Season 16

1997-01-21

A new six-part series of the investigative programme begins with a look at the KGB and its recruitment of women to seduce information from foreign diplomats, businessmen and military personnel. The programme highlights one recruit, Violetta Seina, who targeted an American marine, while former KGB officers and "swallows" speak for the first time about their "bed espionage" duties.

1997-01-28

The investigative series looks at the Royal Navy's arduous two-week survival course. The film follows a mixed group of marines, air crew, divers and a female flight observer, as they struggle to survive in the wild with few supplies, also avoiding mock enemy forces in the face of exhaustion, cold and hunger.

1997-02-04

Following the rape and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka in a small New Jersey town three years ago, by a convicted paedophile, her mother Maureen successfully campaigned for a new law in the United States to make known convicted sex offenders. Tonight's programme highlights her campaign and asks if this is the answer to preventing future crimes of this nature.

1997-02-18

For more than 20 years heroin has been the most important thing in the life of addict James, but now his health is deteriorating and he knows he must kick the habit. His wife Natalie has also had enough of the lifestyle. Inside Story follows his struggle to beat the addiction and graphically reveals what happens after he checks into a detox clinic.

1997-02-25

A government hotline set up last year, invited the public to help catch benefit fraudsters who each year cost the DSS three billion pounds. Inside Story looks at how fraud investigators raid suspect businesses, descend upon the homes of alleged cheats and check the thousands of anonymous tip-offs which flood the hotline each week. This documentary ponders the incidence of people in the UK claiming single parent benefits from the state whilst continuing to see their partners. Concentrates on the efforts of two regional fraud offices, in Hull and East London, to recoup some of the millions lost by the DSS in benefit fraud every year.

1997-03-04 · 50m

The story of Jan Ruston, who, when her 20-year marriage ended three years ago, did a "Shirley Valentine". She travelled to Cyprus to get away from it all, and found new love. But the man she fell in love with and trusted, knowingly infected her with HIV.

1997-06-18 · 75m

How have Swiss banks profited from Nazi Germany? In their search for the missing millions, two men, Edgar Bronfman and Israel Singer, uncover what they believe to be evidence of Swiss collusion with the Nazis. The programme includes accounts of survivors who continue a struggle against the obduracy of Swiss banks and explores the truth of Switzerland's past.

1997-07-30

In this first of five new documentaries, the spotlight is on Britain's gangster underworld and the women who share their lives with some of its key players. The film includes interviews with seven gangsters' molls, who talk about the pros and cons of life with some of the country's most dangerous criminals and what attracts them to this risk-ridden world.

1997-08-06 · 50m

On 26 March this year, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven's Gate cult were found in a house in San Diego. They all recorded their farewells on videotape and committed suicide by taking a fatal cocktail of drugs and alcohol. Who were they and why did they end their lives?

1997-08-13

A look at the growing number of agencies and individuals who are willing, for a price, to seek revenge on behalf of others. Inside Story explores the psychology of revenge, from the bizarre but legal antics of the Get Back Agency to the terrifying retribution of the hitman.

1997-08-20

From London to a Triad-controlled black market in the Far East, Inside Story this week probes one of the world's most organised smuggling rings to expose a lucrative and violent illegal tobacco trade.

1997-08-27 · 45m

Every year the island of Majorca draws two million British tourists, but the combination of cheap alcohol, high spirits and scorching weather can spell trouble for some. Her Majesty's representative in Palma de Majorca, John Blakemore, has to pick up the pieces, working in one of the world's busiest British consulates. Inside Story joins him and his wife Joan as they deal with this year's summer season.