Controlled: Can I Trust My Partner?

SHOOTING PRODUCER DIRECTOR

1 x 60' for Channel 4
Streaming now on Channel 4 and YouTube

Daisy Maskell investigates the shocking surge in partner abuse among under 30s, and enlists her boyfriend to help her expose the sinister stalkerware apps used to spy on victims.

Reports to the police from under-30s of an abusive partner have almost tripled in the last 10 years. 

With analysis of two million police reports, and a survey of almost a thousand victim-survivors, Daisy investigates why partner abuse is surging among young people, and asks what can be done.

She meets victim-survivors to learn about the devastating toll of abuse, and hears how inexperience, childhood exposure, and social media - which sometimes normalises and even romanticises abuse - are all making young people more vulnerable. 

Together with her boyfriend, she launches a bold experiment to explore the powers of stalkerware: hidden apps used by abusers to secretly tap into their victims’ phones and spy on them 24/7. We reveal that police have seen a massive increase in complaints about this technology in the last three years. Daisy also goes to Hampshire to learn about Project Foundation - a unique and innovative police and charity-run programme tackling abusers aged 18-30. And she meets young survivors campaigning for mandatory relationships education to help 16-18 year olds to better tell the difference between toxic “love” and the real thing.​

Production Company: True Vision 
Shooting Producer: Natasha McCabe
Development Producer: Will Hecker
Production Coordinator: Tilly Wax  
​Production Manager: Adam Louka
Graphics: Broken Antler
Colourist: Alex Malcolm
Editor: Paddy Garrick
Executive Producer: Brian Woods
Filmed, Produced and Directed by: Rosemary Baker