Defenders: Busting the Bad Guys - Episode Guide

The team crack down on a taxi driver who subjected one of his passengers to a terrifying attack. They also investigate complaints about a foul odour coming from a butcher's shop. And they get justice for a grieving mother whose daughter died after taking slimming pills bought on the internet.

The team crack down on the company that designed a cot which almost cost a baby its life. They hunt down traders selling illegal skin lightening creams. And they catch out a water company polluting one of the UK's best-known rivers with raw sewage.

The team pursue the people responsible for a horrific crash in which a tipper truck careered out of control, killing four people and scarring an entire community. And they raid the luxury home of an illegal money lender preying on the vulnerable.

The team investigate a huge gas escape in a residential street as homes are evacuated and a gas worker is trapped below ground. And they're on the trail of fly-tippers blighting one of the most picturesque parts of the UK.

The team crack down on restaurants putting customers lives at risk and put the brakes on a fake website fleecing motorists out of millions of pounds.

Our defenders investigate a factory fire that rages out of control for several hours, forcing residents to evacuate their homes. They catch a tipper truck driver on camera as he illegally dumps 20 tonnes of industrial waste in the street, and they are shocked to discover a warehouse crammed with fake goods worth £3 million.

The team investigate the death of a car wash worker and are shocked by the conditions he had been living in.

The defenders investigate the tragic death of a Red Arrows pilot, and they smash a puppy-smuggling operation. A supermarket is fined £8 million after a massive fuel leak at one of its petrol stations has a devastating impact on the local community and environment.

The defenders crack down on landlords putting tenants' lives at risk. A shocking video, recorded by a tenant, shows the smoke and fire damage caused to his room when a block of flats was engulfed in flames. In another case, the defenders are on the trail of a serial con man.

The defenders investigate the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl when the bouncy castle she was playing on was swept away by a gust of wind. And they enlist the help of football superstar Wayne Rooney as they chase down a couple making a fortune out of fake football memorabilia.

The defenders investigate an explosion which leaves two brothers dead. A young girl is on the road to recovery after she was viciously attacked by her neighbours' dogs. And the victim of a crash for cash motor insurance scam is determined not to let the fraudsters get away with it.

The defenders crackdown on dealers selling dangerous bodybuilding drugs online. Plus they are on the trail of travel agents conning families out of thousands of pounds. And they take action against a golf club preparing food in filthy conditions.

The defenders battle to keep the roads safe as four people lose their lives when a lorry driver using his mobile phone ploughs into them. And they crack down on the rogue airport car parking companies ripping off holidaymakers.

The defenders take down a waste removal boss who illegally dumped 2,000 tons of rubbish in the Devon countryside - then set fire to it. They also crack down on an illegal puppy-farming gang conning people into buying sick and dying dogs.

The defenders crack down on the shops which illegally sell knives to under-18s. And former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella talks about her younger brother Ben who died after being stabbed 11 times.

Officers inspect takeaways in Oldham to make sure the food is safe to eat, make sure everyone gets home safely in Newcastle and crack a gold bangle scam in Birmingham.

Officers catch a learner driver trying to cheat his way through his driving test, and they're on the trail of a wealthy businessman selling unlicensed medicines.

Officers catch up with a second-hand car dealer who sold a potential death trap to an unsuspecting customer, and they crack down on a driveway company targeting pensioners.

Officers catch a fly-tipper red handed as he illegally dumps tonnes of stinking waste in the grounds of an Oldham primary school for children with severe learning needs.

Officers uncover a disturbing trade in counterfeit airbags that won't work in the event of a crash, and they crack down on rogue landlords in a series of dawn raids.

Officers take action against a cowboy builder using customers' money for overseas holidays. He took £220,000 from eight families while leaving them unhappy with his workmanship.

Officers are on the trail of a couple of fly-tippers caught on camera loading their truck with 150 bags of waste before dumping it deep in the Rhondda Valley.

Officers catch up with a travel company boss who's taking holidaymakers' money, booking their flights and then cancelling them, leaving them high and dry.

Officers catch up with a Lamborghini-driving fraudster who has so many aliases that he loses track of who he is supposed to be.

Officers search the home of a loan shark and find a safe containing thousands of pounds. They also force a rogue builder to pay compensation to his elderly victims.

With knife crime on the increase, officers go undercover in Birmingham to find out which shops are illegally selling knives to children. They meet the family whose lives were ripped apart by a random knife attack carried out by two boys aged just 15 and 17. They track down the boss of a car park scam. He is making a fortune offering premium parking facilities and then dumping the cars in a muddy field. And they crack down on the sale of dangerous skin-whitening creams that damage the skin and put lives at risk.

In Oldham, officers are cracking down on rogue landlords housing families in squalid conditions. They also jail a con man who has been posing as a collector for a children's cancer charity, but is keeping all the money for himself. In east London, officers have set up a bi-weekly online TV programme to name and shame local fly tippers. They post footage of perpetrators online, and when the culprits are identified, they are hit with a £400 fine. As a result, fly tipping has fallen by a third. Following a tip off, a large scale fly tipping gang are busted for illegally dumping 250 tonnes of waste on private land.

As a spate of acid attacks across the UK make the headlines, officers go undercover to stop retailers selling acid to teenagers. In a 3am stop-and-search operation, police take to the streets around Birmingham to target vehicles carrying fake or potentially dangerous imported goods to car boot sales in the region. And officers catch up with mother-and-daughter letting agents in Cornwall who have pocketed a quarter of a million pounds of other people's money.

Enforcement agents shut down a filthy takeaway in Greater Manchester that is infested with mice. They also investigate a salmonella outbreak that struck down over 50 guests at a wedding after a hog roast was served dangerously undercooked. Officers are also on the trail of fraudsters targeting our bank accounts. A 91-year-old pensioner and retired fireman lost nearly £15,000 of his savings when he was cold-called by people he thought were from his bank but were actually scammers.

Officers crack down on illegal and dangerous vehicles putting our lives at risk. Marathon runner Allan Wood almost lost his life when he was mowed down by a vehicle that hadn't had an MOT for over three years and had no working brakes. They also discover an illegal puppy farm in Cannock that is putting profit ahead of care. Thirty dogs and two racoons have been kept in filthy conditions, some of them locked in old cars, with no water, food or proper ventilation. And a rogue kitchen trader that has swindled customers out of thousands of pounds is shut down.

Officers swoop on an illegal sweatshop in Birmingham suspected of being a major supplier of counterfeit clothing. Inside they discover thousands of garments and banks of manufacturing machinery - it's one of their biggest finds ever. They are also on the trail of a cowboy builder who all but destroyed a young family's dream home, ripping off the back of their house and digging up the garden, leaving the property unliveable and the family close to £17,000 out of pocket. In Newcastle, enforcement agents catch up with a criminal fly-tipping gang who are putting profit before public health. Fly tipping costs the city nearly half a million pounds per year to clean up. And a consignment of cheap earrings which could contain dangerously high levels of base metals such as nickel are seized.

At Victoria coach station in London, officers are on the lookout for coach drivers who are driving when they are too tired. We hear from the mum of 23-year-old Nathan Reeves, who was killed when the vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a coach whose driver is thought to have fallen asleep at the wheel. They also track down two fraudsters running a sim swap scam and stealing almost half a million pounds from victim's bank accounts, and we find out about the new thermal imaging technology being used in Oxford to spot garden sheds that are being rented out illegally as homes.

At Felixstowe docks in Suffolk, enforcement agents are on the hunt for counterfeit and dangerous goods, stopping them entering the country. They also chase down a gang that has been bullying elderly people into having unnecessary building work done on their home, including one pensioner who paid out over £300,00 - almost his entire life savings - for work that should have cost around £30,000. And they hunt down a gang who callously dumped tons of illegal waste next to a motorway in Hampshire.

Officers bust a tenant making over £100,000 unlawfully sub-letting his council flat in London. They take down a criminal gang running a multi-million-pound diesel fraud. The gang has been contaminating diesel with cheaper products, which is saving them millions of pounds in tax and costing unsuspecting motorists thousands of pounds in engine repairs. And they help rescue over 150 dogs being kept in squalid conditions at an animal centre in Lincolnshire.

In Birmingham, officers crack down on a callous travel agent that is ripping off British holidaymakers, taking their money but never booking their flights. They are also on the trail of a crooked builder who befriended a pensioner in order to take his money, and they take to the streets to spot check luxury limos being driven in London. We hear the story of one limo that was driving a school party of 11-year-olds when it burst into flames.

Trading Standards Officers investigate a multi-million-pound driving school after hundreds of learners are left out of pocket. Meanwhile, police close in on Covid fraudsters.

Officers crack down on a company fitting cars with fake pollution filters, and Trading Standards confront a company who claimed their insulating paint would cut home energy bills.

Officers take action against a cowboy builder who has conned several customers out of tens of thousands of pounds. And they're on the trail of a serial fly-tipper.

A special police unit investigates a cruel scam targeting the elderly, and investigators prosecute an estate agent for failing to tell buyers their new flat was a fire risk.

In West Yorkshire, a task force discovers text messages and videos in which a gang of cruel conmen mock their victims, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable.

Maidstone Borough Council are on the trail of a BMW driver caught on camera dumping bags of rubbish in a lay-by that has become a fly-tipping hotspot.

Health and safety officials investigate the death of a five-year-old girl following an incident at a playground. Trading Standards crack down on traders selling substandard face masks.

The Environment Agency responds to a major incident after several canisters containing a deadly chemical weapon, mustard gas, are dumped in a lake.

Officials investigate a fatal road traffic collision and get justice for a vicar who was tricked into paying tens of thousands of pounds to a cowboy builder.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency investigates a collision involving a party boat on the River Thames, and trading standards officers put a stop to a dangerous medical scam.

An 80-year-old woman is bombarded with scam mail and tricked into handing over an estimated £50,000. Her daughter is so outraged that she starts a campaign to ensure no-one else gets caught by scams like this.

A young family attempts to cut their energy bills by up to £850 a year by having solar panels fitted. But the company they use is being run by a crooked businessman, and the family never get the savings they were promised.

And a persistent fly-tipper thinks he's going to get away with dumping piles of rubbish in a remote location, but the game's up when he is spotted by military-grade camera equipment on board a Royal Navy helicopter hovering overhead.

Trading Standards team up with Ed Sheeran's manager to take on the ticket touts making millions of pounds at the expense of ordinary music fans. Their e-crime team discovers one case in which tickets with a face value of £75 are being sold for thousands. In the first prosecution of its kind, two of the most prolific touts are charged with fraudulent trading and end up going to jail. The result is hailed as a victory for ordinary fans.

In a separate case, officers investigate a couple conning ordinary, hard-working people out of their pensions and ruining their retirements. In total, 245 people were taken in by this cold-calling pension scam.

DVSA inspectors investigate the cause of a horrific crash in which an HGV careered out of control, smashing through a motorway central reservation and killing two people. The HGV is found to have a defective braking system and is one of a fleet of vehicles operated by a company putting profits before safety. The haulage company's boss faces the prospect of jail after the inspectors discover he ignored warnings about the defective brakes.

Elsewhere, Trading Standards take strong action against a prolific cowboy builder who keeps changing his name to avoid detection and uses 30 different bank accounts to hide the thousands of pounds he charges people for work that's never finished.

The Civil Aviation Authority catches a fraudster who lied to get a job as a captain with one of the UK's largest airlines. After looking into his background, they discover his deception when he accidentally plunges an aircraft into darkness.

Food inspectors discover a blocked drain and a pool of stagnant water when they carry out routine hygiene checks at a takeaway, and trading standards investigators are on the trail of a rogue roofer who's conned people out of more than half a million pounds.

Hundreds of pensioners are left stranded after booking a five-day holiday in Torquay. They only discover they've been conned when the coaches that are supposed to pick them up don't arrive. Trading standards officers are determined to bring the boss of the bogus coach holiday company to justice.

Elsewhere, officers track down a loan shark targeting hard-up families, and they investigate the tragic death of a railway worker.

A seven-year-old boy suffers a fatal electric shock during a family visit to their local pub. Investigators discover a catalogue of electrical faults, including 12 defects that were an immediate danger. In another case, they close in on a fraudster bombarding us with scam text messages claiming to be from well-known organisations including the Royal Mail and HMRC.
And they crackdown on criminals who are dumping mountains of rubbish illegally at 300 sites across south east England.

An investigation into an £800,000 home improvement scam reveals that fraudsters are using a kitchen extension built by someone else as a fake show home and posting fake reviews on their website to help persuade customers to hand over large deposits. The fraudsters pocket the money, but no work is ever carried out.

In another case, officers rescue puppies from an unlicensed backyard breeder and seize pet passports and other documents as evidence.

A secret surveillance operation uncovers a shocking case of human trafficking and modern slavery. Scores of young men and women are being kept as prisoners and forced into unpaid labour, working for nothing at a car wash in Bristol.

Officers also investigate an online trader using the dark web to illegally sell potentially deadly diet pills. Pills like these have already been responsible for several fatalities in the UK, and the National Food Crime Unit is determined to stop anyone from selling these pills for human consumption.

In another case, investigators catch-up with a cowboy builder with an incredible list of excuses and a track record for conning people out of thousands of pounds.

Enforcement officers investigate the death of a worker at one of the UK's largest recycling plants. They seize more than 300 hours' worth of CCTV footage that shows dangerous work practices and breaches of health and safety rules in the days running up to the tragedy.

They also catch a rogue trader selling chocolate bars with a fake list of ingredients, putting children's health at risk. And a specialist team of dedicated enforcement officers get their hands dirty in a crackdown on fly-tipping.

Investigators crack down on companies deliberately bombarding the elderly with marketing phone calls and pressuring them into taking out insurance policies and setting up direct debits. It's a lucrative business, but they are determined to put a stop to it.

Elsewhere, officers tackle the disturbing crime of drink spiking, and they confront a travel agent with a shop full of angry customers.

A couple have a lucky escape when paving slabs fall off the back of a lorry. To prevent incidents like this, the Defenders are checking HGVs to make sure loads are secure.

Can the Defenders find the pilot of a rogue drone that nearly caused a catastrophic mid-air collision with a World War II Hurricane?

The Defenders catch a man helping people cheat their driving test. He's captured on CCTV impersonating genuine learner drivers and sitting the theory test for them.

A young couple are left in pieces when a cowboy builder ruins their home. But the Defenders step in, determined to get justice on their behalf.

Dangerous asbestos is found illegally dumped in a storage container near a school. But who put it there? The Defenders are determined to hunt them down and bring them to justice.

A young boy is electrocuted on a train track. But who is to blame? The Defenders investigate and make a shocking discovery. In another case, they take on a driveway conman with a trail of angry customers, and they crack down on a scam targeting British holidaymakers.

A teen schoolgirl goes undercover to expose shops selling illegal vapes to children, while a head teacher claims pupils can't get through a lesson without vaping. In another case, shocking bodycam footage reveals a young family living in rat-infested conditions.

Buyers beware! The lethal danger of button batteries in toys. The Defenders raid suspect shops after a baby nearly dies.

Shocking river pollution – but is Britain's biggest water company to blame? The Defenders investigate as thousands of dead fish are discovered in contaminated ‘dead rivers'. And they seize thousands of dangerous phone chargers with fake safety certificates.

The holiday scam raking in millions of pounds. But the net is closing on the shameless travel agent who is leaving families out of pocket and stranded in the sun. Also, danger on the roads! Hundreds of cars are driving around with fake MOTs, thanks to a dodgy motor mechanic.