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Foreign Correspondent
Season 18
Episode 32

The Amazon of Asia

October 5, 2010

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Foreign Correspondent - S18 - E32

They can almost hear the crackle and boom of economic development to the north and south and now little Laos wants a piece of the action. The ramshackle communist backwater doesn't have much - but it does have a good stretch of the mighty Mekong River and so Laos is planning to build dozens of dams and sell hydro-electricity to a hungry neighbourhood. Can the river they call Mother cope?

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Foreign Correspondent: Season 18 - 37 Episode s

18x1 - Hell or High Water
February 9, 2010
If they stay they face intimidation, violence even death. If they go they put their lives and life savings in the hands of people smugglers, run the gauntlet of naval patrols and the perils of the sea itself. They are the Tamils of Sri Lanka and many of them are choosing to take the high water over the hell at home. For some it's a case of if at first you don't succeed, try again.
18x2 - The Golden Hour
February 16, 2010
It's a lifetime. Short, urgent and definitive. One hour to save those who can be saved - soldiers, civilians and the enemy critically wounded in the war in Afghanistan. Another defining feature - the surgeons, medics and patients are very young. Welcome to M.A.S.H. 2010 or to update another long-running American TV show - Gen Y Hospital.
18x3 - The Rapunzel Machine
February 23, 2010
How does a deeply personal spiritual offering from India's poor to their Gods suddenly become a super-expensive, must-have style accessory in the haute salons of Europe, Asia, USA and Australia. Fire up the Benz, cue the hip-hop track and set the GPS for a collision course with faith, fashion and truckloads of money.
18x4 - Fly Away Home
March 2, 2010
A 7 year old Ethiopian girl is portrayed as destitute and in grave danger. She is in fact 13 and has been well cared for much to the surprise of her adopting family. Then there are the children told they're just visiting a foreign land who are in fact on a one way ticket. This is the powerful next instalment of Foreign Correspondent's investigation of international adoption in Ethiopia and the United States that began with 2009's Fly Away Children.
18x5 - Quicksand
March 9, 2010
They imagined a breathtaking future-world, burned billions of dollars to summon it out of the sand and hundreds of thousands of expats and investors stampeded into Dubai for a piece of the action. But when the sands suddenly shifted it wasn't going to be quite so easy getting out.
18x6 - The Hit Parade
March 16, 2010
It's thought a single, fluffy pillow killed a Hamas operative in Dubai. But it took 27 secret agents with pilfered passports and a bag of disguises to administer it. We investigate the incredible case of overkill and over-exposure that's astonished even the most hard-boiled of spies.
18x7 - The Whole Enchilada
March 23, 2010
The dominant face of the United States has long been white. Soon, when the nation looks in the mirror it will see a tanned, smiling Latin American face looking back. In a relatively short space of time a downtrodden minority will become a majority - restless and assertive.
18x8 - Stem Cells & Miracles
March 30, 2010
When it comes to stem cells, mainstream scientists in the UK and America tell us their potential is both exciting and unlimited. But, they hasten to add, treatments for most illnesses are still years away and more research needs to happen. For Wilma Clarke, there is no doubt. Her three-year-old daughter, Dakota, born with a rare condition that left her almost blind and suffering from balance problems, can see things that she could not see before.
18x9 - Pet Monsters
April 6, 2010
It's not Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya or Somalia. But it is - arguably - the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist. That's one reason we know so little about a massacre in November 2009 that claimed the lives of more than 30 reporters.
18x10 - Coming Acropolis
April 20, 2010
Beware, Greeks bearing debts! Olympus-sized debts that would give Hercules a double-hernia and that threaten to swamp the nation like some modern day Atlantis. Sink or survive there's plenty of pain ahead in the land of fakelaki. What?
18x11 - French Dressing
April 27, 2010
In fashion conscious France it's much more than a simple case of what not to wear. It's a case of what should be illegal to wear. The push is on to outlaw cover-all Islamic dress in public places.
18x12 - Aceh Afterwards
May 4, 2010
Before Haiti there was Aceh - a catastrophic natural event claiming tens of thousands of lives, destroying towns and villages and drawing enormous global sympathy and billions in aid. What is life like now for those traumatised survivors in this historically divided place?
18x13 - The Biggest Domino
May 18, 2010
Is the Chinese economy a bubble that's about to burst, taking Australia down with it? Stephen McDonell looks for answers all over this vast country... from young Beijing rock stars to the owners of the tallest building in China, and the lonely residents of a brand new ghost town in Inner Mongolia.
18x14 - World, Interrupted
May 25, 2010
Few in the world had heard of it and very few could get close to pronouncing its rolling, rambling tongue-twister of a name. And yet - suddenly and spectacularly – a volcano called Eyjafjallajokull impacted millions of lives and blew away billions of dollars. But did the greatest aviation grounding since WW2 really have to happen?
18x15 - Gut Instinct
June 1, 2010
Not so long ago it was thought worry and stress triggered the chronic pain of stomach ulcers. So how would yesterday's doctors have reacted to scores of peaceful, meditating Tibetan monks rolling up to the surgery complaining of crippling pain. Thankfully, new medical science has sorted it all out. Oh and a dedicated team of Australian helpers.
18x16 - The Catch
June 8, 2010
They say they wanted to blow the lid on Japan's super-sensitive whaling program. They were sure they'd found the red-hot evidence. But when they took their find to the authorities they were arrested and charged with crimes that could put them away for 10 years. What was in the box?
18x17 - High Finance
June 15, 2010
It's perched on a perilous fault-line but California can't blame the San Andreas for this big black bottomless pit. It's a frightening financial hole engulfing the most populous state in the USA and there seems no way to fill it. Time to think outside the square. Or, just out of it.
18x18 - Truth or Dare
June 22, 2010
So, you're in a highly sensitive job working on a top secret project but something's not right. In fact you think it's very, very wrong. Go public and you risk your job, perhaps jail – maybe even your life. Stay silent and many other lives may be endangered or life-savings imperilled and malignant corruption festers. What do you do? Hurry – time is ticking!
18x19 - In Deep Water
June 29, 2010
Suddenly, explosively, the world began to bleed and a devastating stain began to spread. Why did it happen and where will it end? This is the story of cheap mistakes and an almighty mess told by the men who escaped with their lives and people of the gulf coast who've lost their livelihoods.
18x20 - Standing on the Sky
July 6, 2010
Both legs blown away by a mine, he sat on a chair outside his family's house and watched the world go by. This was his hopeless lot for five long, bleak years until a life-altering chain of events. He now walks tall, is second-in-charge of the clinic that helped him and feels like he is standing on the sky. Out of strife, a story to ignite the human spirit.
18x21 - Bend It Like Jong
July 13, 2010
He's a Hummer-driving bachelor with a soft-spot for saccharine R&B love songs, living the high life in Tokyo. And yet there he was on the World Cup centre-stage bawling his eyes out for his beloved North Korea and its so-called Dear Leader, Kim Jong-il. Where on earth does Jong Tae Se come from? Well, prepare to enter the detached and – for some – deluded world of the Zainichi.
18x22 - In the Chocolate City
July 20, 2010
Prepare to enter the real Washington DC and prepare to have your illusions shattered. It's where the powerless live. Neglected, poor, black and waiting impatiently for Obama's promise. But they've got one thing that raises the roof, shakes the foundations and makes them forget about being forgotten. It's called Go Go.
18x23 - The Electric Range
July 27, 2010
The world's car manufacturers are shifting gear and heading for greener pastures. They're designing, building and selling more and more hybrids and electric vehicles and that means they need more and more of a very precious metal for their batteries. But where's The Big Celldorado? A remote, beautiful and vast salt pan high in the Bolivian Andes. Problems? You bet!
18x24 - Frank, Uncensored
August 3, 2010
Who does Frank Bainimarama think he is? Well, the Fijian ruler will tell you he's the difference between order and political mayhem. Don't get him wrong - he's all for democracy as long as it fits his military's model. And don't call him a dictator! He's simply a well intentioned leader who's abolished the constitution, rules by decree and decides what news is fit to publish. The strongman's opened his doors to Foreign Correspondent and we're walking in.
18x25 - Children of the Dust
August 10, 2010
They're the daughters of the rubble, the sons of the dust. They're the little children who somehow survived the devastating cataclysm that shattered and crushed one of the world's poorest countries – Haiti. Some were already orphans, many more would be made so by the earthquake. The epic quake brought an unimaginable toll and while the outside world tried to help, what could possibly be done for the smallest and most vulnerable?
18x26 - Terror-Go-Round
August 24, 2010
Is it possible to defuse a terrorist? Can a violent extremist be disarmed, mellowed and transformed into an upright citizen who values human life and religious diversity? These are some of the profound and perplexing questions confronting authorities in Indonesia as they face rampant recidivism among terrorists. Jihadis do their time only to head out of their prison cell and back into a terrorist cell.
18x27 - The Curse of Katyn
August 31, 2010
It's a place that sends a shiver down a nation's spine, chills its soul and has a people in absolutely no doubt that history does repeat and that lightning indeed strikes twice, in one place. A place called Katyn. It was in this starkly striking forest that 22,000 of Poland's leading lights were brutally snuffed out. Close by, 70 years later a plane carrying Poland's contemporary leadership slammed into the ground. Old suspicions, entrenched animosity and of course conspiracy theories rise up in the smoke.
18x28 - Collision Course
September 8, 2010
The world demands answers and here they are, in the most revealing examination to date of the deadly mid-year melee on the Mediterranean. Come aboard the Mavi Marmara as it sails toward Gaza and meet the leaders of the flotilla aiming to bust Israel's blockade of the Palestinian strip. Come inside Israel's top secret naval commando units, hear first person accounts from both sides and witness what really unfolded that fateful, bloody night at sea.
18x29 - The Swingers
September 14, 2010
Forget Sex in the City, the steamy, remote jungle is where girls rule, it's sex anytime and anything goes. Bonobos are a fascinating, female-led community of carers and sharers and they're giving scientists profound insights into why we behave the way we behave. Including how human desperation, dysfunction and war are threatening these delightful distant relatives.
18x30 - Heroes, Frauds and Imposters
September 21, 2010
They've fooled their families and friends, duped hard-bitten veteran soldiers and somehow managed to grow and prosper under the radar of America's sophisticated military machine. They are the legion of liars and cheats who have fabricated service in the frontlines of war - particularly Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a despicable phenomenon called Stolen Valour. It's boomed since 9/11 and it's infuriating those who really have put their lives on the line and appalling those who've lost loved ones in battle.
18x31 - Captain Dragan
September 28, 2010
Golf instructor. Sailing adventurer. Eagles fan. War Criminal? In Australia he went by the name of Daniel Snedden. In Serbia he's known simply as Captain Dragan and he's feted as a war hero. In neighbouring Croatia he's despised and accused of heinous crimes. As Dragan Vasiljkovic fights his extradition from Australia down to the wire, Foreign Correspondent examines the case for and against, through the accounts of his accusers and the vehement denials of his supporters.
18x32 - The Amazon of Asia
October 5, 2010
They can almost hear the crackle and boom of economic development to the north and south and now little Laos wants a piece of the action. The ramshackle communist backwater doesn't have much - but it does have a good stretch of the mighty Mekong River and so Laos is planning to build dozens of dams and sell hydro-electricity to a hungry neighbourhood. Can the river they call Mother cope?
18x33 - What Happened Next?
October 12, 2010
He was a Lost Boy with an incredible story, if only someone could help him tell it to the world. And then as Sudan survivor Valentino Deng found himself in a new and very foreign land he also happened to find acclaimed author Dave Eggers. The result was a searing and moving book that became a publishing sensation and catapulted Deng into the celebrity spotlight. But after ‘What Is The What’, what happened next?
18x34 - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
October 19, 2010
This time America's hunters aren’t prepared to be very, very quiet. There's an ornery critter roaming the wilds of the west that they say is devouring native animals and farm stock and they warn it's only a matter of time before a human is attacked and killed. So they're cussin' and hollerin' for the right to hunt down the predator but conservationists and the law won't let 'em. For now, the big wild wolf is protected. So, will they take the law into their own hands?
18x35 - Dirty Secrets
October 26, 2010
When things suddenly go BOOM!!! chances are somebody's going to get hurt or something's going to be destroyed. In China it's both. There's a high human cost and a heavy environmental price as a tearaway, juggernaut economy thunders across a vast landscape, spreading toxic effluent and grave illness. And as we try to expose it we're challenged, confronted, threatened and secretly filmed.
18x36 - 'Allo, 'Allo, 'Allo
November 2, 2010
It was a bit of electronic skulduggery aimed at getting shock horror, scoop exclusives on Royals, TV celebrities and politicians – anyone with a high profile and a mobile. Simply hack into their phone message bank and turn the juicier stuff into screaming headlines and raucous stories for your tabloid readers. Dead easy! So simple it was almost criminal. Well, err, it was and it’s fuelled a scandal that – just like a pesky pap – refuses to go away.
18x37 - Once Upon a Year
November 9, 2010
They're the stories behind the stories we brought you in 2010. How and why did one correspondent end up in a reality TV series? How do you encourage a super suspicious whistle-blower out of the shadows and which of our intrepid correspondents wept when they saw their program? There's a hell of a lot that goes into the making of Foreign Correspondent that you don't see. Here's your chance.

Foreign Correspondent: All seasons

S0: Specials
1 Episode
S5: Season 5
40 Episode s
S17: Season 17
42 Episode s
S18: Season 18
37 Episode s
S20: Season 20
40 Episode s
S21: Season 21
26 Episode s
S22: Series 22
30 Episode s
S23: Series 23
30 Episode s
S24: Series 24
26 Episode s
S25: Series 25
31 Episode s
S26: Series 26
29 Episode s
S27: Series 2018
12 Episode s
S28: Series 2019
24 Episode s
S29: Series 2020
24 Episode s
S30: Series 2021
27 Episode s
S31: Series 2022
29 Episode s
S32: Series 2023
24 Episode s
S33: Series 2024
24 Episode s

18x1 - Hell or High Water

18x2 - The Golden Hour

18x3 - The Rapunzel Machine

18x4 - Fly Away Home

18x5 - Quicksand

18x6 - The Hit Parade

18x7 - The Whole Enchilada

18x8 - Stem Cells & Miracles

18x9 - Pet Monsters

18x10 - Coming Acropolis

18x11 - French Dressing

18x12 - Aceh Afterwards

18x13 - The Biggest Domino

18x14 - World, Interrupted

18x15 - Gut Instinct

18x16 - The Catch

18x17 - High Finance

18x18 - Truth or Dare

18x19 - In Deep Water

18x20 - Standing on the Sky

18x21 - Bend It Like Jong

18x22 - In the Chocolate City

18x23 - The Electric Range

18x24 - Frank, Uncensored

18x25 - Children of the Dust

18x26 - Terror-Go-Round

18x27 - The Curse of Katyn

18x28 - Collision Course

18x29 - The Swingers

18x30 - Heroes, Frauds and Imposters

18x31 - Captain Dragan

18x32 - The Amazon of Asia

18x33 - What Happened Next?

18x34 - Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

18x35 - Dirty Secrets

18x36 - 'Allo, 'Allo, 'Allo

18x37 - Once Upon a Year

S0: Specials

S5: Season 5

S17: Season 17

S18: Season 18

S20: Season 20

S21: Season 21

S22: Series 22

S23: Series 23

S24: Series 24

S25: Series 25

S26: Series 26

S27: Series 2018

S28: Series 2019

S29: Series 2020

S30: Series 2021

S31: Series 2022

S32: Series 2023

S33: Series 2024