Last updated November 18, 2024 – 4:16 p.m.
ITV's new podcast 'The Trapped' reveals Britain's dirty secrets, where tenants with no escape live in the worst conditions imaginable.
ITV News Investigative Editor Daniel Hewitt reveals the scandal he uncovered four years ago, tells us what happened next and how people without a voice are treated in Britain .
In 2021, Mr Hewitt, then a political correspondent, wanted to leave Westminster and travel around the country to see how the pandemic was affecting different people.
He had seen Facebook groups where disgruntled public housing tenants were blaming the pandemic and posting photos of mold, damp and disrepair that landlords said had not been fixed.
After receiving a short video of François, a mother of two, in her apartment, he decided to go with his cameraman Ted to meet her. The video gave a glimpse of the squalid conditions she and her sons were living in, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. As I watched the water run down the black walls covered in hairy mold, I knew right away that this was a dangerous home.
“This wasn't a story about poor housing conditions in south London flats; it felt much bigger than that,” says Hewitt. “I felt more angry than I have ever felt in my life. Why was this family forced to live like this for months? Why were their complaints ignored? Who is to blame? When did people stop caring?
The Trapped is the story of his and his small team of journalists' journey to answer these questions as they travel across the country visiting homes unfit for human habitation.
Just when they think they've seen it all and witnessed the worst housing imaginable, they somehow stumble across a place that shocks them even more.
Mr Hewitt continued: “The Trapped is the culmination of many years of investigative reporting. We owe it to the bravery and bravery of those who have been left to rot in Britain's broken housing system and who have spoken up and trusted us. If this were the case, this reporting would not have been possible.''
“While our work has helped drive change in the law, if this research and this podcast have achieved anything, it is that people living in forgotten and ignored corners of the country who have the means To give a voice to the powerless. To stop this madness.”
Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at thetrapped.co.uk.
