Locked and Downloaded: The rise in 3D printed guns
File on 4 Investigates

Police have dealt with scores of cases involving home-made 3D printed guns in the UK in the last three years. Data obtained by File on 4 Investigates from the National Crime Agency shows that criminals and extremists have attempted to manufacture the weapons.

We hear from police who successfully prosecuted a group who had manufactured printed firearms to sell on to criminal gangs. As Adrian Goldberg asks, how much of a threat are these printed weapons in the UK and what can be done to deter people from making them?

Producer: Paul Grant
Technical Producers: Cameron Ward & Nicky Edwards
Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Tara McDermott

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38 minutes

#BBCRadio4 #BBCFileOn4Investigates #3DPrintedGuns

2026-05-12 2000-2040

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002w5v6

West German welfare institutions subjected children to widespread medical abuse

The Experiments
File on 4 Investigates

Jack Butcher investigates allegations that children in West German welfare institutions were subjected to widespread medical abuse, including medical experiments.

During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, many children found themselves in West Germany's sprawling network of children's institutions. In recent years, Germany has been shocked by revelations that some were used as guinea pigs for powerful new drugs, including potent anti-psychotics, as doctors worked hand in hand with pharmaceutical companies to observe the effects of new medications on young children.

The allegations were first brought to public attention by Sylvia Wagner, a pharmaceutical historian who grew up in a care home, and whose own brother was a victim of medical abuse.

Pulling together Sylvia's research, speaking to victims and digging through the documentation, Jack Butcher and reporter Ilona Toller, who led a major investigation of the scandal for German national radio, lay bare the horrendous human cost and tell the story of the tenacious activists who have challenged the conscience of their nation.

Producer and Presenter: Jack Butcher
With reporting from Ilona Toller and Anouk Millet, and additional research by Leonie Mombaur.
Executive Producer: Robert Nicholson
Sound Design: Phoebe McIndoe
Mix: Arlie Adlington
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

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37 minutes

On radio

Tomorrow
11:00
BBC Radio 4

#BBCRadio4 #BBCFileOn4Investigates

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002tpqf

(rapid decrease in the number of transplant surgeons)

The battle for hearts and lungs: Transplants in trouble.
File on 4 Investigates

The UK was once a world leader in heart and lung transplantation. Pioneering surgeons attracted patients from all over the world. But the NHS has not kept pace with medical and technological developments and today the UK lags far behind most similar countries. It carries out fewer transplants and a lack of resources mean it doesn’t routinely use modern technologies. Many of the health service’s leading surgeons have left to work overseas in recent years, frustrated, they say, at the lack of attention transplant services have received from NHS England.

Through speaking to patients, surgeons and experts, File on Four Investigates looks at what the UK needs to do to update and transform this life-changing service.

Reporter Michael Buchanan
Producers: Adam Eley & Paul Grant
Technical Producer: Nicky Edwards
Production Co-ordinator: Tim Fernley
Editor: Tara McDermott

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38 minutes

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Today
11:00
BBC Radio 4

#BBCRadio4 #BBCFileOn4 #BBCFileOn4Investigates #NHS #Birmingham

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002t19z