Panorama — 1996

01 Boozing for Britain

Jan 8, 1996

Alcohol abuse is responsible for up to 40,000 deaths every year in Britain, as well as domestic incidents, absenteeism and crime.

02 Episode 2

Jan 15, 1996

03 From Cradle to Grave: Paying for the Future

Jan 22, 1996

Tonight, in the first programme of a special two part investigation on the reality of the welfare state, reporter Stephen Bradshaw looks at broken promises. Like families having to sell their parents homes to pay for old age care.

04 From Cradle to Grave: Paying for the Future

Jan 29, 1996

The 2nd programme of a two-part investigation into the welfare state. Stephen Bradshaw looks at the implications of the middle classes increasingly looking to private insurance for everything from pensions, schools fees and medical care.

05 Episode 5

Feb 5, 1996

06 Episode 6

Feb 12, 1996

07 Did the NHS Fail?

Feb 19, 1996

On 8 December last year, a 10 yr old boy from Stockport, Nicholas Geldard died in a Leeds hospital. In his last hours he was taken to 4 different hospitals; refused an intensive care bed at four others. Did the NHS fail Nicholas Geldard?

08 Episode 8

Feb 26, 1996

09 Empress on the Rocks

Mar 4, 1996

The stranding of the Sea Empress oil tanker at the mouth of the Cleddau Estuary off Milford Haven in February 1996 resulted in 72,000 tonnes of crude oil and 370 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, escaping into the sea.

10 War Crime - Five Days in Hell

Mar 11, 1996

The Bosnian Serb army stand accused of some of the worst war crimes to be committed since the end of the Second World War. Panorama tells the inside story of what really happened when Srebrenica fell in July 1995.

11 A Ray Of Hope

Mar 18, 1996

Gerry Northam presents a programme looking at controversy surrounding perceived results of drugs trials on AZT (marketed as Retrovir) since early 1980's, which have been interpreted by drug companies to show benefits of taking drugs early.

12 High Society?

Mar 25, 1996

As part of the week-long series Dealing with Drugs, a look at the increasing use of recreational drugs, not just among the young, but among the professional middle-classes. Is society beginning to adjust and even tolerate the drug culture.

13 Death of a Principle

Apr 1, 1996

Last year nearly 200 people were publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia, yet the British Government does not criticise its closest Middle East ally. John Ware reports on Britain's relationship with the regime.

14 Episode 14

Apr 15, 1996

15 The X-Ray Files

Apr 22, 1996

16 Battle of the Bonuses

Apr 29, 1996

17 A Life in Limbo

May 13, 1996

Thomas Creedon was born severely brain-damaged. Unable to see or hear, he was kept alive only through modern medicine. His parents were prepared to take their case to the high court to fight for the right to let their son die.

18 Episode 18

May 20, 1996

19 Hard Lessons

Jun 3, 1996

Are our children being let down by primary school education? New research suggests that over the last 25 years, standards in maths have fallen noticeably. Vivian White reports on what is going wrong in our primary schools.

20 Russian Elections

Jun 10, 1996

21 Mad Cows and Englishmen - The Making of the Beef Crisis

Jun 17, 1996

So far BSE has meant the deaths of 160,000 cows and may lead to the condition Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease in humans. As the Government's handling of the "mad cow" crisis threatens to split Europe, Gerry Northam reports.

22 Animal Transplants

Jun 24, 1996

23 Off the Rails?

Jul 1, 1996

In the brave new world of privatised railways, it's cheaper to send trains by road than by rail. New owners of the track charge operators so much that many prefer to load them onto trailers to be sent down the motorway.

24 Scandal at County Hall

Jul 8, 1996

25 The Drugs Olympics

Jul 15, 1996

Swifter, higher, stronger is the Olympic motto but has the athlete's ultimate dream to win gold created a culture of world-class cheats? Tom Mangold talks to Olympic athletes en route to this year's games who admit to having taken drugs.

26 Dunblane - The Legacy

Sep 16, 1996

Panorama begins with this report on the aftermath of the massacre when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School. Jane Franchi talks to families whose children were murdered in the shooting.

27 Episode 27

Sep 23, 1996

28 Have They Got News for You

Sep 30, 1996

The spin doctors politicians rely upon to influence the news have been called "the men in the dark" . Do they help politicians float stories that can later be denied, or simply protect their parties from an obsessed media?

29 The Billion Dollar Man

Oct 7, 1996

Sir James Goldsmith is a billionaire at the gate of British politics - a financier who intends spending huge amounts of money promoting the Referendum Party at the next general election. Goldsmith's impact and money is widely feared.

30 Episode 30

Oct 14, 1996

31 Episode 31

Oct 21, 1996

32 On the Trail of the Real Bill Clinton

Oct 28, 1996

As America prepares to vote for its next President and the candidates' election campaigns roll towards their conclusion, Edward Stourton journeys across the country on the trail of President Bill Clinton.

33 Violent Women

Nov 4, 1996

Statistics show that British women are committing more and more violent crimes. Panorama investigates the shift in the traditional role of women as victims or accessories to crime to the aggressor. Su Pennington reports.

34 Episode 34

Nov 11, 1996

35 Broken Hearts

Nov 18, 1996

Martin Bashir reports on what seems to be a widescale ignorance of the easily-treatable Kawasaki disease, the biggest cause of heart disease among children in the western world.

36 Your Pound In Their Pocket: Panorama's Tax Bombshell

Nov 25, 1996

Tonight, Peter Jay contrasts political rhetoric of last 20 years with realities of tax burden, to discover if anything has changed.

37 Episode 37

Dec 2, 1996

38 The Price Is Wrong

Dec 9, 1996

With Christmas imminent. Panorama investigates allegations that the prices of hi-fi's, televisions and fridges are being kept artificially high. and reporter John Ware explains why finding a bargain might be difficult this year.