1. Indication
2. Wonder drugs
3. Dopamine Hits
4. Big Pharma, Big Secret
5. Restless
6. Chasing Losses
16 February 2026
When Freddie's dad Bill is identified with Parkinson's, his medication gives him a new lease of life. He starts ticking things off his retired person container list - taking a trip, sky diving, golf.
But then Freddie notifications that his previously sensible daddy has actually started behaving uncommonly.
BBC Investigations correspondent Noel Titheradge has spent more than a year speaking with people whose behaviour changed significantly after taking a classification of prescription drugs called dopamine agonists.
These drugs improve dopamine activity in the brain - they were more than 1.5 million times in the UK last year to treat Parkinson's illness and other motion disorders.
But they have well established adverse effects - around 1 in 6 people who take them establish impulse control conditions, which can include hypersexuality, binge consuming, compulsive betting and shopping.
If these negative effects have been understood about for years, why weren't some clients and their families properly warned or monitored?