File on 4

BBC Radio 4

Award-winning current affairs documentary series investigating major issues at home and abroad

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Society & CultureSociety & Culture

Episodes

The Trouble with Parenting
Mar 5 2024
The Trouble with Parenting
"Maria" ended up in A and E after being assaulted by her 11-year-old child. There’s nothing unusual about children being rude or sometimes abusive to their parents, particularly when they’re adolescents. But some parents are attacked and abused by their children on a regular basis. It’s a pattern of behaviour that can begin as young as three years old and become unmanageable by teenage years. Many parents remain silent out of shame and out of fear of the consequences if they seek help, worried that their child may be taken into care or criminalised. So it’s a hidden problem. The issue is now on the government’s agenda with a consultation that’s aiming to find a common definition for the issue. Jo Glanville talks to parents, practitioners and researchers about what happens in families when a child becomes violent, what should be done to support them and what lies behind this kind of behaviour.Presented and Produced by Jo Glanville Executive Editor: Bridget Harney Research: Maia Miller-Lewis Studio Manager: Jon Calver Actors: Jayne Ashbourne and Juliet Cowan A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4 Organisations in the programme offering information or support on child to parent violence:Family Lives Parentline family support and bullying helpline | Family Lives https://www.familylives.org.uk/how-we-can-help/confidential-helpline CAPA First Response Capa First Response | You are not alone - Capa First Response https://capafirstresponse.org/Talk Listen Change Young People’s Programmes - TLC: Talk, Listen, Change (talklistenchange.org.uk) https://talklistenchange.org.uk/project/young-peoples-programmes/Holes in the Wall HOLES IN THE WALL | documenting parent abuse https://holesinthewall.co.uk/
A Plan to Kill - The Murder of Brianna Ghey
Feb 2 2024
A Plan to Kill - The Murder of Brianna Ghey
File on 4 tells the story behind the brutal killing of schoolgirl Brianna Ghey. She was attacked in a park near Warrington in Cheshire on a Saturday afternoon in February 2023. Two teenagers - Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe - who were obsessed with murder and torture, have been convicted of her murder. In the build-up to the killing, they exchanged text messages outlining details of their plan. The girl even wrote a detailed plan of how they would go about the murder which was found by police in her bedroom. File on 4 has discovered how she had been part of a 'managed move' to Brianna's school after she poisoned a younger girl with a cannabis-infused 'gummy' and didn't tell her what was in it. The 13-year-old became very poorly and the police were alerted. The victim's family decided against further action and the matter was referred back to the school. Scarlett Jenkinson was suspended for five days and later transferred to Brianna's school where the two girls became friends. However, before accepting Jenkinson on their register, the school was not given all the details of the incident involving the cannabis sweet. Warrington Borough Council says a child safeguarding review is underway and it will examine all of the issues - including the circumstances surrounding the managed transfer. Reporter: Katie Barnfield Producer: Hayley Mortimer Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford Journalism Assistant: Tim Fernley Editor: Carl Johnston
Second Class Citizens: The Post Office IT Scandal
Jan 9 2024
Second Class Citizens: The Post Office IT Scandal
The story of the Post Office IT scandal has gained new momentum in the wake of an ITV dramatisation about how dozens of subpostmasters were falsely accused of theft and fraud and hauled through the courts. After 20 years, campaigners won a legal battle to have their cases reconsidered and in 2019 the Post Office lost a High Court battle and agreed to pay nearly £60 million to more than 550 of its staff. Some ended up in prison, others bankrupt - many more have been left with their health and reputations in ruins. A public inquiry is ongoing, but many victims are still fighting to have their convictions overturned or to secure full compensation.In this episode of File on 4 - updated since its first broadcast in February 2020 - Hayley Hassall meets some of those whose lives were destroyed. She returns to the Post Office in the East Riding seaside town of Bridlington with former subpostmaster Lee Castleton. There are still buckets and spades in the otherwise empty shop - a business he'd taken on after deciding to give up his job as a stockbroker for a better quality of life. She hears from Tracy Felstead who was convicted of fraud and sent to Holloway Prison when she was just 19 years old.One whistleblower reveals how he warned the Post Office the Horizon system was unsafe and, in his first ever interview, forensic accountant Ron Warmington reveals how he struggled to get straight answers from Post Office management after he was brought in to carry out an investigation.Reporter: Hayley Hassall Producers: Mick Tucker and Nick Wallis Editor: Carl Johnston