Shifty

Synopsis

This series shows in a new and imaginative way how over the past 40 years in Britain extreme money and hyper-individualism came together in an unspoken alliance. Together they undermined one of the fundamental structures of mass democracy - that it could create a shared idea of what was real. And as that fell apart, with it went the language and the ideas that people had turned to for the last 150 years to make sense of the world they lived in.

First Air Date: 2025-06-14

Last Air Date: 2025-06-14

Number of Seasons: 1

Number of Episodes: 5

Created By: Adam Curtis

Networks: BBC iPlayer

View Technical Specifications on IMDb

Seasons

Season 1 (2025)

When power begins to shift in society, everything becomes unstable, exciting and frightening. Living in Britain at the end of the 20th century.

Episodes:

Ep. 1: Part One - The Land of Make Believe (2025-06-14)

The dream world that Mrs Thatcher promised. And the ghosts that came back to disrupt it. When power begins to shift in society, everything becomes unstable, exciting and frightening. Gay Scottish Disco. Intersex dog. Mrs Thatcher. Encounter group. Ghosts of the Empire. Jimmy Savile. The Cheese and Onion computer. Video dating. Ian Curtis. Monetarism. Dead pilot. Stephen Hawking and Black Holes. National Front. Fat-shaming ventriloquist. Dub clash sound system. Party elephant. W****r on the line. Racist attacks. Bucks Fizz.
Ep. 2: Part Two - Suspicion (2025-06-14)

On your own in a world of individual freedom. It's wonderful. But can you trust the old institutions? Suspicion begins to grow. Taxidermist and owl. Rupert Murdoch and the Royal Family. Mrs Thatcher and the Yorkshire Ripper. Avant-garde hair. Video vigilantes. Inflatable giraffe. Fairlight sampler. Square-dance in Worthing. Paedophile spy. Skinhead poem. The corrupt British establishment. Relax. Dame Edna and the Freemasons. Shoot to Kill. Two policeman interrogating a rape victim. Penguins. How to manipulate interviewees on TV. Remixes. The past becomes untrustworthy
Ep. 3: Part Three - I Love a Millionaire (2025-06-14)

Money replaces ideology as a way of ordering Britain. It was supposed to make things rational. But the money got mixed with old forces from the past. And wasn't as predictable as it seemed. Shoes from Russell & Bromley. Mrs Thatcher's luminous earrings. Dolly the horse. Liberal intellectuals who know their power is over. Leeks by moonlight. The Duke of Westminster. The Bitch. Modern art. Morrissey’s nostalgia. Make-up by Rimmel. Dodi Fayed. Ken Dodd's suitcase. Data extraction. The first Islamist group. The covenants of old English power. MDMA. Mrs Thatcher reads a poem. White rasta.
Ep. 4: Part Four - The Grinder (2025-06-14)

Those in power begin to distrust you. Once you were a heroic individual. Now you are a creature of HR. And the prime minister is just a man in blue underpants. UFO over Surrey. Water is contaminated. Pigs walking into walls. Traitors in Downing Street. Night sweats. Ram-raiding Currys. ERM underwear. Dreaming of Sutton Coldfield. Nuns play ping pong. Sod Off. HR comes to the Zoo. The official report insists it’s anxiety, not water. Jane Hawking hates her husband's rational smile. Cleaning up dragon shit. Privatised companies play mathematical games. The rabbits are not anxious. But there may be alternative dimensions where they are. The politicians lose control of the economy.
Ep. 5: Part Five - The Democratisation of Everything (2025-06-14)

Who needs politicians in a magical world of free individuals? So they give away their power. But Alexander McQueen sees what is really happening. The monstrous rise of the handbag. The Prince of Wales and his hidden smutty word. Christian Heavy Metal. Sleazy politicians. Imaginary Time. Mohamed al Fayed. King Rat. Censorship in Bollywood. The disappeared from the mental hospital. Highland Rape. Labour gives the last real power away. Sugababes. The pool, the sauna and the lifestyle. Artists become agents for property developers. There are Black Holes in your head. Factories close in the North East. A scanner from Maplin. The empty zones in the Dome. Toad in the Hole. Margaret Thatcher's handbag. The hidden backbeat. Subprime. The fake show at the end of the century. And the real one.