This year the average UK household gas and electricity bill has risen by nearly 40 per cent. While more and more families struggle to pay their energy bills, are the big companies that dominate the domestic market making millions in profit for themselves and for their shareholders? They say they have no choice but to pass on their rising costs to the customer, but is this the truth? Dispatches reporter Deborah Davies investigates why our charges are so high and how much the companies make from estimating bills.

Monday 20 October 2008
8:00pm, Channel 4

It was once “the world’s favourite airline”, but Dispatches asks if the sun is setting on another great British institution. Statistics volunteered by airlines reveal British Airways has mislaid more bags per passenger than any of its major European rivals since 2006.

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Dispatches travels across Britain to meet the families who feel let down after more than a decade of struggling to better themselves. The film features the stories of families in London’s stock broker belt who can’t afford their mortgages; working families in Birmingham who, despite all their hard work, have not been able to lift their children out of poverty; and pensioners who fear they can’t afford their heating bills this winter. Dispatches finds the key groups who Tony Blair won over - the aspiring middle classes and solid working class voters - are now deeply disillusioned.

Monday 22 September 2008
8:00pm

Monday 22 September 2008
8:00pm, Channel 4

Dispatches travels across Britain to meet the families who feel let down after more than a decade of struggling to better themselves. The film features the stories of families in London’s stock broker belt who can’t afford their mortgages; working families in Birmingham who, despite all their hard work, have not been able to lift their children out of poverty; and pensioners who fear they can’t afford their heating bills this winter. Dispatches finds the key groups who Tony Blair won over - the aspiring middle classes and solid working class voters - are now deeply disillusioned.

Wine consumption in the UK is hitting record levels. In this investigation, journalist Jane Moore reveals that a great deal of what we now consume is enhanced, sweetened, flavoured or added to, creating a drink that one critic describes as no better than “an alcoholic cola”. Dispatches reveals some of the 40 different substances - including fish and dairy products - that can be used in producing wine but that rarely appear on the label of the average bottle, in stark contrast with the regulations on food labelling.

Monday 15 September 2008
8:00pm, Channel 4

A year ago, Channel 4’s Lost for Words season highlighted the unacceptable scale of children leaving primary school without basic literacy skills.

A three-part series followed the progress of children at Monteagle Primary School in Dagenham, Essex. The number of children at the school with the right reading skills for their age group doubled in one year through the use of a systematic programme of learning to read using synthetic phonics. In this, the National Year of Reading, Dispatches returns to Monteagle to find out how the children are faring and examines the situation for children across Britain.

Monday 8 September 2008
8:00pm

Dispatches investigates the five billion pound British sandwich industry and reveals what’s really in the nation’s popular ‘lunch-on-the-go’. Sandwiches from some of the top retailers are submitted to scientific analysis to reveal their nutritional values with surprising results, and undercover filming uncovers shocking conditions inside one factory. Read more & comment »

Monday 21 July 2008, Channel 4

In the next few weeks every girl aged 12 to 13 in Britain will be offered a vaccination to help protect her against cervical cancer. It’s the first time a jab has been developed that can prevent a cancer. The vaccine works by stopping women contracting the virus that causes cervical cancer. But while some hail it as a medical breakthrough, it has provoked controversy. Journalist Jane Moore, who has two daughters, sets out to find answers to the questions every parent will ask before deciding whether to allow their daughters to have the vaccination. Will it work? Is it necessary? And is it safe?

As Tibetan protesters take to the streets in the biggest and most bloody challenge to Chinese rule in nearly 20 years, Dispatches reports on the hidden reality of life under Chinese occupation after spending three months undercover, deep inside the region. Dozens are feared dead after the recent clashes and crackdown by Chinese troops, but with reporting so rigidly controlled from the region little is known of living conditions inside Tibet. Read more & comment »

With ever-increasing numbers of passengers passing through their terminals, Britain’s airports are raking in huge profits, which are only set to get bigger as they seek expansion through extra runways or terminals. But matching the increase in passenger numbers is the threat from terrorism and concerns about the environment. In this edition of Dispatches , reporter Andrew Gilligan investigates the priorities and business tactics of the airports industry, asking how secure our airports are and who will be the winners and losers from airport expansion.

Monday 25 February 2008
8:00pm, Channel 4