What time is the Dispatches special on Channel 4 tonight? How to stream the 90-minute special investigation
A forthcoming Channel 4 Dispatches programme has been met with speculation that it could feature a well-known celebrity.
In a highly unusual break from convention, Channel 4 has not announced the subject of the programme in advance.
Listings for the programme to be broadcast on Saturday night are vague and do not make any reference to the subject matter.
Here is what we know.
What is the Channel 4 Dispatches programme about?
Channel 4’s own online listings advertise “New: Dispatches Special” – with the programme described as “a 90-minute special Dispatches investigation”.
The broadcaster offered no more information about the programme, with the usual listings page displaying a “page not found” message.
The Radio Times listing for the programme says: “Investigative series covering issues in British society, politics, international current affairs, health, religion and the environment.”
MailOnline has reported that sources at the current affairs documentary series said the 90-minute programme will feature a well-known figure. It will reportedly reference a number of celebrities.
The Mirror quotes one source as saying that the programme has been “years in the making”. The source told the publication: “It has the potential to halt the career of at least one celebrity with the contents.”
On Friday Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy allegedly quickly deleted a tweet saying “Something’s up” alongside the Dispatches programme listing.
According to the MailOnline, he was told to take down the tweet given the “sensitive” nature of the programme.
What has Russell Brand said?
Separately the actor and comedian Russell Brand posted a video online on Friday night saying he “absolutely” denies unspecified criminal allegations about his personal life outlined in two “extremely disturbing letters”.
Brand posted the video on his YouTube and social media accounts, saying he received the letters from a “mainstream media TV company” and a newspaper which he said included a “litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks”.
There is no indication that Brand will feature in the programme.
In the video, Brand said: “Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.
“These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies and as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.”
He continued: “Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well.
“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play.”
Mr Brand said he believes he is a part of a “co-ordinated attack” and said he is going to look into this matter because it is “very, very serious”.
How can I watch the Dispatches programme?
The 90-minute programme will be broadcast on Saturday 16 September on Channel 4 at 9pm.
You can watch it online here.
It is set to be repeated on Channel 4 on Sunday 17 September at 10.50pm, and again on Monday 18 September on channel 4seven at 9pm.
