Afleveringen
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The Great Train Robber fugitive faces a stark choice: depression, debt and death in Rio ... or surrender to the UK justice system.
Twenty-five years ago, Britain Most Wanted septuagenarian ceremoniously flew home on a private jet chartered by The Sun newspaper, after 35 years on the run. Some celebrated him as a hero, others demanded he live the rest of his days in Belmarsh Prison.
As the series comes to a close, actor Daniel Mays reflects on how and why Britain built-up the Ronnie Biggs myth.
Credits:Presenter - Daniel MaysProducers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude ShapiroExecutive Producer - Jack HowsonAssociate Exec - Chris PickardMix Engineering - Will FitzpatrickCommissioningâŻProducer - Sam ProffittCommissioningâŻExecutive -âŻLouise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include:Ursula and Chris Crocker, ex-housemates of BiggsProfessor Dick Hobbs, criminologistColin MacKenzie, crime reporter for the Daily ExpressProfessor Ruth Penfold-Mounce, celebrity crime expertChris Pickard, ghostwriter for BiggsNick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leaderJim Shreim, documentarian and neighbour of BiggsNoel âRazorâ Smith, writer and former armed robberBrian Stone, cellmate of BiggsMike Sullivan, crime editor for The SunReverend Dave Tomlinson, officiant at Biggs's funeral
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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Buy your ticket for âThe Ronnie Biggs Experienceâ. For fifty dollars you will be entitled to Brazilian barbecue, a few beers, and an intimate audience with an international celebrity fugitive. Branded T-Shirts are available upon request.
Live music may be provided by the Sex Pistols or, otherwise, a pop band of adorable children.
Warning: the risk of a kidnap attempt occurring within the duration of this event is high. Snakes are also a known hazard.
This episode has been edited since publication.
Credits:Presenter - Daniel MaysProducers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude ShapiroExecutive Producer - Jack HowsonAssociate Exec - Chris PickardMix Engineering - Will FitzpatrickCommissioningâŻProducer - Sam ProffittCommissioningâŻExecutive -âŻLouise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include:Michael âBreitiâ Breitkopf & Bruce Henry Leitman, musical collaborators of BiggsUrsula Crocker, ex-housemate of BiggsColin MacKenzie, crime reporter for the Daily ExpressProfessor Ruth Penfold-Mounce, celebrity crime expertChris Pickard, ghostwriter for BiggsAlex Popovics, son of Biggsâ partner Ulla SopherJohn Robb, musician and punk criticJim Shreim, documentarian and neighbour of Biggs
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Welcome to Rio in 1970. Home to the most beautiful football team the world has ever known. Home to a brutal military dictatorship. And, now, home of the last Great Train Robber at large.
The Ronnie Biggs rollercoaster is about to crank up for another wild ride that takes in a Scotland Yard sting, samba, teenage pregnancy, the tabloid scoop of the decade, and an accidental legal loophole that defies the British government.
Credits:Presenter - Daniel MaysProducers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude ShapiroExecutive Producer - Jack HowsonAssociate Exec - Chris PickardMix Engineering - Will FitzpatrickCommissioningâŻProducer - Sam ProffittCommissioningâŻExecutive -âŻLouise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include:Ursula and Chris Crocker, ex-housemates of BiggsColin MacKenzie, crime reporter for the Daily ExpressChris Pickard, ghostwriter for BiggsJim Shreim, documentarian and neighbour of BiggsNoel âRazorâ Smith, writer and former armed robber
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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What price freedom? And why should you never wear crocodile shoes when youâre on the run?!
While the rest of the Great Train Robbery gang are serving thirty-year sentences, the runaways are enjoying the delights of mid-sixties Paris and Las Vegas. But the life of an outlaw is not all about cabaret clubs, Frank Sinatra residencies, and sweet freedom ⊠painful plastic surgery and familial misery is part of the package too.
Credits:Presenter - Daniel MaysProducers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude ShapiroExecutive Producer - Jack HowsonAssociate Exec - Chris PickardMix Engineering - Will FitzpatrickAdditional Production Support - Ashley CliveryCommissioningâŻProducer - Sam ProffittCommissioningâŻExecutive -âŻLouise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include:Ian Dowding, nephew of BiggsDoctor Sharonna Pearl, historian and face theoristNick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leaderNoel âRazorâ Smith, writer and former armed robberBrian Stone, cellmate of Biggs
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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This episode contains reference to self harm.
Weâre in Wandsworth Prison, where the lights never go out. And where freedom for Ronnie Biggs might only be a chess game or a rope climb away âŠ
Meanwhile - outside the jail walls - the British establishment is shaking under the weight of working-class anger, the Profumo affair, the Swinging Sixties, and a media frenzy at the severe sentences handed down to the Great Train Robbers.
If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, details of organisations offering information and support can be found at bbc.co.uk/actionline
Credits: Presenter - Daniel Mays Producers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude Shapiro Executive Producer - Jack Howson Associate Exec - Chris Pickard Mix Engineering - Will Fitzpatrick Additional Production Support - Ashley Clivery CommissioningâŻProducer - Sam Proffitt CommissioningâŻExecutive -âŻLouise Kattenhorn CommissioningâŻEditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include: Professor Dick Hobbs, criminologist Noel âRazorâ Smith, writer and former armed robber Brian Stone, cellmate of Biggs
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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In 1963, a small-time South London carpenter joins the biggest robbery in British history for one reason - he knows a retired train driver who is semi-competent. And yet Ronnie Biggs will, for the next fifty years, be far more famous than the man who planned it, the rest of the gang who pulled it off, the train driver who was so brutally attacked, or the Scotland Yard detectives who solved the case.
How exactly is a criminal âlegendâ born? Actor Daniel Mays delves into unheard Ronnie Biggs tapes and takes us back to the rubble of post-war London to find out âŠ
Credits:Presenter - Daniel MaysProducers - Phoebe McIndoe & Jude ShapiroExecutive Producer - Jack HowsonAssociate Exec - Chris PickardMix Engineering - Will FitzpatrickAdditional Production Support - Ashley CliveryCommissioningâŻProducer - Sam ProffittCommissioningâŻExecutive -âŻLouise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor - Richard Maddock
Contributors include:Professor Dick Hobbs, criminologistNick Reynolds, sculptor and son of the Great Train Robbery gang leaderNoel âRazorâ Smith, writer and former armed robberBrian Stone, cellmate of Biggs
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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How did a small-time carpenter with a minor and fumbled role in a 1963 violent heist become Britainâs most famous fugitive and - for many - an unlikely folk hero? From gangland tea boy to Brazilian playboy, this series recounts the controversial rollercoaster life of Ronnie Biggs in his own words, through previously unheard recordings.
Actor Daniel Mays, who portrayed the Great Train Robber in a major ITV drama, hosts the podcast, marking the 25th anniversary of Biggsâ return to Britain to face justice after 36 years on the run.
Listen first on BBC Sounds from May 7th, 2026.
A Peanut & Crumb production for Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds
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Itâs the 1990s and Wo Shing Wo gangsters think theyâre untouchable. Georgie Pai is fighting yet another deportation order after being caught in the UK again. Heâs granted bail on the condition that he reports weekly to a local police station.
Meanwhile, a team of television journalists set up a sting in Manchester, aiming to expose how the Triads operate. The broadcast is devastating, a huge âloss of faceâ, which in the eyes of many in the Chinese community turns Georgie Pai from a feared villain to laughingstock overnight. Georgie Pai ends up fleeing to Cheltenham, leaving the Triad life behind him. But in the gang world, thereâs always someone waiting in the wings to become top dog.
Presenter: Livvy HaydockSeries Producer: Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer: Richard HannafordProducers: Patrick Kiteley & Matt ToulsonFixer in Hong Kong: Michelle ChanMusic: Andy Simms and Reliable Source MusicJournalism Assistants: Hattie Valentine & Ellie DoverCommissioningâŻProducer: Sam ProffittâŻCommissioningâŻExecutive:âŻLorraine OkuefunaâŻand Louise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor: Richard MaddockEditor and Executive Producer: Clare Fordham
Archive: The Cook Report: Meet The Triads (Central Television, ITV)
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A video war is raging across Britainâs Chinatowns, fuelled by a booming market for Hong Kong films and soaps, copied and rented out for huge profit. In Manchester, Wo Shing Wo quickly seizes control, establishing a near-monopoly on the lucrative video rental trade.
But where money flows, so does violence. In Glasgow, restaurant owner Philip Wong is brutally murdered by contract killers wielding machetes. Police suspect his death came after he refused to cooperate with Wo Shing Wo, who demanded a share of his profitable Chinese video business. Despite investigations, the three men wanted for the murder have never been traced.
Presenter: Livvy HaydockSeries Producer: Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer: Richard HannafordProducers: Patrick Kiteley & Matt ToulsonFixer in Hong Kong: Michelle ChanMusic: Andy Simms and Reliable Source MusicJournalism Assistants: Hattie Valentine & Ellie DoverCommissioningâŻproducer: Sam ProffittâŻCommissioningâŻexecutive:âŻLorraine Okuefuna and Louise KattenhornCommissioningâŻeditor: Richard MaddockEditor and Executive Producer: Clare Fordham
Archive: The Cook Report: Meet The Triads (Central Television, ITV)
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By the 1980s, Georgie Pai has been arrested in Glastonbury for overstaying a tourist visa, found guilty of terrorising Chinese communities in Southampton, and deported back to Hong Kong.âŻBut borders are no barrier for a man with the right connections. He slips back into Britain and continues to expand his empire.
Manchester becomes his nerve centre as police begin building a database of suspected Triad gangsters. But with Wo Shing Woâs growing power comes a rising tide of violence. One of Georgie Paiâs associates is brutally attacked with machetes, a warning that it is far from an isolated incident. Across the UK, violent clashes between rival Triad factions are becoming alarmingly common, each gang carving up territory in a bloody, escalating turf war.
Presenter: Livvy HaydockSeries Producer: Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer: Richard HannafordProducers: Patrick Kiteley & Matt ToulsonFixer in Hong Kong: Michelle ChanMusic: Andy Simms and Reliable Source MusicJournalism Assistants: Hattie Valentine & Ellie DoverCommissioningâŻProducer: Sam ProffittâŻCommissioningâŻExecutive:âŻLorraine OkuefunaâŻand Louise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor: Richard MaddockEditor and Executive Producer: Clare Fordham
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Two Hong Kong nationals are arrested in Southampton after guns are found in a vehicle. One of them speaks to police, revealing that a flourishing protection racket is operating right under their noses. He also provides the name of their gang leader â Georgie Pai. Hampshire Constabulary sets up a Triad squad but quickly encounters a wall of silence. The terrified community fears not only for themselves but also for their relatives back in Hong Kong.
Four hundred miles away in Glasgow, detectives hear similar reports of businesses being extorted and they hear that name again⊠Georgie Pai. Heâs now on the radar of police across the country and under scrutiny from immigration authorities. But as his criminal empire grows, he forgets to renew his tourist visa. Georgie Pai is deported back to Hong Kong for the first time, but even in exile, he continues pulling the strings.
Presenter: Livvy HaydockSeries Producer: Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer: Richard HannafordProducers: Patrick Kiteley & Matt ToulsonFixer in Hong Kong: Michelle ChanMusic: Andy Simms and Reliable Source MusicJournalism Assistants: Hattie Valentine & Ellie DoverCommissioningâŻProducer: Sam ProffittâŻCommissioningâŻExecutive:âŻLorraine OkuefunaâŻand Louise KattenhornCommissioningâŻEditor: Richard MaddockEditor and Executive Producer: Clare Fordham
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From the neon-lit Chinatowns of Britain to the back streets of Hong Kong, we learn why the Triads were feared by so many. The secret societies were formed hundreds of years ago as resistance movements but morphed into organised crime. Triad membership has long been outlawed in Hong Kong, but for decades they were a powerful and insidious force. Their influence stretched across continents, with the groups involved in drugs, extortion, prostitution, armed robbery, kidnappings and loan sharking.
We visit Georgie Paiâs birthplace, a rural village close to the border of mainland China. Through those who knew him and the history of the region, we uncover how he was recruited into Wo Shing Wo and track his rise to the position of Red Pole â an enforcer with an army of disciples. But all that power can come at a cost.
Presenter: Livvy HaydockSeries Producer: Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer: Richard HannafordProducers: Patrick Kiteley & Matt ToulsonFixer in Hong Kong: Michelle ChanMusic: Andy Simms and Reliable Source MusicJournalism Assistants: Hattie Valentine & Ellie DoverCommissioningâŻProducer: Sam ProffittâŻCommissioningâŻExecutive:âŻLorraine OkuefunaâŻand Louise Kattenhorn
Archive: Drunken Master II: Golden Harvest, Paragon Films, Hong Kong Stuntmen Association. Directed by Chia-Liang Liu and Jackie Chan.
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In 1970s Britain, Chinese-heritage migrants worked long hours in restaurants and takeaways to build their new lives. But as the diaspora established itself, the gangs they thought theyâd left behind in Hong Kong began to follow, quietly feeding off the very people they claimed to protect.
Back in Hong Kong, Georgie Pai was already a senior member of Wo Shing Wo, one of the most feared Triad societies operating in the region's underworld. Triads are known for their rigid hierarchy, blood-sworn loyalty and reputation for ruthless enforcement. Georgie Pai travelled to the UK on a tourist visa and began working at his parentsâ takeaway in Glastonbury. From there, he united scattered Triad factions around the country and recruited loyal foot soldiers. He built an extortion network targeting Chinese communities, with business owners ordered to pay protection cash. Those who refused were brutally punished.
Presenter - Livvy HaydockSeries Producer - Hayley MortimerTechnical Producer â Richard HannafordProducers â Patrick Kiteley & Matt ToulsonFixer in Hong Kong â Michelle ChanMusic â Andy Simms and Reliable Source MusicJournalism Assistants â Hattie Valentine & Ellie DoverCommissioning producer: Sam Proffitt Commissioning executive: Lorraine Okuefuna and Louise KattenhornCommissioning editor: Richard MaddockEditor and Executive Producer â Clare Fordham
Archive â The Cook Report: Meet The Triads (Central Television, ITV)
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From the back alleys of Hong Kong to the neon-lit Chinatowns of Britain, Georgie Pai built a nationwide criminal empire through his Triad gang Wo Shing Wo. With a network of protection rackets, gambling dens and an army of loyal followers, he controlled his turf with threats, violence and machetes. Gangster steps inside the world of the Triads. A brotherhood bound by secret handshakes and elaborate rituals, where loyalty is sworn in blood. For decades, Georgie Paiâs name alone caused absolute terror amongst Britainâs Chinese community. He was deported back to Hong Kong several times, but with police unable to pin him to a single crime, it was left to a team of journalists to bring him down.
Presenter: Livvy Haydock Series Producer: Hayley Mortimer Technical Producer: Richard Hannaford Producers: Patrick Kiteley & Matt Toulson Fixer in Hong Kong: Michelle Chan Music: Andy Simms and Reliable Source Music Journalism Assistants: Hattie Valentine & Ellie Dover CommissioningâŻProducer: Sam Proffitt⯠CommissioningâŻExecutive:âŻLorraine OkuefunaâŻand Louise Kattenhorn CommissioningâŻEditor: Richard Maddock Editor and Executive Producer: Clare Fordham
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Amy and Joe had been planning a future together, outside â but now theyâre stuck behind bars, facing the consequences of their actions.
In this final episode, host Amber Haque unpicks how their story ends - and finds thereâs still love, but also loss.
And for Amy, the question that lingers - was any of it ever real?
CreditsHost: Amber HaqueProducer: Becca BryersSound design: Ivor ManleyStory and music consultant: Emma WeatherillDevelopment by: Rob Byrne, Rhiannon Nevada and Emma ShawProduction management: Gaelan Davis-Connolly and Debbie WadellExecutive producer: Joe KentA BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 LiveCommissioning producer: Sam ProffittCommissioning executive: Louise Kattenhorn and Lorraine OkuefunaCommissioning editor: Richard Maddock
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
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Amy knows this is the final run - just one more package of drugs to smuggle in, one more drop-off before Joe walks free and maybe they can leave crime behind.
But this time, someone is watching.
Will the couple stay loyal to each other, as a wider conspiracy begins to unravel?
CreditsHost: Amber HaqueProducer: Becca BryersSound design: Ivor ManleyExecutive producer: Joe KentA BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Details of information and support with addiction is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
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Highly-addictive, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle, Spice is running rampage through Britainâs prisons.
And Spice is the reason Amy finds Joe zombie-like in his cell, eyes rolled back in his head.
The reason, heâs in debt with other prisoners.
The reason heâs asking her to smuggle something in for him. Again.
CreditsHost: Amber HaqueProducer: Becca BryersSound design: Andy FellExecutive producer: Joe KentA BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Details of information and support with addiction is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
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Smuggle one package of drugs into prison for her boyfriend Joe and heâll be able to pay off his debts. Thatâs what Amy needs to do and then she can concentrate on planning their future together, or so she thinks. Itâs not long till heâll be released and then they can have the proper relationship she dreams of.
Joe insists the smuggling is just a one-off, but will Amy do what he's asking?
CreditsHost: Amber HaqueProducer: Becca BryersSound design: Ivor ManleyExecutive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
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Amy is risking it all for a relationship with career criminal Joe - but who is the boy from Bradford sheâs falling in love with.
Host Amber Haque delves deep into his past and jumps down the rabbit hole of #prisontok as she attempts to make sense of the illicit affair and whoâs really in control.
CreditsHost: Amber HaqueProducer: Becca BryersSound design: Andy FellExecutive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
Details of information and support with addiction is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline
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The last thing mental health nurse Amy expected to encounter when she took a job at Lindholme prison was someone offering romance.
Then she met Joe - cheeky, brimming with charisma and a career criminal.
But surely she knows better than to listen to his relentless attempts to charm herâŠ.
CreditsHost: Amber HaqueProducer: Becca BryersSound design: Ivor Manley Executive producer: Joe Kent
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 5 Live
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