The Lost Boys is a two-part reconstruction of the key elements in a major police investigation into a string of child murders in the 1980s. The seven-year inquiry was sparked off by the discovery of the body of a 14-year-old boy in an Essex field. He was the victim of a paedophile ring, operating out of an East London council estate, which may have been involved in as many as 20 murders. If this programme is screened tonight, the second part will be shown next week.

Crucial leads from one of the convicted murderer's cellmates in Wandsworth prison enabled the police to establish links between this and other murders of young boys. The subsequent investigation, Operation Orchid, attracted huge press and public attention, but the eventual decision of the Crown Prosecution Service left the police officers involved feeling both angered and disgusted.