Episodes

  • Introducing... Unreliable Witness: Who is Ellie Williams?

    Introducing... Unreliable Witness: Who is Ellie Williams?
    Mar 25 2024
    It’s the height of lockdown, 19-year-old Ellie Williams claims on social media she's been raped and exploited by an Asian grooming gang across the north of England. Photos of her alleged injuries add to the outrage and the post goes viral - shared more than 100,000 times.
    Social media rumours lead to attacks on Asian men and businesses in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness. But when she's arrested for perverting the course of justice, things really explode and there are protest rallies and claims of a cover-up.
    At her trial, the prosecution say she lied, faked text messages and even caused the catalogue of injuries to herself.
    In season 6 of StoryCast, Sky News' Jason Farrell and Liz Lane, who reported on the case at the time, return to Barrow to investigate what could have led her to make these claims and if, underneath it all, there is some other truth buried among the lies.
    With access to her family, police investigators and those most impacted by her allegations, we ask: Is Ellie Williams a villain - or a victim of something else? And what happened after the trial - once all the media attention died down and new allegations began to emerge?
    This is episode one of Unreliable Witness. For the full season, follow Unreliable Witness wherever you get your podcasts.
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    32 mins
  • Introducing… Electoral Dysfunction

    Introducing… Electoral Dysfunction
    Mar 1 2024
    Today, something different – we're bringing you the trailer of an exciting new podcast from Sky called Electoral Dysfunction.

    Beth Rigby. Jess Philips. Ruth Davidson.

    With polls suggesting trust in politicians is low, three political powerhouses unite to unravel the spin and explain what’s really going on in Westminster and beyond.

    Every week, they will examine our political leaders and their policies – how they’re written, and how they’re sold to voters – as we prepare for a general election. 

    With so much at stake, they will work out which politicians are coming out on top and who is having an Electoral Dysfunction – and what it all actually means for you.

    Here's the trailer. For more, follow Electoral Dysfunction now wherever you listen to podcasts.
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    14 mins
  • Patient 11 | Locked-up and drugged

    Patient 11 | Locked-up and drugged
    Jan 29 2024
    Young mother and former GB youth swimmer, Alexis Quinn, agrees to enter NHS England psychiatric care following a family tragedy. She could never imagine that her three-day admission will turn into a three-year ordeal. Then undiagnosed with autism, and often the subject of 24-hour surveillance as well as long periods in solitary confinement, Alexis descends to the darkest reaches of locked-in, psychiatric care. There, she encounters the kind of threat she never could have imagined in a secure mental health hospital. In a bid to break free, Alexis plots a daring escape. Making it back to her daughter, however, will pit her against some of the most powerful institutions in the State, including the police.

    This episode contains discussions about sexual assault.

    Narrated by Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy, Django, For Life). This is episode 1 of Patient 11, a new investigative podcast from Sky News and the Independent. To hear all episodes now, follow Patient 11 on your favourite podcast player.
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    20 mins
  • Episode Nine: Living in the Grey Zone - MI5 and the Russia threat

    Episode Nine: Living in the Grey Zone - MI5 and the Russia threat
    Mar 3 2021
    In this final episode, we have the first ever interview with serving MI5 officers who work in counter intelligence.

    Tom and Kate talk about the challenge of grey zone threats from Russia and reveal their shock at the Salisbury spy poisonings.

    They also reveal that the Security Service has bolstered protection for people in the UK deemed at risk from Russia and is doing “everything we can” to prevent another Salisbury-style attack, but there are no “absolute guarantees” – in the grey zone.

    Guests:
    Tom, senior MI5 intelligence officer working on Russia
    Kate, MI5 intelligence officer investigating the activities of Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU
    Lord Mark Sedwill, former UK national security adviser
    Dominic Grieve, former senior Conservative MP, former chair of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, former attorney general

    Credits:
    Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
    Edited and produced by Chris Scott
    Production support from Sophia McBide and Michael Greenfield
    The Head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris
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    51 mins
  • Episode Eight: When The Grey Zone Becomes A War Zone

    Episode Eight: When The Grey Zone Becomes A War Zone
    Mar 1 2021
    What happens when the grey zone becomes a war zone and what might future wars look like, with hypersonic missiles, artificial intelligence and cyber changing calculations?

    These are questions Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes explores in this episode, in part, by looking at Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

    She also talks to General Sir Nick Carter, the head of Britain’s armed forces, about what he thinks is the gravest threat to the UK and about how the military is adapting to operate in the grey zone.

    Guests:
    General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff
    General Sir Richard Barrons, former head of Joint Command, now Strategic Command
    Emine Dzhaparova , First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine
    Sergei Markov, political scientist and former member of the Russian parliament
    Keir Giles, senior consulting fellow at Chatham House
    Orysia Lutsevych, head and research fellow, Ukraine Forum, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House

    Credits:
    Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
    Edited and produced by Chris Scott
    Production support from Sophia McBide and Michael Greenfield
    The Head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris
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    43 mins
  • Episode Seven: China - A Battle of Values

    Episode Seven: China - A Battle of Values
    Feb 22 2021
    This episode explores a global battle of values between China and leading democracies over issues like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang.

    It’s being fought with an array of covert weapons, from cyber attacks and information operations to economic coercion and even something called “lawfare”.

    Allegations of such behaviour are made and denied by both sides, which of course is to be expected - in the grey zone.

    Guests:
    Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee
    Matthew Turpin, visiting fellow, Hoover Institution
    Charlie Parton, former British diplomat, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
    Dr Shi Yinhong, Director of the Academic Committee of the School of International Studies and US Research Center of Renmin University in Beijing
    Nathan Law, pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong
    Julie Marionneau, research fellow, Policy Exchange
    Freddy Lim, Taiwanese politician, lead singer of heavy-metal band Chthonic
    Alexander Downer, former Australian foreign minister
    Puma Shen, assistant professor at National Taipei University
    Chinese embassy in London – via email statement

    Credits:
    Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
    Edited and produced by Chris Scott
    Production support from Michael Greenfield
    The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris
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    46 mins
  • Episode Six: Iran - The Hidden Hand

    Episode Six: Iran - The Hidden Hand
    Feb 15 2021
    On 3 January 2020, the United States killed Iran’s top spy master, Major General Qasem Soleimani, in a drone strike in Iraq.

    There was nothing grey or ambiguous about the assassination, but this episode explores the escalating grey zone hostilities between Iran and the United States in the preceding years and how they almost ignited a real war.

    Sky News journalist Deborah Haynes explores in particular how Iran allegedly uses proxy forces in the grey zone, under the threshold of war, to try to level the playing field when competing with a super power.

    Interviews:
    General David Petraeus, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency
    John Raine, Senior Adviser for Geopolitical Due Diligence, International Institute for Strategic Studies
    Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Conservative MP and former UK defence minister. She now serves as energy minister
    Fabian Picardo, Chief Minister of Gibraltar
    Anonymous Iraqi MP
    Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism, University of Tehran
    Major General Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate

    Credits:
    Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
    Edited and produced by Chris Scott
    Production support from Michael Greenfield
    The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris
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    40 mins
  • Episode Five: Cyber Power (Part II) - Hacking ISIS

    Episode Five: Cyber Power (Part II) - Hacking ISIS
    Feb 7 2021
    In their first joint interview, the director of the UK spy agency GCHQ and the top general in charge of cyber operations for the military talk about how the UK is using the power of cyber to push back against adversaries with the creation of a whole new National Cyber Force.

    Jeremy Fleming and General Sir Patrick Sanders also reveal new details about how the UK used offensive cyber in the fight against Islamic State, attacking the terrorist group’s ability to fly drones, use their mobile phones and spread online propaganda.

    We also hear from a woman who was once described as the UK’s best offensive cyber spy.

    Sally Walker has since left GCHQ and says she is choosing to speak out – now she’s once again a member of the public – to help generate a wider debate about the cyber grey zone.

    Interviews:
    Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ
    General Sir Patrick Sanders, commander of Strategic Command
    Sally Walker, cyber expert
    Tobias Elwood, Conservative MP, chair of the defence select committee and former foreign officer and defence minister

    Credits:
    Written and narrated by Deborah Haynes
    Edited and produced by Chris Scott
    Production support from Michael Greenfield
    The head of Sky News Radio is Dave Terris
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    50 mins