User Reviews

The first two episodes were interesting, lots of people involved giving their subjective takes for their subjective reasons.

I bet there's people falling for the morality farce that is episode 3 who buy and devour tabloids or online gossip the next day.

I actually do not believe Tulisa's version of what happened, and if she said she's against drugs (for herself maybe, or just because it's the thing to say) that does not mean anything, it's just PR, an utterance made on behalf of what she perceived would be a favourable thing to say. It was days before the ask for drugs.

Oh, the job would have been gone otherwise....boo-hoo. Haha.

What a lame excuse.

Not saying setting up lame people for them to agree to commit lame crimes (the three gals) is worth anything.

I actually do agree that you either say yes or say no, and unless I get blackmailed with my loved ones' lives at stake I would say no. Even then I would be in a quandary because I don't know any drug dealers.

Really the last episode is so boring. At least Jodie Kidd admits that she was stupid.

If something sounds too good to be true it usually is.

Greed will cause some people to do bad things. I see them actually all as alike in their endeavors.

Hearing people finding excuses for their not saying no to some rich dude is really revealing! And funny.

She blames her brother? Or the other way round?

Is this like 'I just took a package from Colombia for a friend' kind of thing?

'I don't want to be famous anymore' she says while filming herself saying that. And in the car after the case was thrown out. Funny.

I am not British so maybe I lack the familiarity with these celebrities.

The manipulative (!) moral-down-throat-shoving in ep 3 turned the series sour.

A good documentary lets the viewers make up their own minds.

Excellent character study of an ambitious young journalist who once reigned supreme on the front pages the now-defunct News of the World as well as an insightful overview of 1990s UK tabloid newspapers.

As the Fake Sheikh, Mazher Mahmood masterminded some terrific stings of high-profile figures of the day, including Sarah Ferguson, (former?) Duchess of York, Prince Andrew's ex-wife. Fergie is not one of those interviewed so just this once, Fergie showed some good sense.

The series includes interviews from Mahmoud's former coworkers and other journalists from the era. The son of Punjabi immigrants provides important cultural background for UK-born children, maybe particularly sons, of Asian immigrants.

The focus is clearly Mahmoud as the villain as he knocks down one famous person after the other using expensive locales and luring people to expensive restaurants with extravagant wine lists.

Mahmood's former partner of five years features extensively, speaking in Mahmoud's favor at times and giving details about her participation in one sting. Since Mahmood relied on his anonymity, we see only the back of his head and a close-up of his mouth during an interview with Emily Maitlis, the journalist who interviewed Prince Andrew about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

The weak part of this series was the portrayal of three hapless up-and-coming young women, two models and a singer, as victims when they caved in to the Fake Sheikh Mahmood's request to supply him with drugs. He lured them promises of helping their careers and they took the bait. The interviews are only people speaking without an interviewer asking questions like, "Did you wonder why someone who appeared so wealthy and connected needed you to put him in touch with drug dealers?"

Mahmood played on their greed and ambition, and they took the bait. They complained he ruined their careers and their personal relationships but seem unaware of their own stupidity and vanity.

The question about where the editors were in this saga is unasked. Did they not ask him how he tricked these people, or did they not care?