Episode 20: Mums on the Run - the matriarchs running British crime groups (2025)

Could a mum really be behind one of the UK's biggest drug smuggling families, teaching her children the dark arts of trafficking? Grannies and mums are more prolific than ever on the British crime scene, one jailed just in the last few days. Not just coerced partners but genuine Dons or Donnas of UK mafioso whose 'quiet lady next door' image belies the dedicated and determined Granny gangster. And we're exporting our female felons around the world, peddling drugs in country's with the death penalty where one pensioner mum is waiting for the firing squad. So is the 'fairer sex' just as bad as the rest ? Broadcaster Martin Frizell and Professor of Criminology David Wison explore the alpha female.