Dispatches - 2001

'Bloody Foreigners' is Andrew Smith's investigation into the British attitude towards asylum seekers and immigrants who live and work in the UK. It exposes the culture of hypocrisy under which xenophobia proliferates to such an extreme that asylum seekers are physically and verbally abused on a daily basis. It underlines the fact that these very people are working illegally for well under minimum wage, to line the pockets of seemingly legitimate British businesses. Part one reveals the scam behind a government-funded housing project in Liverpool. The owner receives millions from the council for ostensibly offering accommodation to asylum seekers. Yet the blocks of flats are in a shocking state of disrepair, conditions are freezing - not to mention the treatment the occupants receive from the locals. Secret camera footage shows the assault and harassment of inhabitants, regularly inflicted by neighbouring youths.

Part two deals with illegal workers who are employed by apparently respectable companies as waitresses, cleaners, and builders, to name but a few, without any legal documents or insurance, and paid as little a £20 for a long day. The final section uses hidden cameras to show the trade in forged passports which is rife in Finsbury Park Mosque, north London.

The documentary covers the outcry from the population after hearing about the release of the two boys who killed 2 year-old James Bulger in 1993. Presenting the protests against their release from an institution, the film also gives a background about the killers, their terrible violent act and the impact it caused in UK.

British journalist Saira Shah travels to Afghanistan with a camera crew to document the realities of life under the Taliban. Filmed just months prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the footage reveals the chilling brutality of a fledgling government made up of radicalized followers of Osama bin Laden.

A critical look at the handling of the Foot-and-mouth outbreak from February 2001 until June 2001.

Reporter Saira Shah returns to Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorists attacks. She reunites with three Afghan girls who were forced to watch as her mother was executed by Taliban soldiers. She also tours Northern Alliance fortifications and profiles an aid worker from the United States.