Spotlight - Episode Guide

Episode: 1973-10-22 | Airdate: Oct 22, 1973 (30 min)

Episode: 2016-02-03 | Airdate: Feb 3, 2016 (30 min)

Episode: 2016-02-09 | Airdate: Feb 9, 2016 (30 min)

Episode: 2016-03-15 | Airdate: Mar 15, 2016 (30 min)

Episode: 2017-02-14 | Airdate: Feb 14, 2017 (30 min)

After the fall of Stormont, Jennifer O'Leary asks if power sharing can ever really be stable here and travels to Kosovo to see how it works there.

Episode: 2017-02-21 | Airdate: Feb 21, 2017 (30 min)

Hard-hitting investigations on the stories that matter in Northern Ireland. Jennifer O'Leary looks at the challenges over making power sharing work at Stormont.

Episode: 2017-03-07 | Airdate: Mar 7, 2017 (30 min)

With British Army veterans set to be tried for Troubles killings, Mandy McAuley meets their comrades campaigning to stop the cases and assesses how their fight will feature in Stormont's new negotiations.

Episode: 2017-03-14 | Airdate: Mar 14, 2017 (30 min)

GPs in Northern Ireland are threatening to quit the NHS and go private because they say they are under-resourced and facing a huge work load. Chris Moore investigates.

Episode: 2017-03-21 | Airdate: Mar 21, 2017 (30 min)

A studio audience put questions to opinion-formers. Panellists are former secretary of state Owen Paterson, former tanaiste Joan Burton, former Sinn Fein MLA Daithi McKay, DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson and commentators Brian Feeney and Lesley Riddoch. Noel Thompson presents.

Episode: 2017-03-28 | Airdate: Mar 28, 2017 (60 min)

Jim Fitzpatrick charts the journey of Martin McGuinness from man of war to man of peace, and examines the future of Sinn Fein without him.

Episode: 2017-05-23 | Airdate: May 23, 2017 (30 min)

Hard-hitting investigations on the stories that matter in Northern Ireland.

Episode: 2017-05-30 | Airdate: May 30, 2017 (30 min)

Hard-hitting investigations on the stories that matter in Northern Ireland. As the Brexit negotiations begin and the border tops the agenda, Jim Fitzpatrick travels to Brussels in search of answers.

Episode: 2018-05-29 | Airdate: May 29, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-09-11 | Airdate: Sep 11, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-09-18 | Airdate: Sep 18, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-09-25 | Airdate: Sep 25, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-10-09 | Airdate: Oct 9, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-10-16 | Airdate: Oct 16, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-10-23 | Airdate: Oct 23, 2018 (60 min)

A studio audience put questions to a panel of decision makers on the week's big talking points. Noel Thompson presents.

Episode: 2018-11-13 | Airdate: Nov 13, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-11-20 | Airdate: Nov 20, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-11-27 | Airdate: Nov 27, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-12-04 | Airdate: Dec 4, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2018-12-11 | Airdate: Dec 11, 2018 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-03-26 | Airdate: Mar 26, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-04-02 | Airdate: Apr 2, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-04-09 | Airdate: Apr 9, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-05-21 | Airdate: May 21, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-05-28 | Airdate: May 28, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-06-04 | Airdate: Jun 4, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-06-11 | Airdate: Jun 11, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-06-18 | Airdate: Jun 18, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-06-25 | Airdate: Jun 25, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-09-10 | Airdate: Sep 10, 2019 (90 min)

Northern Ireland's leading team of investigative journalists reveal important new discoveries about the outbreak of the conflict known as the Troubles, 50 years after troops were deployed.

Episode: 2019-09-17 | Airdate: Sep 17, 2019 (60 min)

New revelations about how the IRA went from anticipating victory to fighting a bloody, long war against Britain, with Gerry Adams emerging as the republican leader of his time.

Episode: 2019-09-24 | Airdate: Sep 24, 2019 (60 min)

Jennifer O'Leary uncovers IRA arms connections around the world and charts how republicans built a political strategy in parallel with their armed campaign.

Episode: 2019-10-01 | Airdate: Oct 1, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-10-08 | Airdate: Oct 8, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-10-15 | Airdate: Oct 15, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-10-22 | Airdate: Oct 22, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-10-24 | Airdate: Oct 24, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-10-29 | Airdate: Oct 29, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-11-05 | Airdate: Nov 5, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-11-12 | Airdate: Nov 12, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-11-26 | Airdate: Nov 26, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2019-12-03 | Airdate: Dec 3, 2019 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-02-18 | Airdate: Feb 18, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-02-25 | Airdate: Feb 25, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-03-03 | Airdate: Mar 3, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-03-10 | Airdate: Mar 10, 2020 (30 min)

Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rate in the UK. Mandy McAuley investigates the reasons behind it and speaks to those on the frontline determined to reduce it.

Episode: 2020-03-17 | Airdate: Mar 17, 2020 (30 min)

Conor Spackman reports on the outcome and potential consequences of the RHI inquiry.

Episode: 2020-05-12 | Airdate: May 12, 2020 (30 min)

Spotlight follows health care workers on the frontline of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Episode: 2020-05-19 | Airdate: May 19, 2020 (30 min)

Jim Fitzpatrick assesses the economic impact of the lockdown, and asks what Stormont can do to help some of those most affected

Episode: 2020-05-26 | Airdate: May 26, 2020 (30 min)

Investigations into social and political issues affecting Northern Ireland

Episode: 2020-06-02 | Airdate: Jun 2, 2020 (30 min)

Conor Spackman investigates the damage Covid-19 has inflicted on the NHS and its patients - including a look at the problems the pandemic may still cause in the future

Episode: 2020-06-09 | Airdate: Jun 9, 2020 (30 min)

Conor Spackman investigates the damage Covid-19 has inflicted on the NHS and its patients, including a look at the problems the pandemic is storing up for the future.

Episode: 2020-06-16 | Airdate: Jun 16, 2020 (30 min)

Spotlight goes on the frontline with the Police, Fire Service and Ambulance teams as they work through the Covid-19 storm.

Episode: 2020-09-22 | Airdate: Sep 22, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-09-29 | Airdate: Sep 29, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-10-06 | Airdate: Oct 6, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-10-13 | Airdate: Oct 13, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-10-20 | Airdate: Oct 20, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-11-10 | Airdate: Nov 10, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-11-17 | Airdate: Nov 17, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-11-24 | Airdate: Nov 24, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-12-01 | Airdate: Dec 1, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-12-08 | Airdate: Dec 8, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2020-12-15 | Airdate: Dec 15, 2020 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-02-16 | Airdate: Feb 16, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-02-23 | Airdate: Feb 23, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-03-02 | Airdate: Mar 2, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-03-09 | Airdate: Mar 9, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-03-16 | Airdate: Mar 16, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-03-23 | Airdate: Mar 23, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-03-30 | Airdate: Mar 30, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-04-20 | Airdate: Apr 20, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-04-20 | Airdate: Apr 20, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-05-17 | Airdate: May 17, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-05-24 | Airdate: May 24, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-05-31 | Airdate: May 31, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-06-08 | Airdate: Jun 8, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-06-15 | Airdate: Jun 15, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-06-22 | Airdate: Jun 22, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-09-14 | Airdate: Sep 14, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-09-28 | Airdate: Sep 28, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-10-05 | Airdate: Oct 5, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-10-12 | Airdate: Oct 12, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-10-19 | Airdate: Oct 19, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-10-26 | Airdate: Oct 26, 2021 (50 min)

A gold mine, the promise of jobs and a community divided. As a planning decision on a Tyrone gold mine draws nearer, Lyndsey Telford investigates the potential economic benefits, the environmental risks and the growing rift between supporters and objectors in a rural community.

Episode: 2021-11-16 | Airdate: Nov 16, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-11-23 | Airdate: Nov 23, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2021-11-30 | Airdate: Nov 30, 2021 (30 min)

Episode: 2022-02-15 | Airdate: Feb 15, 2022 (60 min)

Political discussion. With DUP's Christopher Stalford, Sinn Fein's Chris Hazzard, Tory MP Simon Hoare, commentator Felicity Huston and business representative Aodhán Connolly.

Episode: 2022-03-01 | Airdate: Mar 1, 2022 (30 min)

Journalist Martin O'Hagan was murdered in 2001. His killers have never been caught. Stephen Dempster investigates allegations that security force informers were involved and are being protected.

Episode: 2022-03-08 | Airdate: Mar 8, 2022 (30 min)

Conor Spackman investigates controversial plans to build a waste incinerator near north Belfast. Backers say it is a greener way to get rid of waste and will help ease energy concerns. Opponents says it is expensive and not needed.

Episode: 2022-03-15 | Airdate: Mar 15, 2022 (30 min)

In public, David Tweed was well known as an Ulster and Ireland rugby star turned politician. But in private, his children and ex-wife say he was an abuser. In their first televised interview as a family, they tell Lyndsey Telford that they suffered years of years of physical and sexual abuse.

Episode: 2022-03-22 | Airdate: Mar 22, 2022 (30 min)

Millions are fleeing the war in Ukraine, creating one of the biggest refugee crises in recent history. Jennifer O'Leary travels to the Polish border alongside aid workers from Northern Ireland and meets some of those hoping to escape to the UK.

Episode: 2022-03-29 | Airdate: Mar 29, 2022 (30 min)

Jennifer O'Leary exposes the practices of a clinic claiming to give desperate fertility patients a much greater chance of getting pregnant, and charging thousands of pounds for drugs and treatments.

Episode: 2022-05-31 | Airdate: May 31, 2022 (30 min)

Two Police Service of Northern Ireland whistleblowers speak publicly for the first time about serious allegations of misconduct and negligence in one of the largest police districts in Northern Ireland. Mandy McAuley reports.

Episode: 2022-06-07 | Airdate: Jun 7, 2022 (30 min)

Are we funding and enabling Putin's war in Ukraine through energy contracts and legal loopholes for dirty money? Spotlight investigates. Jim Fitzpatrick follows the money trail of one of the most notorious Kremlin-linked crimes from Moscow to the UK, Ireland and beyond.

Episode: 2022-09-27 | Airdate: Sep 27, 2022 (30 min)

Mark Devenport, the former BBC NI political editor and Ireland correspondent, scrutinises the United Kingdom of Charles III. The new king inherits a realm that held together in his mother's reign, despite being rocked by independence movements, powerful social change and even violent insurrection in Northern Ireland. Can the kingdom survive today's pressures on the constitution and the crown?

Episode: 2022-10-04 | Airdate: Oct 4, 2022 (30 min)

Hunting with dogs comes under scrutiny. Conor Spackman investigates the hunters who use dogs to track and kill wild animals, exposing some of those at the heart of the hunting networks and the online groups used to share their secrets.

Episode: 2022-10-11 | Airdate: Oct 11, 2022 (30 min)

What happened when families, who noticed strange behaviour around the treatment of elderly dementia patients in a care home, started to ask questions? Stephen Dempster investigates their shocking allegations.

Episode: 2022-12-06 | Airdate: Dec 6, 2022 (30 min)

An undercover investigation reveals a Belfast marketing company is just one in a network of identical companies across the UK accused of exploiting workers, as Lyndsey Telford uncovers allegations of cult-like practices in the workplace.

Episode: 2022-12-13 | Airdate: Dec 13, 2022 (30 min)

Mandy McAuley investigates paramilitary links to illegal money lending in Northern Ireland, and the impact on vulnerable people during a cost of living crisis. She speaks to the victims and asks what the authorities have done to crack down on this crime.

Episode: 2022-12-20 | Airdate: Dec 20, 2022 (30 min)

The NHS used to experience winter pressure. Now staff say it's just pressure – a growing backlog of patients who need admission to hospital, and not enough beds to put them in. Conor Spackman visits an Emergency Department, where sick people are spending hours on trolleys, to learn about what's delaying treatment.

Episode: 2023-02-28 | Airdate: Feb 28, 2023 (30 min)

Sean had a history of drug use and mental health problems when doctors decided to detain him in a psychiatric unit for his own good. Hours later, he managed to evade supervision and ultimately take his own life inside the hospital. Alan Haslam speaks to his grieving mother and investigates what lessons have been learned.

Episode: 2023-03-07 | Airdate: Mar 7, 2023 (30 min)

In 1970 the army invented a new weapon for Northern Ireland, one intended to save lives and keep peace - the rubber bullet. But after 17 people were killed by that weapon and its successor, the plastic bullet, Stephen Dempster investigates claims that the government knew of their deadly potential. Spotlight speaks to the soldiers who fired them, the families who lost loved ones and those still searching for answers.

Episode: 2023-03-21 | Airdate: Mar 21, 2023 (60 min)

The true story of an American trucker who became one of MI5's most important spies. Just when the Real IRA was bombing Britain and threatening to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process, the group's boss was spilling his secrets to David Rupert, who passed everything on to the FBI and MI5. In a broadcast exclusive, Rupert tells his extraordinary story to Jennifer O'Leary.

Episode: 2023-05-16 | Airdate: May 16, 2023 (30 min)

A case of suspected police corruption that turned into real-life Line of Duty. Mandy McAuley investigates what started as an investigation into police car contracts worth millions of pounds. After the case collapsed, failings were exposed in the way officers were conducting secret surveillance on other officers – including failings that the police service has never made public.

Episode: 2023-05-23 | Airdate: May 23, 2023 (30 min)

Conor Spackman hears chilling testimony from relatives of those slain in a spate of gun murders in north and west Belfast over the past five years. He examines links between the killings and investigates a shadowy dissident republican group claiming to be on ceasefire.

Episode: 2023-05-30 | Airdate: May 30, 2023 (30 min)

Freddie Scappaticci led a double life – spyhunter for the IRA and, at the same time, one of Britain's most important spies inside the group. His ability to interrogate IRA gunmen and bombers gave him unique access to their secrets – information that could be fed straight back to their enemies. But his IRA role also meant he was a killer. Jennifer O'Leary investigates.

Episode: 2023-06-06 | Airdate: Jun 6, 2023 (30 min)

The criminal justice system in Northern Ireland is burdened by long delays in cases getting to court. Murder and rape cases can take five years or longer to conclude. Reporter Stephen Dempster investigates why cases are taking so long, talks to victims who have found themselves in what they call a 'traumatic, nightmare situation', and hears from experts who fear the system is at breaking point, with potential consequences for the rule of law.