For more than 40 years, a secret unit of undercover police were paid to spy on ordinary members of the public…
Jo Clinton-Davis, Controller of Factual ITV:
“When I first learnt about this story, I was determined it needed to be made for a TV audience – and made for ITV. That these five women finally agreed to give ITV and RAW up close and personal access is testament to their courage and resilience.
“They have been up against a state sponsored operation and with many of them turning detective, such a twist in the story could be the stuff of a thriller – except this is all too shockingly true. It’s a British scandal of real significance.”
Shockingly, they included more than 60 women – deceived into deeply intimate relationships with officers who they had no idea were deployed in covert operations. The ‘spycops scandal’ is the subject of an almost decade-long £88 million public inquiry into their tactics and now, a three-part documentary series for ITV1, STV and ITVX.
Five of the women who were deceived and blew the lid off this scandal, have entrusted ITV, makers of the award-winning drama series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, to expose how they turned detective to uncover one of the state’s biggest secrets.
Speaking together on camera for the first time, the creepy similarities between the women’s experiences come to light: from the way they were seduced into their relationships, to the almost identical letters they received when they were abandoned – and ghosted – by the men they loved. They reveal how they discovered police officers stole the identities of deceased children to create new aliases and even fathered children with the women they spied upon whilst undercover.
Rebecca North, Executive Producer at RAW:
“This is an inspirational, empowering story about women who refused to go away quietly, instead using their ingenuity and tenacity to expose the lies they’d been told by the men they loved, leading to a David vs Goliath battle with the Metropolitan Police. We hope it brings awareness to the scandal.”
From All3Media production company RAW, makers of Netflix series The Tinder Swindler, The Puppet Master: Hunting The Ultimate Conman, BBC Two’s American Nightmare, Parole and London Bridge: Facing Terror for Channel 4, this latest ITV1 and STV documentary features privileged access to The Guardian journalists who, alongside the women at the heart of this scandal, broke the story.
Together, they exposed the vast, systemic scale of this 40-year undercover policing operation and unearthed the chilling centralised ‘tradecraft manual’ the cops created to guide their abhorrent behaviour. Ultimately, this story is ongoing with a fight for truth and justice that reaches into the present day.
A statement from the women who feature in the series reads,
“We’ve been working together to expose this policing scandal since we first met in 2011. Our lives were devastated by the actions of undercover police and this powerful documentary highlights how we fought back against dehumanising spycops intrusion and abuse, which was sanctioned by the state for decades to undermine progressive campaigns for change.
“By shining a light on the role of these undemocratic, secret, political policing units, we hope The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed is part of a dramatic shift away from the culture of misogyny that the police and security services have normalised and puts pressure on decision makers to reverse the current legislation that places undercover officers completely beyond the law.”
The ITV programme is produced in association with The Guardian newspaper and All3Media International.
The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed, which will air in early 2025. The series will launch internationally under the title Deep Deception.
