A Hidden Hell: the prison for children

From the age of 10, children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found guilty of a crime and, from their 15th birthday, they can be sent to prison. But children’s prisons have been crashing in and out of crisis for years. At one in particular, Cookham Wood in Kent, inspectors have reported that the regime is broken. And it’s breaking children, nearly half of whom are on remand, not convicted of any crime. Louise Tickle and Patricia Clarke investigate why the youth justice system is in crisis – and why it's not getting any better.

Red Bull’s killer PR

The energy drink company has built a billion-dollar brand promoting extreme sports like BASE jumping. Who’s responsible when it goes wrong?

Brace, brace: Boeing's hard landing

Boeing once ruled the skies. Now they find themselves in the middle of a scandal, without public trust and fast losing the reputation they spent so long building. This is the story of where it all went wrong.

The Good Soldier: Killings and cover-up in Afghanistan

The British army has never faced more serious allegations of wrongdoing; that the SAS committed multiple war crimes in Afghanistan. A public inquiry is beginning to reveal a troubling picture of UK special forces beyond the control of their military and political bosses.

Frank Hester: Tory Northern diamond

Frank Hester has given the largest donations to the Conservative party in history. Even with the party's popularity at rock bottom with the public, on the cusp of potentially entering a period in opposition, Frank Hester has continued to prove a lucrative donor to the party. How is it that the Conservative party has come to be so reliant on the money of one man?

The Greatest: Simone Biles

She is arguably the best gymnast the world has ever seen. But history shows us that she’s human too. Will Simone Biles fly at the Paris Olympics or will she fall?

Lost glacier: the climate pioneers

In Switzerland, a group of unlikely climate pioneers came together and took their government to Europe's highest human rights court, and won. But the triumph didn't last long. Now, they're facing a backlash.

Palestine's forgotten leader

Marwan Barghouti has long been touted as the next leader for Palestinians. The only problem is he's locked away in an Israeli jail for the rest of his life. Now it is being whispered he could be released, but after twenty years behind bars, what leadership could he really offer?

Lucy Letby: the Expert Witness

The story of Lucy Letby’s trial is, in part, the story of how expert witnesses have become critical in criminal cases where hard evidence is in short supply. They can be spectacularly insightful or spectacularly, catastrophically wrong. How is a jury supposed to know which of those versions it’s listening to?

One light day: Voyager's long farewell

The Voyager space probe is sailing through space, far beyond earth's solar system. It is humanity's most distant messenger. And then last year it fell silent. NASA's scientists somehow navigated a 15 billion mile hurdle to bring it back online. This is the story of how and why.

Sick parade: A crisis at Catterick Garrison

This is a story of stigma, uncomfortable truths and allegations of an attempted cover up at Britain's biggest army base. As the UK army rapidly modernises its approach towards mental health, an old cultural problem persists at Catterick Garrison where a series of repeated, systemic errors have been uncovered.

A star is born | Elon's Spies Ep 4

When Donald Trump declared victory in the US presidential election, he told an adoring crowd that "a star is born". He was referring to Elon Musk. After months of reporting on the billionaire's use of private investigators, Alexi asks whether the insights he gained from that investigation reveal how Musk will operate in his new political era, and what that means for everything in his orbit.

My AI girlfriend: a cure for loneliness

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. Eugenia Kuyda thinks she can solve an “epidemic” of loneliness. Her app, Replika, is “the AI companion who cares”, a chatbot that can text you, flirt with you, and promises to love you unconditionally. But Replika is fraught with ethical concerns – and risks. In 2021 19-year-old Jaswant Chail told Replika: “I believe my purpose is to assassinate the Queen.” The chatbot replied that this was “very wise”. A few days later, Chail broke into Windsor Castle with a crossbow. Patricia Clarke and Matt Russell investigated the people behind Replika. It’s a story that took them from Windsor Castle to Silicon Valley, to meet the woman who runs a growing and largely unregulated app. And the more they looked into it, the more questions emerged – about privacy, control, and the company that millions of users are giving their hearts – and their data – to.

Operation Asshole: Paul Watson's whale war

Out on the high seas, Paul Watson became a hero and pariah of the environmental movement. Now he sits in a remote prison. How should we treat the radicals willing to go to extremes to protect the planet? Reported by: Basia Cummings and Xavier Greenwood Produced by: Xavier Greenwood Sound design by: Hannah Varrall and Dominic Delargy Edited by: Gary Marshall and Matt Russell Podcast artwork by: Jon Hill Image credit: Mirco Taliercio/laif/ Camera Press