麻豆社

Use 麻豆社.com or the new 麻豆社 App to listen to 麻豆社 podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Episode details

Radio 4,08 Jan 2025,29 mins,

Series Series 2

1. The List

In Dark Corners
Contains scenes of a sexual nature.

Available for over a year

Journalist Alex Renton is shown a secret document, containing the names and addresses of people signed up to a pro-paedophile group called the Paedophile Information Exchange, or PIE, which was active in the 1970s and 80s. That鈥檚 not all: weeks after getting the membership list Alex meets a contact who gives him bags full of documents, crammed with reports, contact details, letters. As Alex starts following up on leads; detail of the criminal activities committed by some of PIE鈥檚 members, and those connected with them, begins to emerge. It鈥檚 a lot to take in. Alex is not only a journalist, he鈥檚 a survivor of child sexual abuse. All of this information about PIE; it feels like a heavy weight to carry. Are children still at risk? Alex sets off on a dizzying journey into the dark history of the Paedophile Information Exchange and uncovers abuses committed by PIE's members: teachers, clergy, social workers, government advisors. As Alex finds out more, he starts to wonder: where are all those hundreds of members now? He meets the former deputy editor of Private Eye, journalist Francis Wheen: he has a long memory for news and a nose for stories that people in power want to keep secret. What does he know about PIE? Archive credits: Newsnight, 麻豆社, August 1983 Details of organisations offering information and support for victims of child sexual abuse are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline Presenter: Alex Renton Producer: Caitlin Smith Researchers: Claire Harris and Marisha Currie Executive producers: Gail Champion and Gillian Wheelan Written by Alex Renton, Caitlin Smith, Jack Kibble White and Kirsty Williams Sound designer: Jon Nicholls Theme tune composed by Jeremy Warmsley

Programme Website
More episodes