In a gripping new BBC documentary, the dark world of hidden cameras is set to be explored. It uncovers an online network in which footage filmed on hidden cameras in bedrooms, bathrooms, changing rooms and other private spaces is liked and shared.
Undercover Investigation Unveils Disturbing Practices
Welsh presenter Jess Davies goes undercover to infiltrate this world and finds spycammers boasting about filming wives, girlfriends and strangers without their knowledge, including someone who plants spycams on a walking route to catch women stopping to wee in a bush where there are no public toilets.
During her investigation, Jess discovers the range of spycam tech available – cameras disguised as everyday objects like pens, air fresheners and plugs. They’re cheap, easy to buy and almost impossible to spot. Jess speaks to one woman who went to the toilet while eating at a popular high-street restaurant chain and discovered a tiny camera hidden under the toilet seat that had the ability to livestream footage.
Teaming Up with Investigative Journalist
She teams up with investigative journalist Liam Connell, where the pair then go onto discover a sprawling voyeur website and find evidence of illegal, non consensual footage being shared anonymously, including by users in the UK.
Posing as a new “spycammer” looking for advice, they infiltrate these groups from the inside. The evidence they uncover is deeply disturbing: perpetrators openly swapping stories of and tips on how to secretly film family members, partners, flatmates and strangers in private moments like sleeping, showering, changing - and boasting about the footage they captured.
Personal Motivation Behind the Investigation
Jess was driven by her own haunting experience where she was secretly photographed naked while sleeping, with the image then shared with a private WhatsApp group.
She said: “It’s a never-ending cycle of mass distribution of non-consensual content of women. It feels like these women are being hunted down and prayed upon.”
Confronting the Perpetrators
Jess will go onto confront some of those who are behind the spycams to ask why they do it, if they know what they’re doing is illegal by capturing non-consensual footage, and whether they feel any sympathy for those who are being targeted.
Commissioning Editor's Perspective
Sian Harris, Commissioning Editor for BBC Cymru Wales, said: “Anyone who watches this film will relate to the horrific thought of being filmed by a secret camera in those private spaces: a bedroom, the shower, a changing room.
Jess and Liam’s compelling investigation not only reveals this as a growing crime, but shines a light on the shady places where non-consensual videos are being traded and asks the questions we’d all want answers to about how and why is this happening.”
Hunting the Spycammers will land on the BBC’s YouTube channels and BBC iPlayer on Wednesday July 15.
