TV series
An in-depth look at news stories. Documentaries that take you behind the scenes giving an insight into people's lives or institutions.
Availability
Checked Jul 22, 2026
Dispatches premiered October 30, 1987. We don't have a confirmed streaming, rental or purchase option yet.
An in-depth look at news stories. Documentaries that take you behind the scenes giving an insight into people's lives or institutions.
Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.
Episode 1
The extraordinary story of Russia's covert efforts to corrupt British democracy and politics in the years before invading Ukraine. MI5 declined to comment on the programme for operational reasons.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 2
Secret footage filmed over the winter reveals ambulance workers battling the odds and A&E departments overwhelmed as patients suffer needless harm and death.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 3
Autistic patients trapped in mental health units tell their stories, revealing a system of poor treatment, abuse and long stretches inside with their symptoms only getting worse.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 4
More than two million pensioners are living in poverty in the UK. Dispatches follows four older people through the winter as they struggle to make ends meet.
Directed by Jezza Neumann
Episode 5
The full story of Boris Johnson's friendship with press baron Evgeny Lebedev and his dad Alexander, an ex-KGB spy, revealing the secret fears of security services
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 6
A Dispatches special reveals shocking new evidence on Sri Lanka's deadly Easter bombings of 2019. High-placed whistle blowers allege top-level complicity by officials inside the Sri Lankan government.
Where to watch Dispatches
Episode 7
Dispatches investigates Russell Brand's treatment of women. The British comedian, television personality and radio talker Russell Brand is accused of abusing women close to him for several years. An investigation by Channel4.
Guest stars Russell Brand
Episode 8
The intimate, emotional story of the Russian women taking huge risks fighting for the truth about their sons, husbands and brothers missing in Ukraine.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 9
Along the dangerous borderlands of war-torn Ukraine, Dispatches follows investigators searching for evidence of the abduction and deportation of thousands of Ukrainian kids.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 10
Dispatches investigates Chinese state interference with UK institutions and repression of dissidents on UK soil. Undercover filming reveals a suspected Chinese spy engaging with a UK-based activist.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 11
In the run-up to Christmas, nine million turkeys will be sold across Britain. Dispatches investigates food safety concerns at one producer.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode 12
Harry Wallop investigates Britain's soaring food prices, and how some supermarkets have reacted to protect profits. He discovers how some products have secretly been reformulated, with cheaper ingredients replacing more expensive items.
Where to watch DispatchesEpisode information updated Jul 25, 2026
Available now in United States
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