Episodes
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This final episode, recorded in December 2024, considers what the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry will achieve, and what might change as a result. BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner, legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg and Dan O’Brien from BBC News discuss what we’ve heard, what happens next, and what impact the Salisbury Poisonings have had around the world.This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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After 7 weeks and over a hundred hours of evidence, the public hearings of the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry come to an end. In this episode, the main participants, including Dawn’s family, make their final statements to the Chair.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Missing episodes?
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When the agents suspected of poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal with Novichok left Salisbury, what did they do with the nerve agent and how did the deadly chemical weapon end up in the hands of Charlie Rowley four months later? In this episode, we hear the most likely theories from Counter Terror Police and discover why some parts of this mystery are still unsolved. The Russian state and the suspects have always denied any involvement.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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The widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko explains why she feels lessons weren’t learned between her husband’s assassination and the Salisbury Poisonings. Marina Litvinenko warns that British citizens need to be protected from foreign agents who ‘come to play their games’ in the UK and she recalls the moment she heard about the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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As Salisbury starts to reopen in the summer of 2018, the authorities weigh up how to keep the public safe, when they know there could be more Novichok out there. Questions are asked about whether enough was done to protect people from accidentally picking up a discarded chemical weapon.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Two Russian men visit Salisbury just as the former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned with a nerve agent. They say they simply wanted to see the famous cathedral spire, but that’s not the view of the UK authorities who believe they came to kill. In this episode we learn more about the men, their movements and their real identities. Plus, we learn more about the Russian intelligence agencies from writer and historian Mark Galeotti.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
Audio credit: JJ Extra, Salisbury Museum, ViaTravelers and British Pathe.
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When Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with a nerve agent, police faced one of the most complex investigations in their history. They had to trace a weapon which they could neither see nor smell, but it could kill thousands. In this episode, we hear how they checked everything from coins to car keys in the hunt to find the source of the poisoning.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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When Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were taken to hospital, the emergency services tried to piece together what had happened to them. We hear how they questioned whether it was a coincidence that they had treated two people for nerve agent poisoning four months earlier or whether the events could be connected. And we find out about Porton Down, the UK government’s secretive laboratory which identified the Novichok and speak to a former military officer who has been inside.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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One of the first police officers to go inside Sergei and Yulia Skripal’s house after they were poisoned with a nerve agent was Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey. He then became critically ill himself, after touching the front door handle. It had been smeared with the deadly chemical. He relives the events of 2018, which would change his life forever.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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When the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed on a bench in Salisbury, it was Sunday shoppers who first stepped in to help. Amazingly, two of them were highly qualified medics. We hear their stories. Also, how the consultants at Salisbury District Hospital realised these were no ordinary patients.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Who is Sergei Skripal? The former Russian spy was poisoned by Novichok in March 2018, but until now very little has been known about him, his life in England, and his mysterious past. His friend and neighbour tells the Inquiry what he was like and how they became close. Plus, the BBC‘s Security Correspondent Gordon Corera describes Sergei’s life as a spy in Russia, and reveals how he ended up in Salisbury.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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An in-depth interview with the Head of Counter Terror Policing at the time of the poisonings, Neil Basu. He relives how dangerous the investigation was for the officers involved, what it took to find the suspects, and 6 years on, how he feels about Dawn Sturgess’ death.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Andrea Sella, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at University College London, answers the big questions about Novichok. The deadly nerve agent killed Dawn Sturgess and poisoned many more in Salisbury and Amesbury in 2018. What is it, when was it developed, and what does it do to our bodies?
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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As the inquiry prepares to move from Salisbury to London, Andy Howard and Marie Lennon review a momentous week of evidence, which saw the emergency services interrogated and the communication between them questioned.
Dawn's family ask for President Putin to appear at the inquiry in person to answer questions about her death and the Russian Ambassador to the UK gives his response.
Focus turns to the protection given to Sergei Skripal; should he have been living in the UK under his own name without surveillance?
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Paramedics and police relive the moments they were called to Charlie Rowley's flat in Amesbury. First Dawn Sturgess is found unresponsive, and then several hours later Charlie falls ill too. The emergency services disagree about what has caused him to be so unwell. The Inquiry investigates whether Dawn could have survived if the initial treatment had been different.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Caroline, Dawn’s mother, speaks publicly for the first time about her daughter and sets the record straight about who Dawn was. The police apologise to her family for the way she was portrayed, plus we hear evidence from the only person who saw what happened to Dawn on the day she was poisoned, her boyfriend Charlie Rowley.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Marie Lennon and Andy Howard reflect on an extraordinary first day at the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry.
We hear that there was enough nerve agent hidden in a perfume bottle to kill thousands. Dawn is described as an “innocent victim, caught in the crossfire of an illegal and outrageous assassination attempt.”
As the finger is pointed at Putin, Dawn’s family call on the Russian president to give evidence and look them in the eye.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Theresa May, who was prime minister at the time of the attack, recalls when she first heard about the Salisbury poisonings.
Baroness May describes how it felt to stand in the House of Commons and blame the Russian state for the attack, the moment she heard that a British citizen had been killed and shares her hopes for the Dawn Sturgess Inquiry.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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More people fall ill from Novichok poisoning.
It’s four months since the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Salisbury is starting to return to normal and then, it happens again.
Local mum Dawn Sturgess is given a bottle of perfume that contains the deadly chemical Novichok.
Days later, Dawn dies in hospital leaving her family and friends wondering how she was poisoned with a Russian-made chemical weapon.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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Salisbury becomes the scene of a major international incident.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are found poisoned on a park bench.
Then, an astonishing discovery: he’s a former Russian spy and they've been poisoned with Novichok, one of the deadliest substances in the world.
Parts of Salisbury are locked down as police try to find the poison.
This episode has been updated to reflect Sergei Skripal’s role as former GRU officer.
This episode was made by Marie Lennon, Andy Howard, Tom Ryan & Dan O’Brien.
Executive production by Mary Sanders and Naomi Wordley.
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