I'm Not a Monster

Series 1: 11. Epilogue - The wounds and the scars

What happened to the family Josh was staying with when the Islamic State group struck in 2016?I’m Not a Monster began after Josh was injured by an ISIS truck bomb in Mosul, Iraq. If it wasn’t for an old contact reaching out to see how he was doing, he may never have heard about Sam and Matthew.Now he returns to the Iraqi city and finds that while the fighting may be largely over, the people of Iraq are facing a different battle as a mental health crisis has taken hold.This episode includes descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.Reporter: Josh Baker
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.

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 will take 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.Series One - 'I'm Not A Monster: from BBC Panorama &amp; FRONTLINE PBS'The first series of I'm Not A Monster told the story of Sam Sally, an American mother who left behind a comfortable life and travelled to the heart of what the Islamic State group called its caliphate with her family. Her husband became an IS sniper and her 10 year-old son was forced to appear in an infamous propaganda video threatening President Trump. It's the BBC's most awarded podcast series to date, having received 16 nominations, winning 11 awards in 10 different international programme competitions including the Rose d 'Or for Best Audio series, three Golds and the Grand Jury Prize at the New York Festivals Radio Awards and Best Documentary Series at the Webbys and the inaugural Podcast Academy Awards (the Ambies) in 2021.