1. Warning Signs

Question

2. Wonder drugs

3. Dopamine Hits

4. Big Pharma, Big Secret

5. Restless

6. Chasing Losses

16 February 2026

When Freddie's papa Bill is identified with Parkinson's, his medication gives him a brand-new lease of life. He begins ticking things off his retiree pail list - travelling, skydiving, golf.

But then Freddie notifications that his formerly reasonable dad has actually started behaving abnormally.

BBC Investigations correspondent Noel Titheradge has spent more than a year speaking with individuals whose behaviour changed significantly after taking a classification of prescription drugs called dopamine agonists.

These drugs enhance dopamine activity in the brain - they were recommended more than 1.5 million times in the UK in 2015 to deal with Parkinson's illness and other motion disorders.

But they have well established adverse effects - around 1 in 6 people who take them develop impulse control conditions, which can consist of hypersexuality, binge consuming, compulsive betting and shopping.

If these adverse effects have been understood about for decades, why weren't some clients and their households effectively alerted or kept an eye on?