They’re cheap – but they’re also deadly. Illegal pills costing as little as 50p each are contributing to the deaths of hundreds of people each year in Scotland. Now an expert is warning benzodiazepines, or street Valium, could pose a growing threat elsewhere.

Jane Deith talks to those whose lives have been destroyed by benzodiazepines, a category of drugs usually used to treat anxiety that can be prescribed, but which have become a major feature of the illegal drugs market in Scotland and now elsewhere in the UK.

The so called “street benzos” are a class C drug manufactured in huge quantities in illegal factories and sold for as little as 50p each, less than a bar of chocolate.

From the Clyde to Cornwall, File on 4 hears the stories of those dealing with the fallout from the trade in the drugs, including people who have been addicted to them; a mother in North East England who lost her daughter to a fatal overdose; a teenager who bought them on social media, and an expert who believes their influence is spreading, with potentially dangerous consequences.

Reporter: Jane Deith

Before Covid the US gaming platform Roblox was one of many online games children played. Following lockdown and millions of children isolating at home, the company now has a market value of $22bn and is the most popular gaming platform for British children. But is the platform doing all it can to protect them? Concerns have been raised about financial exploitation, grooming, gambling and access to inappropriate content.

From the harrowing 999 calls of people waiting for an ambulance to the paramedics stretched to breaking point, File on 4 goes on the frontline of the ambulance crisis.

Reporter: Rachel Stonehouse

Paul Kenyon investigates the ‘brain drain’ of doctors from developing countries to work in the UK. The large scale recruitment of foreign doctors from nations with the greatest need to retain their medical personnel is increasing on a massive scale. What’s more, thousands of doctors are being targeted despite guidance which says recruitment from developing countries should not happen. It is though - because the UK trains too few doctors and nurses and needs these staff to plug the gaps. There are also big concerns about how many of the doctors flown into the UK are expected to work extremely long hours which they say is putting patient safety at risk.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon

Leicester is one of the most diverse cities in England – often presented as a shining example multi-cultural Britain. But tensions between some factions have been brewing in the city for months and boiled over recently when there were violent clashes which led to dozens of arrests. File on 4 investigates why sections of the Muslim and Hindu communities that once lived together in harmony are now divided.

Reporter: Datshiane Navanayagam

There are concerns that British victims of trafficking are less likely than foreign nationals to receive Home Office support to escape exploitation.

Producer: Hayley Mortimer

It was to be one of the most ambitious just reform programmes in the world – a ‘common platform’ that would share information between the courts, lawyers and police, from arrest to court. But the quarter-of-a-billion pound IT project now stands accused of causing wrongful arrests and unlawful detentions. File on 4 has spoken with whistle-blowers from within the court service who say the system is unsafe, unfinished and beset with bugs, errors and glitches. Sources say early warnings were ignored and worry that the software continues to be rolled out to courts across England and Wales despite serious concerns about the risk it poses.

Producer: Ben Robinson

The massage industry has bounced back since covid, but File on 4 investigates the darker side of this industry. Hannah Price speaks to women who were sexually assaulted by massage therapists. In some cases, the therapist went on to assault other women even after they’d been arrested.

The programme reveals how the industry is largely unregulated - with no licensing of practitioners. It means anyone, even without qualifications or with a criminal conviction, could practice as a massage therapist.

Sexual assault victims and professional bodies in the sector are calling for more regulation to be introduced to protect both clients and therapists from sexual violence and harm.

Reporter: Hannah Price

In March 2022, File on 4 told the stories of six people whose lives were changed forever by war in Ukraine.

Reporter: Paul Kenyon

Last month an independent children’s social care review concluded that providing care for children in residential homes 'should not be based on profit'. The government response was that they have no any objection to profit being made as long as standards of care are properly regulated.

But is there a difference in the standard of care between ‘for profit’ and ‘not-for-profit’ children’s homes? With exclusive access to new data from the regulator Ofsted, reporter Tom Wall investigates the companies that are making huge profits from the children’s homes to ask whether there is shortfall in care and whether the reforms suggested are necessary.

Tom also talks to care leavers and children who have experienced life in homes where profit is a priority.

This epsiode of File on 4 is a repeat of the programme first broadcast on Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Reporter: Tom Wall