This week’s Cutting Edge looks at the darker side of fraudulent insurance claims and the people they hurt.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just the insurance companies!

The second film in the Cutting Edge strand, Channel 4’s flagship documentary series, enters the secret world of the insurance investigator with unprecedented access to the fraud team at Britain’s biggest insurance company, Norwich Union. With big lies, little lies and hand-on-heart honesty, this observational documentary follows the stories behind the claims and asks: who is telling the truth?

With one in 10 adults admitting to having made a fraudulent claim on a general insurance policy, such as home or motor insurance (source: ABI (Association of British Insurers) May, 2007), insurance companies are on their guard. From spilling paint on a worn out carpet (one of the top insurance frauds), to criminal gangs staging accidents on Britain’s roads, it’s the insurance investigators job to decide who is and who isn’t, telling lies. Read more & comment »

Here is our second trailer for this Thursday’s Cutting Edge TV show, A Boy Called Alex.

During the show, the cameras will follow 16 year old musical prodigy Alex Stobbs. Alex has set himself the goal of conducting a performance of Bach’s epic choral work, the Magnificat , before an audience of several hundred people in the glorious setting of Eton’s 15th-century chapel.

The twist in the tale is (and you knew there had to be one!) that Alex has a particularly virulent form of cystic fibrosis, which is slowly destroying his digestive system and his lungs.

Watch the clip and let us know what you think in the comments form below.

Thursday 24 January 2008, Channel 4, 9PM

Cutting Edge , Channel 4’s flagship documentary series, returns with a run of 15 new, distinctive and compelling films that offer a snapshot of modern life from some of the UK’s most influential directors as well as from the sharpest emerging talent. The opening film is A Boy Called Alex .

Since he began playing the piano at the age of three, Alex Stobbs has shown a remarkable gift for music. By the time he was eight years old, he was touring Europe as a chorister. At 13, he won a music scholarship to Eton, a school his parents could never have hoped to afford. Today Alex is 16, astonishing teachers and pupils with his brilliance as an organist, pianist, chorister, composer and conductor. By any account, a sparkling future lies ahead of him. Except Alex has a particularly virulent form of cystic fibrosis, which is slowly destroying his digestive system and his lungs.

Read more & comment »

Coming to Channel 4 next week, this film features some of the 1.2 million-strong ’secret workforce’ of people working past the retirement age in Britain. Compulsory retirement may be a thing of the past, but why are so many pensioners choosing to continue working? Read more & comment »