The BBC has announced a new six-part true crime podcast, Sarah Payne: Unforgotten, revisiting the 2000 abduction and murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne and the campaign led by her mother, Sara Payne, to change the law in her daughter’s name. Part of the BBC’s Shadow World documentary series, the podcast will explore the investigation, the national response to Sarah’s death and her family’s long fight for Sarah’s Law, with all six episodes available on BBC Sounds from Sunday 8 November 2026.

On 1 July 2000, Sarah was playing with her brothers and sister in a field near her grandparents’ home in West Sussex when she disappeared. Her disappearance prompted one of the largest and most widely publicised searches in British history, with Sarah’s family making repeated appeals for information. Seventeen days later, her body was discovered in a field, and the investigation into her abduction and murder became a case that would have a lasting impact across the country.

Sarah’s murder by a convicted sex offender also raised serious questions about the information available to parents concerning people with convictions for child sexual offences living in their communities. In the years that followed, her mother, Sara Payne, became a leading campaigner for changes to child protection laws, determined that something positive should come from the devastating loss of her daughter.

What Is Sarah Payne: Unforgotten About?

Presented by documentary-maker Edmund Coulthard, Sarah Payne: Unforgotten will examine the events surrounding Sarah’s disappearance and murder, drawing on archive recordings and new testimony from members of her family, detectives, journalists and politicians involved in the case.

The series will also explore the controversial News of the World campaign to publicly identify convicted sex offenders, examining the debate it sparked and its consequences. Alongside the investigation, the podcast will follow Sara Payne’s efforts to bring about Sarah’s Law, which allows parents, carers and guardians to ask the police whether someone who has contact with a child poses a known risk of sexual harm.

Rather than focusing solely on the crime itself, the documentary will also tell the story of Sarah’s family and the years of campaigning that followed, looking at how Sara’s determination helped bring about changes to child protection in the UK.

Speaking about the documentary, Edmund Coulthard said: “No-one has ever told the bigger story of Sara Payne’s incredible struggle to bring Sarah’s Law into being. It’s a crime that really did change Britain – and it’s a story that looks very different from the perspective of today.”

Daniel Clarke, Commissioning Editor for BBC Radio 4, also spoke about the importance of telling the family’s story “This is a remarkable and profoundly involving series that takes us in a visceral and sensitive way into a crime that changed Britain, through the people most deeply affected by it.”

The podcast has been co-commissioned by BBC Radio 4 and BBC Local, and is produced by Forest.

When Is Sarah Payne: Unforgotten Released?

All six episodes of Shadow World: Sarah Payne: Unforgotten will be released as a boxset on BBC Sounds on Sunday 8 November 2026, allowing listeners to hear the complete documentary series from its launch. The programme will also begin airing on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 11 November at 9.30am, with the first episode titled “Missing”.

For CultureCues, this is an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking case, and one that many people across the UK will remember. What stands out about this new documentary is its focus on Sara Payne and everything she fought for following her daughter’s death. It’s important that Sarah’s story continues to be told with care and respect, and that the changes made in her name aren’t forgotten. Hopefully, the series will give listeners a greater understanding of the family’s experience and the determination behind Sarah’s Law.

Shadow World: Sarah Payne: Unforgotten launches on BBC Sounds on Sunday 8 November 2026 and BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 11 November at 9.30am.