Stacey Dooley — Season 8

In June 2020, when sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman did not return from Bibaa's birthday celebrations in a north London Park, family and friends knew something was wrong and reported them missing to police. Bibaa, 46, a passionate social worker, and Nicole, 26, a talented freelance photographer, were murdered as they danced to music, enjoying each other's company. Bibaa had chosen to celebrate her birthday in the park because of restrictions imposed during lockdown. The next day, Nicole's boyfriend found the sisters' bodies after family and friends organised their own search party.A year after the brutal murders of her daughters, retired Archdeacon Mina Smallman, who was Britain's first black archdeacon in the Church of England, invites Stacey Dooley to help her tell her story through both the trial of her daughters' killer and the trials of two Met police officers who took photographs of their bodies and shared them on WhatsApp.Mina's faith is central to her very being, but what happens when faith is confronted by unimaginable tragedy? Stacey witnesses how Mina's faith has played a pivotal role throughout an unimaginably difficult time, helpign her to cope with her grief and anger and strengthen her resolve to fight to end violence against women so her daughters did not die in vain.

Stacey Dooley follows a squad of Ukrainian civilians from the moment they land on British soil for five weeks of gruelling training, designed to give them the skills they will need to 'survive and to be lethal' in the war against Russia.Hidden in a secret location in England, Stacey has exclusive access to the British Army's combat programme turning raw recruits into frontline soldiers.Pasha is a welder who was living in Belgium when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year. He swam against the tide of refugees leaving the country to return and defend his homeland. An unlikely soldier, he doesn't have long to get to grips with the reality facing him on his return.Artem has left his partner and 6-year-old son behind near the border with Russia. Before the war, he had a thriving business making jewellery, but over the five weeks of the course he is transformed into a professional soldier. But the change puts a great deal of pressure on his relationships with those he loves.Mykola is a florist who dreams of getting back to his garden and girlfriend. Scoring the highest possible score on the rifle range, he is determined to reclaim occupied land from the Russian troops 'centimetre by centimetre'.Amid learning how to operate an AK-47, repel attacks and survive brutal combat in trenches reminiscent of World War I, Stacey gets to know this group of recruits, gaining first-hand insight into the psychological transformation needed to face the kill-or-be-killed reality of war.

Stacey meets victims and perpetrators of the most common type of stalking: a young mum's ex in court, a pilot claiming heartbreak and a stalker just out of prison.

Stacey embeds with a police unit focused on cases of stalking: an obsessed fan, a man fixated with a girl half his age, and an ex-prisoner sending death threats.

Stacey Dooley is spending ten days living alongside the nuns of St Hilda's Priory in Whitby.Stacey's life is a whirlwind. She always throws herself into work and has struggled to prioritise her work-life balance. Although she is not a religious person, at the convent she is given the unique opportunity to try to connect to the rhythms of a deeper, slower, quieter and more meaningful way of being. But what are the challenges of living within the strict confines of a convent, where the women have taken vows of poverty, obedience and celibacy?Stacey must adhere to the nuns' strict timetable, eating meals in silence, learning how to pray and singing in their choir. Very little has changed at the convent in the 115 years since its foundation, but with an ageing population and fewer women being called to the vocation, this way of life is dying out. Stacey explores how the sisters - some of whom have been at the convent for half a century - cope with the rigidity of an old-fashioned, timetabled life, which is so removed from her chaotic everyday existence. Can living with these 23 devout sisters, who have dedicated themselves to a very different set of priorities, give her new insights into her own life that might last beyond her time with them?

Stacey tackles the subject of death by immersing herself in the world of undertaking at a century-old funeral director's.