BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) Partner on Major Investigative Podcast; “I’m Not a Monster”

For the first time, two of the world’s most respected investigative teams have come together to co-produce a major new podcast for BBC Sounds and FRONTLINE (PBS).

In 2016 journalist and host Josh Baker narrowly survived a suicide bombing. While he was recovering, he got a tip-off about another story. It was the beginning of a four-year journey to understand the truth about Sam Sally (Sam Elhassani), an American woman who left behind a comfortable life and travelled to the heart of the Islamic State group caliphate in Syria, with her family. Her husband became an ISIS sniper; her 10-year old son, Matthew, appeared in an infamous propaganda video threatening President Trump.

From the depths of Raqqa’s infamous torture prison to an elk hunt in Idaho, Baker takes listeners on a dangerous journey where nothing is as it seems, ultimately revealing a mother’s path from Indiana to ISIS and back.

Investigative journalist and host Josh Baker says: “I’ve worked on a number of investigations into westerners who’ve joined ISIS, but this one proved to be like nothing I’ve experienced before. It’s a privilege to let Matthew tell his story as an American boy who was forced to endure two and a half years, living under the brutal regime of ISIS. And for the first time bringing the two journalistic forces of BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) together to put their collective weight behind a global story, that’s explored across two films and a 10-part serialized podcast, allowing the audience to follow this investigation every step of the way.”

I’m Not A Monster unearths the truth about the American mother who took her children into the heart of the Islamic State group caliphate — and what happened when they came back.

The case of Sam Sally is also investigated in upcoming films for BBC Panorama in the UK and FRONTLINE (PBS) In the US.

The I’m Not A Monster series trailer is available now on BBC Sounds, pbs.org/frontline or wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes 1 and 2 of I’m Not A Monster will be available on Monday, November 23, 2020.

The Panorama film Return from ISIS: A Family’s Story is on BBC One at 9pm UK on Monday November 23, 2020.  The FRONTLINE film Return From ISIS will air on PBS at 10pm ET on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.