Building inspectors

Building Inspector Mark Harding's hot on the trail of the cowboy builders

More people in Birmingham are falling foul of cowboy builders than ever before.

Across the city, dreams are dashed and thousands of pounds wasted by slapdash construction and shoddy workmanship.

Inside Out joins building inspector Mark Harding on the trail of these rogue contractors.

We visit the new building put up without any foundations and the £50,000 extension that has cost more than £30,000 to put right.

During each visit, Mark painstakingly gathers evidence which he hopes will help with the prosecution of these dodgy builders.

But, as we soon learn, building a case against the rogue traders is not easy, and even when the cowboys end up in court, often the punishment does not fit the crime.

"They are villains," Mark says. "They move into homes, destroy people’s physical and mental health, destroy the single biggest asset they have."

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Homes - Find a tradesman
• BBC Radio 4 - Home Truths - Having the builders in
• Chartered Institute of Building
• Birmingham Building Consultancy

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Madeleine Carroll

Madeleine Carroll graced the silver screen back in the 1930s

Madeleine Carroll was known as ‘the white flower of the Black Country’.

She was the girl from West Midlands who went on to take Hollywood by storm, starring in hit films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s 'The 39 Steps'.

And at the pinnacle of her on-screen success, she turned her back on the glitz and glamour to become a nurse in the American Red Cross during the Second World War.

But despite her fame and wartime heroics, Madeleine is still little known in her native West Bromich.

Inside Out finds out more about the remarkable life of a seemingly forgotten 1930s movie star - and meets those campaigning for her life to be celebrated in the town of her birth.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC - Film
• Madeleine Carroll
• Madeleine Carroll Cinema Screenings

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites

Grandparent action

Pam Wilson is one of many grandparents sticking up for their visitation rights

Thousands of grandparents across Britain are being denied access to their grandchildren.

A change in the law in the late 1980s meant people no longer had any automatic right to see their children’s offspring.

But after more than a decade of frustration, one woman from Telford has decided to take on the law.

Pam Wilson has formed the Grandparents' Action Group to help people win back what was once a natural right.

Inside Out meets Pam and other campaigners who claim that grandparents have an important role to play in the upbringing of children.

We also learn about the devastating effect separation can have when we meet the woman who has spent her life's savings on a lengthy legal battle to win access to her grandchildren.

Links relating to this story:

• BBC Health - Becoming a grandparent
• Grandparents Action Group
• Grandparents Plus Support Groups

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites