Alcohol abuse is responsible for up to 40,000 deaths every year in Britain, as well as domestic incidents, absenteeism and crime.

Tonight, in the first programme of a special two part investigation on the reality of the welfare state, reporter Stephen Bradshaw looks at broken promises. Like families having to sell their parents homes to pay for old age care.

The 2nd programme of a two-part investigation into the welfare state. Stephen Bradshaw looks at the implications of the middle classes increasingly looking to private insurance for everything from pensions, schools fees and medical care.

On 8 December last year, a 10 yr old boy from Stockport, Nicholas Geldard died in a Leeds hospital. In his last hours he was taken to 4 different hospitals; refused an intensive care bed at four others. Did the NHS fail Nicholas Geldard?

The stranding of the Sea Empress oil tanker at the mouth of the Cleddau Estuary off Milford Haven in February 1996 resulted in 72,000 tonnes of crude oil and 370 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, escaping into the sea.

Gerry Northam presents a programme looking at controversy surrounding perceived results of drugs trials on AZT (marketed as Retrovir) since early 1980's, which have been interpreted by drug companies to show benefits of taking drugs early.

As part of the week-long series Dealing with Drugs, a look at the increasing use of recreational drugs, not just among the young, but among the professional middle-classes. Is society beginning to adjust and even tolerate the drug culture.

Last year nearly 200 people were publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia, yet the British Government does not criticise its closest Middle East ally. John Ware reports on Britain's relationship with the regime.

Thomas Creedon was born severely brain-damaged. Unable to see or hear, he was kept alive only through modern medicine. His parents were prepared to take their case to the high court to fight for the right to let their son die.

Are our children being let down by primary school education? New research suggests that over the last 25 years, standards in maths have fallen noticeably. Vivian White reports on what is going wrong in our primary schools.

So far BSE has meant the deaths of 160,000 cows and may lead to the condition Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease in humans. As the Government's handling of the "mad cow" crisis threatens to split Europe, Gerry Northam reports.

In the brave new world of privatised railways, it's cheaper to send trains by road than by rail. New owners of the track charge operators so much that many prefer to load them onto trailers to be sent down the motorway.

Swifter, higher, stronger is the Olympic motto but has the athlete's ultimate dream to win gold created a culture of world-class cheats? Tom Mangold talks to Olympic athletes en route to this year's games who admit to having taken drugs.

Panorama begins with this report on the aftermath of the massacre when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane Primary School. Jane Franchi talks to families whose children were murdered in the shooting.

The spin doctors politicians rely upon to influence the news have been called "the men in the dark" . Do they help politicians float stories that can later be denied, or simply protect their parties from an obsessed media?

Sir James Goldsmith is a billionaire at the gate of British politics - a financier who intends spending huge amounts of money promoting the Referendum Party at the next general election. Goldsmith's impact and money is widely feared.

As America prepares to vote for its next President and the candidates' election campaigns roll towards their conclusion, Edward Stourton journeys across the country on the trail of President Bill Clinton.

Statistics show that British women are committing more and more violent crimes. Panorama investigates the shift in the traditional role of women as victims or accessories to crime to the aggressor. Su Pennington reports.

Martin Bashir reports on what seems to be a widescale ignorance of the easily-treatable Kawasaki disease, the biggest cause of heart disease among children in the western world.

Tonight, Peter Jay contrasts political rhetoric of last 20 years with realities of tax burden, to discover if anything has changed.

With Christmas imminent. Panorama investigates allegations that the prices of hi-fi's, televisions and fridges are being kept artificially high. and reporter John Ware explains why finding a bargain might be difficult this year.