1. Indication

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 detected with Parkinson's, his medication offers him a brand-new lease of life. He starts ticking things off his retired person pail list - taking a trip, sky diving, golf.


But then Freddie notifications that his previously reasonable dad has begun acting uncommonly.


BBC Investigations correspondent Noel Titheradge has invested more than a year speaking to people whose behaviour altered radically after taking a category of prescription drugs called dopamine agonists.


These drugs increase dopamine activity in the brain - they were prescribed more than 1.5 million times in the UK last year to treat Parkinson's illness and other movement conditions.


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


If these negative effects have been understood about for years, why weren't some patients and their households correctly cautioned or kept track of?