Fake Britain

Police and UK Border Agency officers find more than they bargained for when they go on the hunt for fake passports. Fake Britain investigates the shocking cruelty of the fakers skinning animals alive in order to copy popular footwear brands, and goes on the trail of the fake landlords cheating the council house waiting list by illegally subletting council flats. And how safe are you when buying perfumes and fragrances online? Some of the most notorious internet sellers are put to the test.

We're on the inside of an operation aimed at stopping the trade in fake medicines, and the dealers that make thousands from peddling them. Also featured are the story of the art forger whose fake Victorian fairy paintings were so good, they almost fooled the art world; the fake holiday villa conman who cost British tourists thousands; and how insurance investigators busted the bus-crash-for-cash fakers who thought they had come up with the perfect insurance fraud.

We're on the road with the Greater Manchester police as they crack down on the fakers at the heart of the counterfeiting capital of Britain, the city's Strangeways district. We put the fake energy-saving plugs being targeted at the elderly to the test, and find out they could cost a lot more than just cash. And we catch up with the fake dental technician making illegal dentures from a laundry room.

In this episode, the fake DVD factory making £100,000 a week - we're out with the enforcement agencies who'll stop at nothing to halt their illegal activity. Could your child be playing with dangerous fake toys? We put cheap Chinese counterfeits, from cuddly animals to babydolls, to the test. Plus, the art forger who made tens of thousands faking the paintings of famous fine artists. And the story of the NHS dentist who treated hundreds of patients after faking her qualifications - we find out how the authorities brought her career of lies to an abrupt end.

In this episode, the banknote counterfeiting gang that tried to beat the Bank of England - we're with the City of London police as they give the money forgers a very rude awakening. Plus the battlefield tour conman who took war veterans for a ride by taking them nowhere at all, and the terrifying new credit card fakery that's almost completely undetectable.

In this episode, we're with the City of London police as they go in pursuit of one of the country's most audacious ID fraudsters, whose fakery is taking hundreds of thousands of pounds off the state and into his pocket. We reveal the fake veterinary medicines that made two fraudsters millions but could cost you more than just money. Plus the fake baby carriers putting your child's safety in jeopardy, and how one faker even compromised aircraft fire extinguishers.

This episode features a look at the latest in cutting-edge insurance fraud: faking pet insurance claims, including the woman that kept dead puppies in her freezer to try and hoodwink the insurers. Brent and Harrow Trading Standards take on the market traders that are the public face of the multi-million pound industry in fake clothing. Plus the fake cigarette factories on your doorstep, and the dangers that lurk inside fake cigarette; and the fakery that is going on in pubs and clubs up and down Britain: the pint that is not a pint.