A new season of documentaries, debates, high-profile interviews and online activity investigating the impact of the global recession.Starting with the fateful day Lehman Brothers collapsed, "Aftershock" covers what led to the pandemic financial meltdown, looks at how investments and ordinary peoples' lives have changed over the year, questions big thinkers, reports from China and other countries on the shifting economic balance, and covers key financial gatherings like the upcoming G20 Summit.
On 15 September 2008, New York-based Lehman Brothers, one of the world's oldest and most respected investment banks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It was the largest bankruptcy filed in US corporate history and signalled the beginning of a traumatic period for many of the world's economies, their companies and their citizens.
One year on from these pivotal events, the BBC's global news services - BBC World Service, BBC World News and BBCnews.com - are launching Aftershock, a new season investigating the impact of the global recession on all facets of life since that fateful day.
Through a series of new documentaries, debates, high profile interviews and online activity across the BBC's international news services, the season asks fundamental questions about the future of global economies and whether the ongoing financial turbulence might accelerate a shift away from Western nations towards a new financial world order. Questioning whether talk of the road to recovery is premature, and examining whether things really have changed in banks' boardrooms, the season also finds out how the financial fall-out has impacted on the lives of ordinary people around the world, investigating how their lives have changed in the last year.
The season launches with the premiere of a new drama and culminates with a debate hosted by the BBC's International news services in New York, to be broadcast on BBC World News America and BBC World Service on 15 September. Other programme highlights include the premiere of a new Robert Peston documentary in Business Daily , and a three-part documentary series - The Crash. The season also includes special reports from the USA and China, examining how the economic balance between these two super-powers has been affected.