Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Update – 3 September 2009: this press pack has been updated to include revised scheduling information and a change of title for episode two.

Episode 1 – The Bank That Bust The World (9.00pm, Thursday 10 September, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Two)

This tells the inside story of the dramatic weekend in September 2008 that nearly destroyed the global economy. How and why did Lehman Brothers – an established powerhouse of the investment banking world – go bankrupt? Why did its collapse start the earthquake that sent shockwaves through the financial markets?

With eye-witness accounts from those involved, including Timothy Geithner, Alistair Darling, Barclays President Bob Diamond, former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain and Lehman's bankruptcy lawyer, we tell the gripping story of how the collapse of a 158-year-old investment bank threatened a catastrophic financial meltdown.

What was it like to be there? Here's what Harvey Miller, Lehman's bankruptcy lawyer says: "We really were in almost an adversarial situation."

Episode 2 – The Age Of Risk (9.00pm, Thursday 17 September, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔΒ Two)

This features a major interview with Alan Greenspan and puts the current economic crisis in the context of the last two decades of history. We examine the confidence underpinning two glorious decades of boom. It shows how we changed our attitude to risk and consumers borrowed more, banks lent more and – above all – governments stepped back from regulating any of it.

At the heart of it all is Alan Greenspan who, for 20 years, was one of the most powerful people in the world and a committed exponent of free markets. But then, in October 2008, just a few weeks after the catastrophic collapse of Lehman Brothers, the man whose ideas influenced the world admitted he just might have been "partially" wrong.

Episode 3 – Back From The Brink? (9.00pm, Thursday 24 September, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Two)

This tells the story of how close the world came to the brink of a total economic collapse last autumn. For the first time the key players tell how they battled to prevent a new great depression – and looks at what this has cost the world. Even today, few realise how close we all came to a truly catastrophic collapse of the very foundation of the modern world.

The story is told by the people who took the decisions: Gordon Brown, Brazil's President Lula, finance ministers including the United States' Tim Geithner, Alistair Darling, Germany's Peer Steinbruck, France's Christine Lagarde, and Brian Lenihan from Ireland. Central bankers including Mervyn King and, for the first time, the behind-the-scenes officials tell the ups and downs of a month in which they held the fate of the world in their hands.

How close did the world come to collapse? This is what Downing Street adviser Baroness Shriti Vadera says: "It does make my blood run cold to think of how close the whole global system was to collapse."