Since 2008, Wall Street and Washington have fought against the tide of the fiercest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Shown over four nights, this documentary examines the battle to rescue a shattered economy and asks what the future may hold.

The programme looks at the key decisions taken and the opportunities that have been missed while reflecting on the uneasy relationship between government leaders and the finance industry that affects the fortunes of millions of people around the world. The largest government bailout in American history resulted from a series of decisions that fundamentally changed the nation’s political landscape. The programme looks at the dilemma faced by the newly-elected president Barack Obama, whose mandate for change proved impossible to enact in times of such economic instability.

Moving on, the investigation turns to the inner workings of global high finance, which remains largely shrouded in secrecy and laden with risk. While popular anger at bankers and the effects of reckless lending and borrowing has spread across much of the globe, effective regulatory reform remains elusive.

The programme interviews leading bankers and officials to ask what lessons have been learned and what steps have been taken to ensure that such a crisis can never happen again. The answers are less than reassuring.