Best of BBC Newsnight 2015
Europe’s migrant crisis, the real story behind the murder of Litvinenko, Yemen’s forgotten war, the fall of Kids Company, the Tory bullying scandal, an election in the UK, and unique accounts of the horror inside the Bataclan.
These are some key Newsnight moments from 2015. We’re back on air on Monday 4 January 2016.
January
Our diplomatic editor Mark Urban got extraordinary — and exclusive — access to USS Carl Vinson, the aircraft carrier at the centre of operations against IS militants.
February
In an interview with Emily Maitlis, the UK’s shadow chancellor Ed Balls discusses Labour’s business support… and forgets the name of Labour’s small business adviser, Bill Thomas. Skip to 5:50 for the exact moment. It’s fair to say Emily does not let him off the hook!
March
Sixty five years ago Edward Parker lost his wallet. It was found during restoration work in Lambeth Palace in February. In this touching report, James Clayton gave it back to him.
April
Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry and Georgina “Gina” DeJesus were held captive for more than 10 years by bus driver Ariel Castro. They were found alive in Cleveland, Ohio in 2013. Kirsty Wark met Amanda Berry and Gina DeJesus. It was their first UK interview.
May
2015 was, of course, an election year in the UK. Ahead of the vote, we spoke to each of the party leaders — full playlist here.
What came next? Corbynmania! Watch our playlist on Jeremy Corbyn here
June
“I supported the ostriches, what’s wrong with that?” Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych gave his first interview with Western media to Gabriel Gatehouse. You can watch the full interview here.
July
Alexander Litvinenko was murdered eight years ago in London. Richard Watson pieced together the story behind his killing, with exclusive interviews with intelligence sources and key witnesses covering the motives for the murder, the role of the Russian state and the polonium trail left in London.
August
Reporter Zarghuna Kargar tells the heartbreaking story of Farkhunda — the Afghan woman who was falsely accused of burning the Koran, and beaten to death. * Please note that this film contains distressing images * Read more here
September
Gabriel Gatehouse had rare access inside Yemen, to what some are calling the “forgotten war”. In the first of two reports, he looked at the scale of the humanitarian crisis — and whether the UK is complicit in this disaster. This report contains some disturbing images. Watch Gabriel’s second report here and read more here.
October
Azam is a young Syrian boy who was injured and then vanished while on the refugee trail. The story sparked a social media campaign using the hashtag #FindAzam. After a week on the road — travelling from the bottom of Serbia to the top of Germany — John Sweeney found Azam.
Watch more reports from us on the migrant crisis here
November
This was the month that we began to expose the Tory bullying scandal. Here’s James Clayton’s first report. There’s more here and here.
December
What was it like to be inside the Bataclan on the night of the Paris attacks? Here are the stories of six people who survived. * This report by Warwick Harrington contains some distressing material *
BBC Newsnight airs weekdays in the UK on BBC Two at 22:30.
