Undercover World

Latest Episodes

• Season 1 Episode 5: Private War

  Max Jourdan investigates conflicts fought not by national military forces but by private contractors, who are paid well for their services. In Colombia, many multi-million dollar private companies compete for the favour of the Pentagon and to be granted the contract to fight guerrillas and drug barons

• Season 1 Episode 4: Locked in Paradise

  Raphael Rowe reports on American families sending difficult teenagers overseas to tough boarding schools in order to instil discipline in them. Cameras explore an institution in Jamaica where pupils who break the rules are forced to lie on the floor for days on end. The company that runs the school claims a 98 per cent approval rating, but parents are calling for closure and Unicef have denounced the practices as child abuse. The school has also been criticised on educational grounds and is currently at the centre of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit

• Season 1 Episode 2: Zimbabwe - The Food Fix

  Farai Sevenzo reports on the potential famine threatening Zimbabwe, investigating allegations that President Mugabe is allowing his people to starve for his own political gain. Mugabe has insisted no further aid from the West is required, but the country is classed as an emergency zone, with hundreds dying every year. Farai's report takes him to a hospital for malnourished children and into an encounter with the grain police - government officials whose job is to confiscate food supplies. In 2002, Mugabe was accused of using food distribution to influence the election, and many believe he intends to stockpile as much of the country's produce as possible to accomplish the same goal