Gangster
How did a small-time carpenter with a minor and fumbled role in a 1963 violent heist become Britain's most famous fugitive and - for many - an unlikely folk hero? From gangland tea boy to Brazilian playboy, this series recounts the controversial rollercoaster life of Ronnie Biggs in his own words, through previously unheard recordings. Actor Daniel Mays, who portrayed the Great Train Robber in a major ITV drama, hosts the podcast, marking the 25th anniversary of Biggs' return to Britain to face justice after 36 years on the run.
Episodes
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Gangster is the extraordinary story of Paul Massey - labelled Salford's Mr Big. It charts his rise and inevitable fall from a young tearaway on the streets of Salford to the head of an organised crime group controlling drugs, security and nightclub doors in Manchester. It’s a story told not only by some of those close to him – but uniquely by Massey himself – though excerpts from an interview mos
Paul Massey: 1. Made in Salford
From the tough streets of Salford, Paul Massey begins his rise in the criminal underworld. While in jail, he hatches a plan to bring the gangs together and take over the city.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Oliver Newlan
Assistant Editor: Ciaran Tracey
Technical Production and Sound Design: Craig Boar
Paul Massey: 2. Code of Silence
Manchester is at the centre of a cultural revolution. The Hacienda. Acid house. Ecstasy. Paul Massey makes a moves on the drug scene and enforces his own style of justice on the streets.This podcast contains strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Oliver Newlan
Assistant Editor: Ciaran Tracey
Technical Production and sound design:
Paul Massey: 3. Steak Night
Paul Massey is on a wild night out. He's being filmed by a TV crew, but the evening will change his life forever. A rival threatens to muscle in on his territory, but Massey is having none of it. And he spots a new money making venture.This podcast contains strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Oliver Newlan
Assistant Editor: Ci
Paul Massey: 4. The Serpent
Massey sets his sights on the top political job in Salford, but he's facing pressure on all sides. The police are out to get their man and he finds himself caught up in a violent gangland feud.This podcast contains strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Oliver Newlan
Assistant Editor: Ciaran Tracey
Technical Production and sound
Paul Massey: 5. The Assassination
An assassin lays in wait. The aftermath takes the gang war to new levels of violence, leaving a young innocent victim seriously hurt and hardened criminals shocked at the callous brutality.This podcast contains strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series Producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Oliver Newlan
Assistant Editor: Ciaran Tracey
Technical Production and sound desi
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Livvy Haydock explores the extraordinary life of Linda Calvey, the woman they call "the Black Widow." She rose through the ranks of London’s criminal underworld to become the UK’s most notorious female gangster.We follow her journey from humble beginnings in East London to time served in the infamous H Wing, alongside killers like Myra Hindley and Rose West.It’s a story of love, loyalty, betrayal
The Black Widow: 1. Spinning the Web
Linda Welford was raised in London's East End in the 1960s; a tight and tough community with a reputation for a thriving criminal underworld, ruled with an iron fist by gangsters like the Kray twins.One of nine children, Linda lived a sheltered life with her family in Stepney until she met armed robber Mickey Calvey. This was the so-called golden age of armed robbery and Mickey was making a fortun
The Black Widow: 2. A Widow's Vow
Linda, Mickey and the kids are living the high life when he agrees to take on a job with a new gang - a raid on a cash collection at a London supermarket just before Christmas.As Linda waits at home, armed police are lying in wait outside the supermarket. When the police rush towards them, the rest of Mickey's team flee, leaving him alone on the crowded street clutching his weapon. He is shot dead
The Black Widow: 3. Cops and Robbers
Linda discovers Ronnie's dark side as he lets slip a shocking secret about the day Mickey died.She can't leave Ronnie, because he's too dangerous. But luckily for Linda, the police solve that problem for her - catching Ronnie red handed trying to pull off a million pound heist.With Ronnie out of the way, Linda begins her mission to become an armed robber in an underworld ruled by men.Credits
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The Black Widow: 4. The Two Minute Rule
A partial fingerprint at the scene of a violent robbery puts the flying squad on Linda's trail. While they watch, she continues to live the high life funding by a spate of terrifying armed raids.A team of officers recall the day they caught Linda red handed at yet another Post Office heist, and when Linda finds herself at the wrong end of the barrel of a gun, she knows her time is up.But her time
The Black Widow: 5. Spilt Milk
After being released from prison, Linda's living the quiet life catching up on lost time with her two kids.Trouble soon finds her again as Ronnie Cook's sentence also comes to an end. When Linda brings Ronnie home for a visit, the couple are confronted by a hitman and Linda's small kitchen is turned into a brutal murder scene.But as police begin to question Linda, they discover that the 'The Black
The Black Widow: 6. Til Death Do Us Part
Linda spends the next 18 years behind bars with some of the UK's most notorious female killers. She shares stories of a life inside, a shock prison wedding and returning back to reality and a life on the straight and narrow.With her criminal past behind her, Linda reflects on the effect of her crimes both on the victims, and on her two children left to grow up without their parents.Credits
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The story of the biggest prison smuggling plot ever busted in the UK - and the love story at the heart of it. Journalist Amber Haque untangles what happens when mental health nurse Amy Hatfield meets convicted criminal Joe Whittingham. Her investigation leads into a world of blackmail and manipulation, where you never quite know who to trust or who's watching.Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Be
1. When Amy Met Joe
The last thing mental health nurse Amy expected to encounter when she took a job at Lindholme prison was someone offering romance. Then she met Joe - cheeky, brimming with charisma and a career criminal. But surely she knows better than to listen to his relentless attempts to charm her….Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Executive producer: Joe KentA BBC S
2. The Boy From Bradford
Amy is risking it all for a relationship with career criminal Joe - but who is the boy from Bradford she’s falling in love with.Host Amber Haque delves deep into his past and jumps down the rabbit hole of #prisontok as she attempts to make sense of the illicit affair and who’s really in control.Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Andy Fell
Executive producer: Joe KentA B
3. Just This Once
Smuggle one package of drugs into prison for her boyfriend Joe and he’ll be able to pay off his debts. That’s what Amy needs to do and then she can concentrate on planning their future together, or so she thinks. It’s not long till he’ll be released and then they can have the proper relationship she dreams of.Joe insists the smuggling is just a one-off, but will Amy do what he's asking?Credits
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4. Illegal Highs
Highly-addictive, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle, Spice is running rampage through Britain’s prisons.And Spice is the reason Amy finds Joe zombie-like in his cell, eyes rolled back in his head.The reason, he’s in debt with other prisoners.The reason he’s asking her to smuggle something in for him. Again.Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Andy Fell
Executive produc
5. “Love You”
Amy knows this is the final run - just one more package of drugs to smuggle in, one more drop-off before Joe walks free and maybe they can leave crime behind.But this time, someone is watching.Will the couple stay loyal to each other, as a wider conspiracy begins to unravel?Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios product
6. Starcrossed Lovers
Amy and Joe had been planning a future together, outside — but now they’re stuck behind bars, facing the consequences of their actions.In this final episode, host Amber Haque unpicks how their story ends - and finds there’s still love, but also loss.And for Amy, the question that lingers - was any of it ever real?Credits
Host: Amber Haque
Producer: Becca Bryers
Sound design: Ivor Manley
Story and
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From the back alleys of Hong Kong to the neon-lit Chinatowns of Britain, Georgie Pai built a nationwide criminal empire through his Triad gang Wo Shing Wo. With a network of protection rackets, gambling dens and an army of loyal followers, he controlled his turf with threats, violence and machetes. Gangster steps inside the world of the Triads. A brotherhood bound by secret handshakes and elaborat
2. The Hong Kong Connection
From the neon-lit Chinatowns of Britain to the back streets of Hong Kong, we learn why the Triads were feared by so many. The secret societies were formed hundreds of years ago as resistance movements but morphed into organised crime. Triad membership has long been outlawed in Hong Kong, but for decades they were a powerful and insidious force. Their influence stretched across continents, with the
3. Sleeping Tiger
Two Hong Kong nationals are arrested in Southampton after guns are found in a vehicle. One of them speaks to police, revealing that a flourishing protection racket is operating right under their noses. He also provides the name of their gang leader – Georgie Pai. Hampshire Constabulary sets up a Triad squad but quickly encounters a wall of silence. The terrified community fears not only for themse
4. The Northern Powerhouse
By the 1980s, Georgie Pai has been arrested in Glastonbury for overstaying a tourist visa, found guilty of terrorising Chinese communities in Southampton, and deported back to Hong Kong. But borders are no barrier for a man with the right connections. He slips back into Britain and continues to expand his empire.Manchester becomes his nerve centre as police begin building a database of suspected T
5. Video Wars
A video war is raging across Britain’s Chinatowns, fuelled by a booming market for Hong Kong films and soaps, copied and rented out for huge profit. In Manchester, Wo Shing Wo quickly seizes control, establishing a near-monopoly on the lucrative video rental trade.But where money flows, so does violence. In Glasgow, restaurant owner Philip Wong is brutally murdered by contract killers wielding mac
6. Losing Face
It’s the 1990s and Wo Shing Wo gangsters think they’re untouchable. Georgie Pai is fighting yet another deportation order after being caught in the UK again. He’s granted bail on the condition that he reports weekly to a local police station.Meanwhile, a team of television journalists set up a sting in Manchester, aiming to expose how the Triads operate. The broadcast is devastating, a huge ‘loss
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The story of Curtis Warren - one of Britain's biggest and wealthiest drug barons.
Curtis Warren: 1. Just a Lad from Tocky
Against a backdrop of unemployment and racism, Curtis Warren starts to make his mark on the streets of Toxteth. But a botched robbery lands him in prison for the first time.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock.
Series producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Scott Hesketh
Technical production and sound design: Matthew Dempsey and Richard Hannaford.
Jour
Curtis Warren: 2. Narcos
Curtis Warren begins his remarkable rise from lowly street dealer to dealing directly with the notorious Colombian cocaine cartels. His first £100m shipment gets through - right under the noses of customs.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Scott Hesketh
Technical production and sound design: Matthew Demp
Curtis Warren: 3. Tigers and Cocaine
After walking free from a major drugs trial, Curtis Warren steps up his international drug dealing operation. He’s introduced to world of unimaginable wealth, excess and extravagance.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock.
Series producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Scott Hesketh
Technical production and sound design: Matthew Dempsey and Richard Hanna
Curtis Warren: 4. Double Dutch
A bloody gang war breaks out on the streets of Liverpool. Curtis Warren is in the firing line. He moves his operation to Holland, but the police are closing in.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock.
Series producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Scott Hesketh
Technical production and sound design: Matthew Dempsey and Richard Hannaford.
Journalism Assist
Curtis Warren: 5. The Rich List
Curtis Warren looks to bribe a corrupt police officer to get a mate off the hook. But he’s got major troubles of his own as police finally catch up with their target number one.This podcast includes strong language and some descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock.
Series producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Scott Hesketh
Technical production and sound design: Matthew Dempsey and Richard Hannaf
Curtis Warren: 6. This Charming Man
Just weeks after being released from jail, Warren finds himself back inside after his latest million pound drug deal is busted by police. He indulges in illicit sexual encounters behind bars.This podcast includes strong language and some descriptions of violence.Presenter: Livvy Haydock.
Series producer: Paul Grant
Producer: Scott Hesketh
Technical production and sound design: Matthew Dempsey and
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Livvy Haydock travels from the streets of post-war Birmingham to the sun-kissed beaches of Tenerife - following the rise and fall of one of Britain’s richest, and most wanted, serious organised criminals.It’s a story of violence, mystery, murder and police corruption - of how an illiterate lad from a broken home went on to become as rich as the Queen - leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.Pa
John Palmer: 1. Palmer Nova
From the streets of post-war Birmingham, a young John Palmer - unable to read or write - starts to make a name for himself in the criminal underworld, wheeler-dealing jewellery and smelting gold. But it’s the Brink’s-Mat gold heist - the biggest armed robbery of all time - that provides him with the opportunity of a lifetime.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence. Prese
John Palmer: 2. London Calling
John Palmer heads to Tenerife where he starts to build a timeshare empire with the money made from the Brink’s Mat gold bullion robbery. But Scotland Yard are on his tail. His Somerset home is raided and there’s evidence to link him to ‘the crime of the century.’ Palmer is now a fugitive - but his options are running out.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence. Presenter
John Palmer: 3. The Clumpers
John Palmer’s empire in the sun starts to make him some serious money, but back in England, he has to face the music in court for smelting Brink’s Mat gold. As he scams more and more people on Tenerife, he brings in a motley crew of henchmen to help keep things under control - and he develops and unhealthy appetite for cocaine.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence. Pre
John Palmer: 4. Chateau Palmer
As the violence on Tenerife escalates, the police gather more and more evidence against John Palmer. Back in the UK his pal Kenneth Noye stabs a man to death in a brutal road rage incident - and Palmer helps him escape to his chateau in France.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence. Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series producer: Mick Tucker
Producer: Patrick Kiteley
Technic
John Palmer: 5. Self Defence
John Palmer is up in the dock for his timeshare fraud - and his decision to represent himself doesn’t go to plan. As he spends time in prison, his timeshare business on empire on Tenerife splinters and two of his former employees are brutally murdered.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence. Presenter: Livvy Haydock
Series producer: Mick Tucker
Producer: Patrick Kiteley
John Palmer: 6. The Hitman
John Palmer is out of jail - but detectives are following his every move. They’re holed up in a secret underground hideout 300 miles from London, after its revealed Palmer has some of Scotland Yard’s top cops in his pocket. Then, he makes himself a target after he threatens to turn super grass.This podcast includes strong language and descriptions of violence. Presenter: Livvy Haydock
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Join Livvy Haydock as she takes us deep into Death Row in the USA. While support for the Death Penalty in the US remains at over 50 per cent, there’s been a steady decline in the number of executions – from the modern era peak of 98 in 1999 to just 18 in 2023 so far. Only a handful of states actually carry out the killings. It’s even become more difficult for executioners to get hold of the drugs
Killing Death Row: 1. The Hunt for Lethal Drugs
Join Livvy Haydock as she takes us deep into Death Row in the USA. While support for the Death Penalty in the US remains at over 50 per cent, there’s been a steady decline in the number of executions – from the modern era peak of 98 in 1999 to just 20 in 2023 so far. Only a handful of states actually carry out the killings. It’s even become more difficult for executioners to get hold of the drugs
Killing Death Row: 2. How to Kill the Killers
Welcome to the Allan Polunsky unit in Huntsville, Texas, where Livvy Haydock meets a murderer with three weeks to live. This killer will die by lethal injection; we talk to the inventor of that jab, and learn how it was hailed by some as a humane solution for a modern death penalty. Join Livvy Haydock as she takes us deep into Death Row in the USA. While support for the Death Penalty in the US rem
Killing Death Row: 3. Inside the Chamber
What happens in the death chamber is a push and pull between the desire of a victim’s family for justice, and the need to follow the letter of the constitution. In this episode we’ll see how the system tried to balance those needs.
Former prison guards show us the final hours of a prisoner’s life. What does that tell us about the future of the US death penalty?
Join Livvy Haydock as she takes u
Killing Death Row: 4. Who Cares if it Hurts?
If a lethal injection death is considered to be painful, that could make it vulnerable to a legal challenge as unconstitutional. What can the death of Corey Johnson tell us about the pain of a lethal injection, and does proof of pain hold sway in any US court, or indeed in the court of public opinion? Livvy Haydock heads out on the road to talk to Texans., and deep into Death Row in the USA. Whil
Killing Death Row: 5. What’s the Cost?
The people of Jasper sought the death penalty for the brutal men who murdered James Byrd. But the cost of the trial was crippling and served as a warning to other small districts. In this episode, we’ll examine how cost plays a part in the number of US executions, as does a better understanding of institutional racism.
Join Livvy Haydock as she takes us deep into Death Row in the USA. While supp
Killing Death Row: 6. Living and dying
An execution and the story of an exoneration. Livvy Haydock hears about the final moments of one life, and the relief and joy of release when a different case is overturned. In this final episode she considers the impact of a changing political landscape on the future of the death chamber.
Join Livvy as she takes us deep into Death Row in the USA. While support for the Death Penalty in the US re
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A brand new series of Gangster tells the story of Birmingham’s notorious Burger Bar Boys - a gang born out of the Handsworth riots in 1985. Named after the fast food joint where they met, they were described as more ruthless than the Jamaican Yardies. They fought a bitter and bloody war with their rivals the Johnson Crew for control of the crack cocaine trade in the West Midlands. They controlled
The Burger Bar Boys: 1. Out of the Ashes
January 2, 2003: The senseless murders of two teenage girls thrust a vicious West Midlands gang into the national spotlight. The girls' deaths mark the culmination of the Burger Bar Boys' long-simmering feud with their rivals, the Johnson Crew - a conflict that threatens to engulf the city of Birmingham in an all-out gang war. But how did this hatred fester and grow, and what were the decades-long
The Burger Bar Boys: 2. The Yardies
The story now takes us from the aftermath of the Handsworth riots in 1985 to the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, where we learn how violence in Birmingham was about to escalate to a whole new level. As the fires were extinguished and the shattered glass was repaired, there was relative calm for the remainder of that decade. The local homeboys of the Handsworth and Lozells districts of Birmingham qui
The Burger Bar Boys: 3. Fall Out
With the Yardie threat receding, the Johnson Crew and the Burger Bar Boys vied for dominance in the city. Guns became the weapon of choice, and nowhere felt safe; even the celebratory Handsworth Carnival turned into a scene of extreme gang violence. Territorial battle lines were drawn, with the Johnsons claiming the B6 postcodes of Lozells & Aston, and the Burgers controlling the B21 Handswort
The Burger Bar Boys: 4. The Murder of Innocents
As the new century begins, the gang war in Birmingham intensifies. Bloody retaliation follows each shooting and we eventually reach the point where there is no longer any trace of mutual respect between the gangs.A gang war that began with vintage and adapted firearms had reached the point where submachine guns were the go-to weapon of choice. On January 1 in 2003, a group of innocent teenage girl
The Burger Bar Boys: 5. Judgement Day
It’s late 2004 and the buzz of police helicopters and sea of armed police around Leicester Crown Court creates a tense, intimidating atmosphere as one of the biggest murder trials of the decade gets underway. West Midlands police have the men they believe responsible for the deaths of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare ready to stand trial for their crimes. But this was not going to be an easy
The Burger Bar Boys: 6. Breaking Bad
Despite the landmark trial of 2004-05 leading to several convictions for the murder of Charlene and Letisha - the gang murders in the city continued. What more could be done to tackle the violence?In the final episode in the series, we look at how a combination of one man’s brilliant gang mediation and West Midlands police’s Operation Ventara slowly started to turn the tide and begin the process o
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A 6-part true crime podcast documenting the biggest organised crime bust in British policing history. It happens in 2020 when police in France penetrate an encrypted phone network called EncroChat. According to police, the phones were used exclusively by criminals.
For over two months, police forces across Europe were reading the secret communications of major league criminal networks. The Met
Catching the Kingpins: 1. The Hack
Police across Europe prepare for a top-secret operation: the hacking of EncroChat, an encrypted phone network favoured by organised crime groups. EncroChat’s server has been discovered in northern France. The French police are planning to secretly inject some code into the users’ next software update. If it works, police could be reading the criminals’ messages for weeks. At the Metropolitan Polic
Catching the Kingpins: 2. Threat to Life
It's April 2020, and the Metropolitan Police are overwhelmed with messages hacked from the EncroChat network. Buried among the millions of texts and photographs, are the outlines of a murder plot. An anonymous EncroChat user is trying to source a gun and some ammunition for a drive by shooting. Will the police discover the messages before it’s too late? And will they be willing to risk the secre
Catching the Kingpins: 3. In Suburbia
In the wealthy village of Denham in Buckinghamshire, Lee Hannigan and Harry Hicks-Samuels play the part of successful businessmen really well. Hannigan has a car garage, a mansion with a Ferrari on the drive and a place in Dubai. Hicks-Samuels is only 27 but has a watch business and flat in a luxury development. But the secrets of where their money really comes from are on their EncroChat phones.
Catching the Kingpins: 4. Who Built EncroChat?
Little is known about who invented the EncroChat network and who owned it. Even the police who investigated the criminals using the network, know little about who’s behind it. Journalists David James Smith and Joseph Cox explain what their investigations into the company reveal. Plus, why an expert in cryptography thinks the whole EncroChat operation could fall apart on a legal technicality. Prese
Catching the Kingpins: 5. Line of Duty
The truth unearthed about Met police officer PC Kashif Mahmood is stranger than an episode of the fictional drama Line of Duty. And it was evidence unearthed in the EncroChat operation which made him plead guilty. PC Kashif Mahmood had won five awards for his outstanding service as a police officer. But he was secretly working for an OCG in east London. A detective from the Met police’s anti-corru
Catching the Kingpins: 6. Final Reckoning
The EncroChat hack has given the police unprecedented access to the secrets of organised crime. Nearly four years on from the hack, the detective who led the Met’s EncroChat investigation, DCI Driss Hayoukane, reveals what the police have learnt about OCGs which they didn’t know before. Presenter Mobeen Azhar hears about the impact of the EncroChat operation from Driss and from the National Crime
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A new series of Gangster tells the story of Viv Graham, a man who ran a protection empire which spanned Newcastle and beyond.Viv Graham, a 17-stone man mountain, a man feared and revered in equal measure, came to dominate Tyneside’s nightlife through brutal and uncompromising violence.His murder, in an organised hit on New Year’s Eve 1993, sparked recriminations and repercussions which echo to thi
Viv Graham: 1. King of the Ring
On New Year's Eve 1993, Viv Graham, a 17-stone man mountain, stepped out of a Tyneside pub and walked a few yards towards his Ford Sierra Cosworth. But he never made it. Lurking in the shadows was a gunman who fired three shots at him from close range.
Viv, who ran a pub and club protection empire which spanned Newcastle and beyond, dragged himself back to the pub but his life was slipping away.
Viv Graham: 2. Whack ’Em and Catch ’Em
Viv Graham, a young man from the country, is about to land in the city and make a very big impression. In fact he’s going to take over the town.
This episode charts Viv Graham’s meteoric rise. It follows in his footsteps as he went from being a complete unknown, to single-handedly controlling a pub and club door protection empire, which spanned Newcastle and beyond.
Viv’s first move was to appro
Viv Graham: 3. Ecstasy and Enemies
Viv Graham is right at the peak of his powers.After starting as a nightclub doorman in Gateshead, he has grown to become the most powerful figure in Tyneside’s booming nightlife, with a vast pub and club protection empire. But trouble is brewing because a new party drug is landing and it’s going to turn his world upside down.This episode charts the arrival of ecstasy in the North East and the dram
Viv Graham: 4. Door Wars
It’s the summer of 1989 and the atmosphere on Tyneside is febrile. The economy is shrinking and tumbling towards recession but at the same time the nightlife is bouncing. And among the criminal underworld battles are raging to control the supply of drugs into pubs and clubs. Viv Graham is right in the firing line and danger lurks on every corner.This episode tracks Viv Graham as he linked up with
Viv Graham: 5. Three Shots
Viv Graham is released from prison following a vicious assault on rival bouncer Stu Watson. He needs to make up for lost time and remind everyone who is boss. But while he’s been away in jail, Tyneside’s nightlife has been transformed in an explosion of ecstasy. This is one fight Viv Graham won’t be able to win. In this episode, we follow Viv Graham as he tried to reassert his dominance on Tynesid
Viv Graham: 6. Legacy
It’s New Year’s Day 1994 and Tyneside is waking up to the news of Viv Graham’s brutal murder. There is tension in the air and nobody knows what is going to happen next. What follows is a spiral of repercussions and tragedies which have spanned the decades and are still being felt to this day. In the final episode, presenter Livvy Haydock meets pathologist Dr John McCarthy, who walked the scene of
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A bloody and bitter feud between two of Glasgow's most notorious crime families which has raged for more than two decades, leading to violence and murder.Why the Daniel crime group and the Lyons crime group fell out isn’t clear. The story goes it was linked to the theft of a stash of drugs – or because the Lyons were encroaching on Daniel territory. Whatever the cause, the dispute exploded into a
The Daniels and the Lyons: 1. King of the Jungle
Jamie Daniel begins his rise from the tough streets of Possil in north Glasgow - first as a scrap metal dealer and then as a major player in the city's flourishing drug trade.One of ten children, Jamie followed his brothers into the family scrap metal business. But as heroin took hold in the city, he spotted a business opportunity that would catapult him into the big league - importing large quani
The Daniels and the Lyons: 2. Ollie and Mr Green
As Jamie Daniels' drug empire continues to grow, a violent feud begins with a rival crime family - one that will lead to an all out bloody war on the streets of Glasgow.After serving time for heroin smuggling, Jamie Daniel is back in business. But a road rage incident involving a family member and a rival leads to a murder unlike any seen before in Glasgow. And there's more trouble on the horizon,
The Daniels and the Lyons: 3. Pay the Piper
Gerbil is on the warpath after being seriously injured in a drive-by shooting. What followed next takes the feud to another level of violence, with the police searching for answers.Kevin Carroll is out for revenge, but seriously injured, he has to enlist others to exact retribution. This time, however, innocents are caught in the crossfire, and detectives have to employ all the tricks in the book
The Daniels and the Lyons: 4. The Digger
Gerbil is recruited for a kidnapping plot which doesn't go to plan. Meanwhile, he continues his reign of terror as he seeks to build his drug empire - leading to a growing number of enemies out to get him.Gerbil's reputation is such that he is recruited to carry out a kidnapping by a Liverpool drug gang. Meanwhile, he doubles down on his efforts to take control of the drug trade in parts of Glasgo
The Daniels and the Lyons: 5. The Pushchair Assassin
After his public assassination in a supermarket car park, the hunt for Gerbil's killers begins. A death in the Daniel family heralds a brutal new chapter in the never-ending feud.With such a high-profile murder, police are under pressure to catch Kevin Carroll's killers, and the manhunt takes an international twist. A high-profile member of the Daniel family dies and after a period of relative cal
The Daniels and the Lyons: 6. The Glasgow Smile
A brutal attack on a Daniel family member results in lengthy jail sentences for a number of Lyons associates. The feud continues in prison and there are fears it could go on for generations to come.It was an attack so brutal that police initially thought the victim - a Daniel family member - had been shot in the face or injured by an explosive device. The attack was the culmination of the latest w
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Former boxing champion and proud Evertonian Tony Bellew delves into the brutal world of football hooliganism. At its height in the 1970s and 1980s, it was labelled ‘the English Disease,’ a time when violence on the terraces was as much a part of the game as a half-time Bovril. Bellew hears from those who lived for the trouble, the men and women whose Saturdays weren’t complete without a brutal pun
Hooligans: 1. A Different Ball Game
What turns a fan into a fighter? When faced with a choice, do you turn and run, or stand and fight?We meet the men who found themselves drawn into a world of running battles and riots during the 1970s and 80s. For some, joining a firm and fighting gave them a new identity. For others, it was the first time they truly felt they belonged.From a young age, Bill Gardner, also known as Mr West Ham, fou
Hooligans: 2. The Darkest Night
1985 saw some of the biggest and bloodiest hooligan riots in British football history. In March, Luton hosted Millwall in an FA Cup tie. Millwall’s notorious mobs rioted before, during and after the game. The Kenilworth Road ground was ripped to pieces, and the town was trashed. Police officer Andy Clarke was left fearing for his life as pieces of concrete and plastic seats were used as missiles.J
Hooligans: 3. Riots and Reputations
In the aftermath of the Heysel tragedy, Margaret Thatcher declared war on the hooligans. It was a watershed moment for English football. Tough new laws were called for - and the incident led to English clubs being banned from Europe for 5 years. But there was more trouble on the horizon. The mobs had found a loophole. Friendlies. And in August 1986, that led to a full blown riot on a ferry in the
Hooligans: 4. Collateral Damage
With firms doing battle up and down the country, it was only a matter of time before innocent people got hurt. Even some players were attacked as the hooligans went looking for their weekly adrenaline rush. Ordinary football fans were also caught up in the violence. Darts, bottles, fireworks, even sharpened coins would be thrown on the terraces.This episode also hears from the families of those wh
