Rip Off Britain: Series 16
The sixteenth season of Rip Off Britain continues the ongoing BBC One television series that began on 30 November 2009. The program is classified under crime and news genres. Across its broadcast run, the show is designed to expose unfair practices and rip-offs across Britain while actively assisting consumers. For this installment, the Rip Off Britain team returns and remains ready to tackle the various issues that
Season 16 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Rip Off Britain is a BBC One daytime and crime and news series that began broadcasting on 30 November 2009.
- The program's core premise is to expose Britain's rip-offs and help consumers navigate financial and marketplace issues.
- The series is presented by former news journalists, including Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford, and Julia Somerville, who replaced Jennie Bond starting from series three.
- From the second series onwards, the show was remade to continue its consumer advocacy format.
Season overview
The sixteenth season of Rip Off Britain continues the ongoing BBC One television series that began on 30 November 2009. The program is classified under crime and news genres. Across its broadcast run, the show is designed to expose unfair practices and rip-offs across Britain while actively assisting consumers. For this installment, the Rip Off Britain team returns and remains ready to tackle the various issues that viewers feel affect them the most in their daily lives. Historically, the series has been presented by former news journalists, with past and present hosts including Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford, Jennie Bond, and Julia Somerville. The production continues its established focus on consumer advocacy, investigation, and public service journalism, addressing grievances and providing guidance to everyday people facing financial exploitation, corporate unfairness, and consumer rights challenges throughout the United Kingdom.
Episode Guide
Season 16 Progress Shield
They sold me a written-off car
May 20, 2024 · 43 min
The team investigates the seriously written-off cars patched up and put back on the road, and asks why e-bike batteries, withdrawn for being a fire hazard, could still be on sale.
Blacklisted because of my surname
May 21, 2024 · 43 min
When an algorithm banned one woman from opening an online account because her surname was McManus, she asked Rip Off Britain for help!
Where’s my £300,000 whisky gone?
May 22, 2024 · 43 min
The team meet one man worried that the £300k he spent on rare whisky might have vanished after the investment firm went bust.
Paying £1 per mile for car insurance
May 23, 2024 · 43 min
Priced off the road: the young drivers handed a car insurance price hike in the middle of their policy.
My four-star holiday deal was anything but
May 24, 2024 · 43 min
The team investigates the holiday deal websites whose offers were very different to what was advertised.
Energy Special
May 27, 2024 · 43 min
From shockingly incorrect bills to broken smart meters, bad customer service to impossible debts, the Rip Off Britain team challenge the energy industry and the government.
Help – my home’s infested with beetles
May 28, 2024 · 43 min
The team meets a couple at loggerheads with a developer after finding soaked plaster and a beetle infestation in their new-build home.
The phone, the thief and the worthless insurance
May 29, 2024 · 43 min
How one tech giant’s phone insurance will only pay out if thieves don’t switch off the tracking software on your handset. And the people forced to pay for items that never arrived.
Cut off from my landline
May 30, 2024 · 43 min
Could the biggest change to landlines in generations leave you without a phone or broadband? And the new plans that might bring private parking operators into line.
Help, they’ve hacked my holiday hotel
May 31, 2024 · 44 min
The hacked hotel emails that could cost you your holiday. Also, the team meets a woman who felt abandoned by her cruise company when illness struck on board.
I became a money mule by mistake
Jun 3, 2024 · 44 min
Gloria Hunniford, Angela Rippon and Julia Somerville hear from the young people who thought they were dabbling in investments but instead ended up unwittingly money laundering.
‘Lose a stone in a week’ – the pamphlet peddling porkies
Jun 4, 2024 · 44 min
The team tackle more bad practice, including debunking the claims of a slimming pill magazine that says you’ll lose a stone in a week.
Help, I don’t owe the debt you’re chasing me for
Jun 5, 2024 · 44 min
The dogged debt collectors who won’t give up – even when you don’t owe them anything. And the missing mail causing huge headaches and leaving you out of pocket.
£89,000 down... and my bank won’t listen
Jun 6, 2024 · 44 min
Life savings gone and no refund – why your choice of bank could make all the difference if you lose out to scammers.
My holiday coach crash nightmare
Jun 7, 2024 · 44 min
The tour operator that one couple say really let them down when their coach transfer took a turn for the worst.
No payout pet insurance
Nov 11, 2024 · 43 min
Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville are joined by Henry the Blue Peter dog, as they hear about the chihuahua owner from Oldham whose pet insurer refused to pay out.
Out-of-control bamboo is destroying my driveway
Nov 12, 2024 · 44 min
Gloria Hunniford learns how the 1990s fashion for bamboo in our gardens is causing expensive problems for some homeowners 25 years later.
Help, my £45,000 pension is missing!
Nov 13, 2024 · 44 min
With millions of pounds sitting unclaimed in dormant or misplaced accounts, the team sets about helping a former bank worker track down her pension pot, which has been missing sinc
Crumbling concrete wrecked my home
Nov 14, 2024 · 44 min
Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville get to grips with the lightweight construction material RAAC. Installed decades ago, it’s ended up decimating housing estates across Scotland.
Wrong flight landed us in Lithuania!
Nov 15, 2024 · 44 min
Julia Somerville and Gloria Hunniford present a sun-drenched holiday edition, featuring airline passengers who were supposed to be travelling to Barcelona but got put on a flight t
Bank account switch left me broke
Nov 18, 2024 · 44 min
Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville hear the story of a woman from Bolton who staged a protest at the local branch of her bank after being left penniless and with no access to he
Floored by ground rent demand
Nov 19, 2024 · 44 min
A 90-year-old is shocked by a £17,000 ground rent bill on the flat he’s owned for 50 years. Plus the online marketplace being abused by scammers.
No win, no fee cost me £27,000
Nov 20, 2024 · 44 min
Gloria Hunniford, Julia Somerville and the team hear how the promise of a no win, no fee legal action left a man from Burnley with a £27,000 legal bill after a firm of solicitors w
Thieves charged hundreds to my phone bill
Nov 21, 2024 · 44 min
How mobile phone theft victims are facing huge bills when crooks’ purchases are charged to them.
Airport security delays left my holiday in ruins
Nov 22, 2024 · 44 min
The travellers seeking answers after their getaway plans were wrecked when huge security queues at a major British airport caused them to miss their flights.
The missing person ads that transform into scams
Nov 25, 2024 · 44 min
How fraudsters are using social media posts about missing people and pets to hook their victims into scams.
£226,000 crypto scam left me homeless
Nov 26, 2024 · 44 min
How a recently bereaved widow from Lancashire was conned out of the £226,000 proceeds of a house sale by fraudsters who claimed she was investing in cryptocurrency.
Help, someone stole my house!
Nov 27, 2024 · 44 min
The team investigate the homeowners who’ve found their homes targeted by scammers who steal personal information to try and sell their homes from under their feet.
Fake weight-loss drug almost killed me
Nov 28, 2024 · 44 min
We reveal how fraudsters are selling counterfeit versions of a well-known weight-loss drug and the potentially devastating consequences for one woman who suffered a seizure after i
Ripped passport wrecked our holiday
Nov 29, 2024 · 44 min
In a special holiday edition, Gloria Hunniford, Julia Somerville and the team ask how much damage is too much damage when it comes to your passport.
Doorstep raiders knocked out my doorbell camera
Jan 6, 2025 · 43 min
The team uncovers the shocking story of the readily available gadget that can hack your wifi and renders many doorbell video cameras useless as security devices.
Social media bank staff scam cost me £16,500
Jan 7, 2025 · 43 min
The team reveals how scammers are convincing victims to part with their cash by posing as senior bank staff, and pointing to their social media pages as evidence.
Mistaken identity cost me thousands
Jan 8, 2025 · 44 min
The reveals the story of how a car finance company’s mistake led to the credit record of a man from Blackpool being merged with a man from South Wales who shared his name.
Landed in debt… for someone else’s shopping
Jan 9, 2025 · 44 min
The team hears from the women from South Wales who have been hounded for hundreds of pounds worth of debt after someone else took out a ‘buy now, pay later’ account in their names.
The hotel with no running water
Jan 10, 2025 · 44 min
Julia Somerville, Louise Minchin, Gloria Hunniford and the Rip Off Britain team have with a sun-soaked holidays special focusing on your travel traumas.
Missing £400,000 put my mum’s care at risk
Jan 13, 2025 · 44 min
Julia Somerville, Louise Minchin, Gloria Hunniford and the team hear the shocking story of how a woman’s attempts to invest both her own savings and her mum’s went disastrously wro
Ravenous rats destroyed my car
Jan 14, 2025 · 44 min
The team hear how a woman from south London says the electrical wiring in her vehicle is being repeatedly chewed by rats, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.
Careless couriers left our parcels in pieces
Jan 15, 2025 · 44 min
Gloria Hunniford, Louise Minchin and Julia Somerville hear from viewers who say their carefully packaged goods are getting smashed by clumsy couriers.
When will my flood-wrecked home be fixed?
Jan 16, 2025 · 44 min
Louise Minchin, Julia Somerville and Gloria Hunniford hear from victims of severe flooding who’ve been forced to move out of their homes for months because of delays in carrying ou
Filthy holiday cottages cut our break short!
Jan 17, 2025 · 44 min
The team hear from customers of a leading holiday cottages company, who say their getaways were wrecked when they found their holiday homes covered in grime.
Filthy takeaways posting incorrect hygiene ratings
Jan 20, 2025 · 43 min
The team report on restaurants and takeaways where incorrect hygiene ratings risk misleading customers. Is the system in need of an overhaul?
Telecoms contract pushers caught on camera
Jan 21, 2025 · 44 min
In a special investigation, Rip Off Britain goes undercover with BBC News to show how a telecoms firm is making promises about contracts business owners say it didn’t keep.
Tainted tap water left us in agony
Jan 22, 2025 · 43 min
Louise Minchin, Gloria Hunniford and Julia Somerville seek answers for householders who say their water company should have acted quicker when the cryptosporidium bug was found in
Scammed by fake AI celebrities
Jan 23, 2025 · 43 min
The team reveal how criminals are using artificial intelligence to create ‘deepfake’ videos of AI celebrities and public figures to try to get their hands on your cash
Forced to take five flights to board our cruise
Jan 24, 2025 · 43 min
We hear the astonishing story of a couple who were forced to take five flights and travel 3,000 miles across Europe to board a cruise departing from Barcelona, following a series o