The cheap “Rolex” snaffled at the local market; those “Prada” jeans; “Ray-Ban” sunglasses that cost a tenner; the new England kit. Counterfeiting has become the fastest-growing crime of modern times.

Payback is the first episode of a two-part series that tells the extraordinary story of how fakes came to dominate the market and how the brands are struggling to fight back. It becomes clear that this is not a victimless crime: not only are the workers exploited, but also the consumers, as the programme reveals that counterfeiting is into everything, even prescription medicines.

Monday 3 March 2008
8:00pm, Channel 4