Episodes

  • Episode 1: The Charming Jihadist

    Episode 1: The Charming Jihadist
    5 Nov 2020
    In the aftermath of 9/11 and the 7/7 London bombings, journalists were desperate to explain why young British Asian men were apparently turning against the country of their birth. Ambitious young reporter Shiv Malik prided himself on being able to persuade them to open up to him. Then he met Hassan Butt, one of the most notorious spokesman for Islamic terrorism in the UK. Hassan told Shiv he now denounced violence and asked Shiv to help him write a book to help others leave the terrorist network.
    Show more Show less
    28 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 2: How to Make A Terrorist

    Episode 2: How to Make A Terrorist
    5 Nov 2020
    Shiv spends hundreds of hours recording conversations with Hassan in his small house near Manchester in the north of England to try and find out what it was that made Hassan the voice of violent Islamist idealogy. Hassan shares personal secrets and Shiv discovers they have more in common than he thought.
    Show more Show less
    26 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 3: How to Be A Terrorist

    Episode 3: How to Be A Terrorist
    5 Nov 2020
    Hassan tells Shiv about how he moved to Pakistan and got deeper into the terrorist network. After 9/11, Hassan starts to meet some of America’s most wanted men and glories at being at the center of global attention. Then he gets involved in a bomb plot in Pakistan and tells Shiv that that’s when everything changed.
    Show more Show less
    21 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 4: Leaving Al-Qaeda

    Episode 4: Leaving Al-Qaeda
    5 Nov 2020
    How do you quit a death cult? Shiv finds himself supporting Hassan through dangerous times after he publicly turns his back on The Network. Hassan’s public profile is growing as an anti-radical and he’s getting media attention in the UK and in the US from major TV networks. Just as they’re about to meet with a publisher to talk about their book, Hassan disappears.
    Show more Show less
    24 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 5: The Cops

    Episode 5: The Cops
    5 Nov 2020
    Hassan is missing, apparently stabbed, and disappears for several weeks. Shiv begins to doubt everything Hassan has ever told him. Eventually, Shiv gives Hassan an ultimatum and the two men meet and make peace. Everything is back on track. But then the police come knocking on Shiv’s door early one morning, and they want everything he’s ever recorded with Hassan.
    Show more Show less
    24 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 6: False Confessions

    Episode 6: False Confessions
    5 Nov 2020
    Greater Manchester anti-terrorism police are convinced Hassan is still a Jihadi. He’s under arrest and the cops are trying to force Shiv to betray his sources. Shiv vows to fight them to the highest court in the land. The day before he’s due in court, Shiv discovers Hassan has betrayed him.
    Show more Show less
    19 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 7: Breakdown

    Episode 7: Breakdown
    5 Nov 2020
    Hassan publicly accuses Shiv of encouraging him to lie. Shiv is humiliated in the national media. His career as a journalist falls apart, and the stress deeply damages his marriage. Shiv becomes obsessed with clearing his name, finding out why Hassan has lied to everyone, and finding out who Hassan really is. It’s an obsession that lasts for years.
    Show more Show less
    27 min
    Listen free
  • Episode 8: Pull and Unpick

    Episode 8: Pull and Unpick
    5 Nov 2020
    Who is Hassan Butt? Years after his dramatic public humiliation, Shiv is piecing his life back together, but he’s still obsessed with Hassan. One day he meets a former star agent from the FBI who helps him see how Hassan fits into the picture of the global Jihadi network—how much he was a fantasist but how much truth was hidden amongst the lies, and how Hassan could have been useful not only to the Islamist terrorist networks but to Britain’s security services too...
    Show more Show less
    32 min
    Listen free