I'm Not a Monster BBC Podcasts

Seeking to separate fact from fiction, the multi award-winning series returns to investigate the divisive story of Shamima Begum.

When three London school girls went missing in 2015, they generated global headlines and the media storm that ensued continues to this day. Back then, investigative journalist Josh Baker was filming at a mosque in the girls’ neighbourhood as their families came to seek help; their daughters were on the way to Syria to join the Islamic State group. But it was too late, and they disappeared inside the so-called caliphate.

For four years, their fate remained a mystery - with only occasional glimpses and sometimes conflicting reports of what they were doing with the terror group being made public. Only one of the girls emerged from the ashes of the so called caliphate - Shamima Begum.
The new series takes listeners inside Josh’s attempts to figure out what really happened, unearthing new information about one of the most talked about stories of our time. He travels from Bethnal Green in East London to the depths of what was ISIS controlled Syria as he challenges Shamima Begum and investigates if the story she tells is true.

Investigating the story of Shamima Begum. At 15, she ran away from her London home with two school friends to join the terror group ISIS in war torn Syria. Now she wants to come back. It’s a tale that has gripped the world, but there are different ways to tell it.
Josh Baker has been following the story since 2015 when Shamima Begum left for the Islamic State group. For Series 2 of I’m Not a Monster he investigates what really happened.
ARCHIVE:
CNN: Three British Girls Run Away to Syria (2015)
Sky News: Newspaper Review (13/02/2019)
ITV: Good Morning Britain (24/11/2020)
Fox News; The Ingraham Angle (20/02/2019)
ITV: Good Morning Britain (15/09/2021)

Three London schoolgirls disappear, heading for a war zone. Four years later only one emerges from the ashes of ISIS. Nobody knows what really happened to her. Josh Baker meets Shamima Begum in Syria to begin unpicking her story.
Almost eight years earlier, he was filming in Shamima’s local mosque when news broke that she and her friends had gone missing, it made global headlines. He was there when their families came asking for help, but it was all too late; they'd already made it into the hands of the Islamic State group.
But how did it all begin?
Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
ARCHIVE
Good Morning Britain (ITV, September 2021)
Sky News: John Sparks interviews Shamima Begum (February 2019)

Following Shamima Begum’s route reveals a dangerous Islamic State group smuggling network, but that’s not all. A local taxi firm isn’t what it seems and a gangster threatens to make Josh “disappear.” It all ends in an underground carpark with a stack of secret documents and a warning.
Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Field producers: Hussam Hammoud and Zeynep Bilginsoy
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
This episode contains strong language.

The man who smuggled Shamima Begum to Syria claims he was spying for Canada. What's the truth? And could she and her school friends have been stopped from reaching the Islamic State group?
Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Field producers: Hussam Hammoud
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
ARCHIVE:
SKY News: New Footage 'Of British IS Schoolgirls' (March 2015)

Friendship, propaganda and the promise of paradise - why Shamima Begum left London at 15 for the Islamic State group in war torn Syria. But how did she ignore the group’s brutal violence? And who convinced her to go?
The feature length documentary, "The Shamima Begum Story", will be on BBC2 at 9pm on February 7th.
Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Guidance: This episode contains descriptions of extreme violence