1. Indication

2. Wonder drugs


3. Dopamine Hits


4. Big Pharma, Big Secret


5. Restless


6. Chasing Losses


16 February 2026


When Freddie's daddy Bill is diagnosed with Parkinson's, his medication offers him a brand-new lease of life. He begins ticking things off his senior citizen - travelling, sky diving, golf.


But then Freddie notices that his previously practical father has started behaving abnormally.


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


These drugs enhance dopamine activity in the brain - they were prescribed more than 1.5 million times in the UK in 2015 to treat Parkinson's illness and other movement conditions.


But they have well established adverse effects - around 1 in 6 individuals who take them develop impulse control conditions, which can include hypersexuality, binge eating, compulsive gaming and shopping.


If these side results have been understood about for decades, why weren't some clients and their families appropriately alerted or kept track of?