. The bank was saved by The Bank of England, but Edward Baring, the head of the bank, was financially ruined and never recovered. This film explores the culture of Barings and of the financial markets during the 1990s, and how Nick Leeson was able to cause another huge loss of money to the bank, this time bankrupting the company.

In 1934, in Canada, Elzire Dionne gave birth to five identical girls. To ensure the babies' survival, the sisters were removed from their parents and looked after in a specially built hospital, only to become a major tourist attraction.

The story of Christopher, a young boy who suffers from severe epilepsy. The film follows his development over five years, from child to teenager.

The inside story of the life of Robert Maxwell. Tom Bower reveals in forensic detail the financial web which underpinned the Maxwell empire and the people who supported him. This film details exactly what happened in the House of Maxwell in the years, months and days leading to his death on a yacht in the Canaries. Expertly woven together with incredible, previously unseen, private archive of Maxwell from his humble beginnings to his flamboyant, international, jet set lifestyle.