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Episode 353 - Chernobyl: The Power Station That Ended a Nation Jun 20, 2024

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The world’s most infamous nuclear disaster officially killed just thirty-one people, but in reality it’s death toll is incalculable. Raining radioactive debris over a city, and melting the skin off the on-site workers, the explosion and subsequent meltdown at Chernobyl reactor 4 is one of the most devastating man-made accidents in history.

This is the story of how fear, bureaucracy, and lies first brought down a nuclear power station, which then brought down a nation.

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Episode 352 - Over the Thin Blue Line: the Undercover Police Scandal Jun 13, 2024

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Imagine finding out that your partner of six years – the love of your life, the father of your children – had never existed. That during all of your most intimate moments, they’d been spying on you, taking notes to report back to their superiors. That’s what happened to dozens of innocent British women in 2011, when they uncovered the SDS – a super-secretive unit of London’s Met Police.

To infiltrate groups of (mostly harmless) left-wing activists, these officers went undercover, routinely starting long-term sexual relationships with female members, for years at a time. They groomed these women, sometimes even fathering children, only to eventually disappear without a trace. H&S plunge into the gross, ethically murky waters of undercover relationships.

Episode 351 - North Korean Abductions: Korean Career Couriers Jun 06, 2024

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Kidnapping might seem like an odd solution to low levels of education, but for The Democratic People's Republic of Korea it seemed like a perfect plan. Whisk away international intelligentsia to your hermit kingdom and reprogram them to become perfect North Korean citizens, capable of pushing forward your scientific endeavours – or more importantly, directing a cult classic knock-off Godzilla movie.

Unfortunately, it is a plan that hasn’t gone down overly well with the rest of the world. So how did it happen? And is it still going on today?

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Episode 350 - War Machine May 30, 2024

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When Christine Mackinday and her boyfriend were interrupted in bed by her ex-fiancé – a 200-pound ex-MMA fighter who had legally changed his name to War Machine – she had every reason to fear for her life.

This is the wild true story of Jonathan Koppenhaver: self-proclaimed “Alpha Male”, failed UFC fighter, wannabe pornstar and reality-show embarrassment – and his inevitable, tragic, violent revenge.

FROM THE VAULT - Episode 157 - The Disappearance of Peter Falconio May 28, 2024

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In 2001 on a remote stretch of highway in Australia’s Northern Territory, British backpacker Peter Falconio vanished. His girlfriend, Joanne Lees, told police that they had been attacked by a strange man. The subsequent investigation saw local drug runner Bradley Murdoch jailed for life - but questions still linger, especially around the truthfulness of the story that Joanne told...

Episode 349 - A Death in Old Peking May 23, 2024

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The state of Pamela Werner’s body alone would have been enough to send 1930s Peking into a frenzy. She’d been frantically stabbed, her chest cut wide open, and four of her internal organs had been precisely removed...

But Pamela was the daughter of a high-ranking British diplomat. And the death of a white girl in the ancient Chinese capital, in 1939 – when anti-foreigner revolts were bubbling and the entire country was under threat of invasion by Japan – rocked the city, in the last days of old China.

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FROM THE VAULT - Episode 194 - Ivan Milat: The Real Wolf Creek May 20, 2024

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Between September 1992 and November 1993 the remains of seven backpackers were found dotted around Australia’s Belanglo State Forest. The long-putrefied bodies had all been shot multiple times by the same .22 calibre rifle. Some had snapped spines; others had been used as target practice. Despite all signs pointing to the Milat family, the real challenge for police was finding which of the ten Milat brothers to point the finger at...

Episode 348 - The Murder of Jill Dando May 16, 2024

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Shot dead in broad daylight outside her house in West London – the killing of Jill Dando is one of Britain’s most high-profile murders. As one of the BBC’s best-known TV presenters through the 90s, Jill was in the living rooms of the British public every night, presenting the news, travel shows, and most famously, Crimewatch – in which she publicly campaigned to bring real criminals to justice.

Yet despite enormous publicity and one of the UK’s most extensive police investigations to date, the identity of her killer is still mired in controversy.

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