Panorama is king of the documentary

Dispatches: Olympic Tickets For Sale, Channel 4, February 13, 8pm-9pm

There cannot be many who feel the London Olympic ticketing plans have been a smooth ride.

Website crashes, controversy over the ballot system, dubious payment requirements – all contributed to an ongoing public relations nightmare for the London Organising Committee (LOCOG).

But the attempt by Dispatches to cash in on the problems by rehashing many arguments already in the public domain was underwhelming, illogical and often contradictory.

The crux of the programme was focused on hidden camera interviews with two jovial figures. These villains of the piece represented companies – namely Thomas Cook and Jet Set Sports – which offer Olympic ticket and accommodation packages at extortionate prices.

It is predators like them, the show’s presenter Antony Barnett insisted, who are responsible for the plight of British sports fans who have missed out on tickets – people like Denis, an elderly caravan-dweller who has attended every Games since 1960.

Barnett may have had a point; the transparency (or lack of) in Olympic ticketing is undeniably an issue.

But the way he presented his argument was flawed. He made a big issue of the shocking fact only 36 per cent of seats at the men’s 100m final are available to the public despite LOCOG revealing this before tickets first went on sale.

The programme suffered from the lack of a LOCOG voice being heard; the entire debate on access to London’s Olympic traffic lanes appeared to be boiled down to airing the grievances of a disgruntled cabbie.

Most bizarrely, Barnett visited a town in New Jersey to find the headquarters of Jet Set – to stumble upon a PO Box address.

If his intention was to highlight the murkiness of the Games’ ticketing policy, Barnett instead managed simply to leave viewers pondering what exactly he had discovered.

The next edition of Dispatches could do worse than investigate the many flaws of this hour of investigative journalism.


Panorama: Poor America, BBC One, February 13, 8.30pm-9pm

By contrast, Panorama highlights why it is the leading investigative programme in Britain.

Highlighting an issue so many people on both sides of the Atlantic are aware of, presenter Hilary Andersson revealed some shocking stories of the poverty of much of hidden, tent-city America.

According to US Census Bureau statistics, 1.5 million US children are homeless. Twenty million people – nearly seven per cent of the population – earn less than £7,000 a year, or £135 a week.

Such numbers might not mean much, but this is where Andersson’s brilliant if typically poignant investigation brings the statistics to life.

Andersson speaks to Steven, an eloquent eight-year-old from Nevada, just about manages to keep his composure as he describes how his mother will have to give his sibling up for adoption when he or she is born as his family cannot afford to feed another mouth. Meanwhile, classmate Leslie whispers how her family has had to eat rats.

The depression of the 1920s and 1930s was eased by the radical social policies of President Roosevelt. The current resident of the White House is, admittedly, hamstrung by stubborn and usually Republican state administrations, but cannot ignore the fact such deprivation has increased under his presidency.

Now, however much they might want to pretend nobody in the privileged, civilised western world lives like this, viewers are also unable to ignore the huge, embarrassing gulf between the American rich and poor.
In helping expose these problems, this BBC tour de force exemplifies the heart-rending best pinnacle of the investigative documentary.