Muscle Men [Extreme - Muscle Men]

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

2. The Guru

20240729

20240805 (R4)

Historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela lifts the lid on the steroid underground - a world of risk-taking and experimentation that lies beneath the glamorous surface of life in the 1980s LA gym scene. It's all about making it big, at any cost.

This is the scene that young bodybuilder William Dillon is initiated into, now that he's settled into the California lifting community. He meets The Steroid Guru aka Dan Duchaine, a maverick anabolic enthusiast with a chemical fascination, who isn't afraid to experiment on himself - or anyone else. Duchaine is a cult figure in this world - his book The Underground Steroid Handbook spread the secrets of juicing to gym rats all over the USA and beyond.

From that meeting with Duchaine, Dillon spots a big opportunity that marries his two favourite things - strength and wealth.

Featuring William Dillon, Joe Troccoli, Sandra Blackie, Dr Jeff Golini, and former bodybuilder and co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook, Mike Zumpano.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

Welcome to the steroid underground, where the goal is to get big at any cost.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

William Dillon enters the LA gym scene's steroid underground, a world of experimentation and risk-taking, presided over by The Steroid Guru. The goal is to get big - at any cost.

8: The Genie Is Out

20240909

[LISTEN NOW]

1. All That Glitters

20240729

Meet William Dillon. A young amateur bodybuilder from small-town Illinois, who dreams of getting ripped.

It's the early 1980s and across the USA a fitness revolution is underway. Exercise has become a national pastime and Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking the jacked-up physique mainstream. Dillon is one of many young men with a new kind of American dream - big muscles, and big money.

In 1984, a lucky break transports Dillon to star-studded LA, and the world's most iconic bodybuilding gym, Gold's Gym. There, to the sound of clanking steel weights and a pumping disco beat, a new physical ideal is being forged that's changing the way Americans look in the mirror.

But Dillon's about to learn that, beneath the glittering surface of this world, there's a secret. And when he discovers the chemical key to how many of the guys get BIG, it will set him on a path that will change his life - and many others - forever.

In the first episode of Extreme: Muscle Men, historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela - presenter of hit podcast Welcome To Your Fantasy (Gimlet) - reveals how the California beach body became an iconic symbol of the 80s fitness boom. When that boom collided with anabolic steroids, it sparked a chemical and criminal revolution that would transform bodies all across America.

Featuring William Dillon, former bodybuilders Joe Troccoli, Sandra Blackie and Dr Jeff Golini, and former co-owner of Gold's Gym, Ed Connors.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

A young bodybuilder travels to starry 1980s LA in search of the secret to getting ripped.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

In the star-studded gyms of 1980s LA a fitness revolution is underway. A young bodybuilder arrives with a dream to get ripped- and discovers the secret beneath the glossy surface.

Get Ripped. Quick

20240805

20240812 (R4)

Prior to the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas Venezuela, the issue of sports doping was largely flying under the American public's radar. But when 19 athletes are found positive for using banned substances at the games, steroids are thrust into focus. And a stigma starts to grow.

At the same time, authorities are cracking down on the manufacture of one of the most popular anabolics in the bodybuilding community - dianabol. It's the perfect setting for a black market boom.

Enter William Dillon, Dan Duchaine and an entrepreneurial British ex Olympic track champion named David Jenkins who turn the steroid drought into an opportunity. Together, they supercharge their steroid operation.

In Episode 3 of Muscle Men, historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela looks at the evolution of the use of steroids in sports, from its early days in the Soviet Union's sports programme, to its rise to the highest levels of international sport.

Featuring former bodybuilder William Dillon; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; and former Olympic weightlifter and weightlifting coach Michael Cohen.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

When steroid supplies are cut off, the ring hatch a plan to meet demand.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

A 1983 steroid scandal rocks American sport, and a steroid crackdown ensues. Conditions are right for a booming black market and the ring hatches a plan.

Perfect Square Pecs

20240812

20240819 (R4)

In the lobby of Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas there's a modern-day shrine to a 2000 year old adonis - complete with perfectly square pecs. Michelangelo's David. 17 feet of white marble beefcake. This is an ideal that bodybuilders can only aspire to. And in the 80s bodybuilding scene, a particular image of perfection emerges and begins to transform what American culture thinks of as a desirable man - one that's bulked up and defined.

But in the 1980s, the supersized muscular body isn't approved of for everyone. Host, historian and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explores how strong, muscular women's bodies were policed, while gay men were excluded from mainstream gym culture, instead forging a strong and vital subculture.

In this atmosphere, for many, steroids seem to offer the perfect quick fix route to “perfection”. And there's money to be made - the steroid ring built by Dillon, Duchaine and Jenkins is making money hand over fist. But can this Supersized American Dream last forever? Someone is watching them -

Featuring former owner of Gold's Gym Ed Connors, former bodybuilders William Dillon, Joe Troccoli and Sandra Blackie, personal trainer and author of Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture Erick Alvarez, and Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

As a desire for muscles grips 1980s America, the steroid ring is ready to meet the demand.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

As a desire for muscles grips 1980s America, the steroid ring is ready to meet the demand. But the changing body image ideals come with new pressures - and contradictions.

The A Team

20240819

20240826 (R4)

Nobody gets arrested for dealing anabolic steroids. That's the assumption bodybuilder Dan Duchaine, William Dillon and their fellow ring-members are relying upon, as they build the biggest steroid trafficking operation in America. But that's all about to change.

As President Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs rages in the mid 1980s, the ring find themselves in the crosshairs of a team of dogged investigators leading the fight against steroids.

Host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals how a newly formed National Steroid Taskforce put steroids enforcement, once seen as a fringe issue by the authorities, on the map. That's bad news for Dillon and his fellow steroid dealers. But catching them won't be easy -

Featuring William Dillon; Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service, and former special agent in the Criminal Investigations Division of the IRS, Stephen Gelman.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

Law enforcement catch on to the illegal steroid market, midst Reagan's War on Drugs.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

Law enforcement catch on to the illegal steroid market in the midst of President Reagan's War on Drugs. But taking down the steroid ring won't be easy.

One Last Hit

20240826

20240902 (R4)

In the summer of 1986, bodybuilder William Dillon moves to San Diego to leave his steroid dealing days behind him, and live a quiet life of working out and running a gym. Or at least - that's the plan. When Dillon's old life comes calling, with the promise of easy money, it's hard to resist.

Dillon returns to the steroid dealing ring he set up with a crew of gym rats and former athletes. But this time, they're going to do things differently. Keep it professional and stay off the radar of the authorities. But as host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals, for Dillon, keeping control of the steroid empire he's built is going to be easier said than done. And when events begin to spiral, things get violent.

Dillon pins his hopes on one last deal - his exit strategy, so he can cash out and move back home to Illinois. But he'll have to move quickly. Because federal investigators are planning an ambitious undercover operation that could take down the steroid ring once and for all.

Featuring William Dillon, Mike Zumpano, and Stephen Gelman.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Featuring clips from:

Sportsworld - NBC

Interview with Dan Duchaine - Bill Philips' Muscle Media 2000 magazine

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

William Dillon leaves steroid dealing behind- until he's enticed back in by one last job.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

A raid by the feds shakes steroid dealer William Dillon's confidence, and he wants out. But not before he's enticed by one last job.

William Dillon leaves steroid dealing behind - until he's enticed back in by one last job.

French Fries Or Bust

20240902

20240909 (R4)

When bodybuilder William Dillon moved to LA, he dreamed of getting rich quick by selling the promise of big muscles in a bottle. But in the spring of 1987, that dream has come crashing down around him. With the authorities closing in on the steroid dealing ring, and fearing for his life, it's time for Dillon and the steroid dealing ring to face the music.

In the fallout from the investigators' operation, things get ugly. Loyalties are tested, and Dillon's life could be on the line. News of what was then the biggest steroid bust in American history travels across the US and beyond, and host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explores how it lay the groundwork for an anti-steroid movement that's about to transform the way these drugs are policed and regulated.

Featuring William Dillon, Mike Zumpano, and Professor Daniel Rosenke, Professor of Sports Studies and Stirling College-Chengdu University

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Featuring clips from:

Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke

CBS Evening News, 1987 - CBS

Panorama: Dying to Win: Drugs in Sport - BBC1

Senate hearing into steroid use by professional athletes - Senator Joe Biden, US Pool, Associated Press Archive

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

As the authorities close in on the steroid dealing ring, loyalties are tested.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

As the authorities close in on the largest steroid dealing ring in US history, loyalties are tested. It's time for William Dillon and his fellow steroid dealers to face the music.

The Genie Is Out

20240909

20240916 (R4)

In the wake of the steroid ring's downfall, the headline-grabbing prosecutions combine with sports scandals and anxieties about steroids making it into high school locker rooms. Lawmakers decide to take action. The Steroid Control Act of 1990, spearheaded by none other than then-Senator Joe Biden, promises to deal with steroids once and for all.

But the USA already had a taste of what it felt like to get ripped - really ripped. And it's hard to stuff the genie back in the bottle once it weighs 240 pounds of pure muscle.

Today, as millions of Americans take steroids with the aim of bulking up, host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reckons with the enduring legacy of the steroid ring, and an era which transformed our ideas about fitness and beauty.

Featuring former bodybuilders William Dillon, Shawn Ray and Sandra Blackie; Mike Zumpano, co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service.

Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela

Producer: Caroline Thornham

Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed

Editor: Katherine Godfrey

Production Manager: Cheree Houston

Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson

Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier

Executive Producer: Max O'Brien

Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4

Featuring clips from:

Nightline, ABC Special for Monday, Nov 20, 1989 - ABC

Olympic Games History, Seoul 1988 - BBC

Senator Joe Biden remarks on Democratic Anti-Drug Legislation, July 31 1989 - C-Span

House Session, September 22, 1988 - C-Span

Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke

Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO

The downfall of the steroid ring fuels a crackdown from law enforcement and policy makers.

The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America.

After the steroid ring's downfall, an anti-steroid movement gathers momentum. New laws aim to put an end to juicing. But will they be enough to temper the USA's appetite for bulk?

[LISTEN NOW]

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
	2. The Guru	20240729	20240805 (R4)	Historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela lifts the lid on the steroid underground - a world of risk-taking and experimentation that lies beneath the glamorous surface of life in the 1980s LA gym scene. It's all about making it big, at any cost. This is the scene that young bodybuilder William Dillon is initiated into, now that he's settled into the California lifting community. He meets The Steroid Guru aka Dan Duchaine, a maverick anabolic enthusiast with a chemical fascination, who isn't afraid to experiment on himself - or anyone else. Duchaine is a cult figure in this world - his book The Underground Steroid Handbook spread the secrets of juicing to gym rats all over the USA and beyond. From that meeting with Duchaine, Dillon spots a big opportunity that marries his two favourite things - strength and wealth. Featuring William Dillon, Joe Troccoli, Sandra Blackie, Dr Jeff Golini, and former bodybuilder and co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook, Mike Zumpano. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO Welcome to the steroid underground, where the goal is to get big at any cost. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. William Dillon enters the LA gym scene's steroid underground, a world of experimentation and risk-taking, presided over by The Steroid Guru. The goal is to get big - at any cost.
	8: The Genie Is Out	20240909		[LISTEN NOW]
02	1. All That Glitters	20240729		Meet William Dillon. A young amateur bodybuilder from small-town Illinois, who dreams of getting ripped. It's the early 1980s and across the USA a fitness revolution is underway. Exercise has become a national pastime and Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking the jacked-up physique mainstream. Dillon is one of many young men with a new kind of American dream - big muscles, and big money. In 1984, a lucky break transports Dillon to star-studded LA, and the world's most iconic bodybuilding gym, Gold's Gym. There, to the sound of clanking steel weights and a pumping disco beat, a new physical ideal is being forged that's changing the way Americans look in the mirror. But Dillon's about to learn that, beneath the glittering surface of this world, there's a secret. And when he discovers the chemical key to how many of the guys get BIG, it will set him on a path that will change his life - and many others - forever. In the first episode of Extreme: Muscle Men, historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela - presenter of hit podcast Welcome To Your Fantasy (Gimlet) - reveals how the California beach body became an iconic symbol of the 80s fitness boom. When that boom collided with anabolic steroids, it sparked a chemical and criminal revolution that would transform bodies all across America. Featuring William Dillon, former bodybuilders Joe Troccoli, Sandra Blackie and Dr Jeff Golini, and former co-owner of Gold's Gym, Ed Connors. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Nicholas Alexander Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO A young bodybuilder travels to starry 1980s LA in search of the secret to getting ripped. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. In the star-studded gyms of 1980s LA a fitness revolution is underway. A young bodybuilder arrives with a dream to get ripped- and discovers the secret beneath the glossy surface.
03	Get Ripped. Quick	20240805	20240812 (R4)	Prior to the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas Venezuela, the issue of sports doping was largely flying under the American public's radar. But when 19 athletes are found positive for using banned substances at the games, steroids are thrust into focus. And a stigma starts to grow. At the same time, authorities are cracking down on the manufacture of one of the most popular anabolics in the bodybuilding community - dianabol. It's the perfect setting for a black market boom. Enter William Dillon, Dan Duchaine and an entrepreneurial British ex Olympic track champion named David Jenkins who turn the steroid drought into an opportunity. Together, they supercharge their steroid operation. In Episode 3 of Muscle Men, historian, podcaster and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela looks at the evolution of the use of steroids in sports, from its early days in the Soviet Union's sports programme, to its rise to the highest levels of international sport. Featuring former bodybuilder William Dillon; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; and former Olympic weightlifter and weightlifting coach Michael Cohen. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO When steroid supplies are cut off, the ring hatch a plan to meet demand. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. A 1983 steroid scandal rocks American sport, and a steroid crackdown ensues. Conditions are right for a booming black market and the ring hatches a plan.
04	Perfect Square Pecs	20240812	20240819 (R4)	In the lobby of Caesar's Palace Hotel in Las Vegas there's a modern-day shrine to a 2000 year old adonis - complete with perfectly square pecs. Michelangelo's David. 17 feet of white marble beefcake. This is an ideal that bodybuilders can only aspire to. And in the 80s bodybuilding scene, a particular image of perfection emerges and begins to transform what American culture thinks of as a desirable man - one that's bulked up and defined. But in the 1980s, the supersized muscular body isn't approved of for everyone. Host, historian and fitness expert Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explores how strong, muscular women's bodies were policed, while gay men were excluded from mainstream gym culture, instead forging a strong and vital subculture. In this atmosphere, for many, steroids seem to offer the perfect quick fix route to “perfection”. And there's money to be made - the steroid ring built by Dillon, Duchaine and Jenkins is making money hand over fist. But can this Supersized American Dream last forever? Someone is watching them - Featuring former owner of Gold's Gym Ed Connors, former bodybuilders William Dillon, Joe Troccoli and Sandra Blackie, personal trainer and author of Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture Erick Alvarez, and Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO As a desire for muscles grips 1980s America, the steroid ring is ready to meet the demand. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. As a desire for muscles grips 1980s America, the steroid ring is ready to meet the demand. But the changing body image ideals come with new pressures - and contradictions.
05	The A Team	20240819	20240826 (R4)	Nobody gets arrested for dealing anabolic steroids. That's the assumption bodybuilder Dan Duchaine, William Dillon and their fellow ring-members are relying upon, as they build the biggest steroid trafficking operation in America. But that's all about to change. As President Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs rages in the mid 1980s, the ring find themselves in the crosshairs of a team of dogged investigators leading the fight against steroids. Host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals how a newly formed National Steroid Taskforce put steroids enforcement, once seen as a fringe issue by the authorities, on the map. That's bad news for Dillon and his fellow steroid dealers. But catching them won't be easy - Featuring William Dillon; Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service, and former special agent in the Criminal Investigations Division of the IRS, Stephen Gelman. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO Law enforcement catch on to the illegal steroid market, midst Reagan's War on Drugs. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. Law enforcement catch on to the illegal steroid market in the midst of President Reagan's War on Drugs. But taking down the steroid ring won't be easy.
06	One Last Hit	20240826	20240902 (R4)	In the summer of 1986, bodybuilder William Dillon moves to San Diego to leave his steroid dealing days behind him, and live a quiet life of working out and running a gym. Or at least - that's the plan. When Dillon's old life comes calling, with the promise of easy money, it's hard to resist. Dillon returns to the steroid dealing ring he set up with a crew of gym rats and former athletes. But this time, they're going to do things differently. Keep it professional and stay off the radar of the authorities. But as host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reveals, for Dillon, keeping control of the steroid empire he's built is going to be easier said than done. And when events begin to spiral, things get violent. Dillon pins his hopes on one last deal - his exit strategy, so he can cash out and move back home to Illinois. But he'll have to move quickly. Because federal investigators are planning an ambitious undercover operation that could take down the steroid ring once and for all. Featuring William Dillon, Mike Zumpano, and Stephen Gelman. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Sportsworld - NBC Interview with Dan Duchaine - Bill Philips' Muscle Media 2000 magazine Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO William Dillon leaves steroid dealing behind- until he's enticed back in by one last job. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. A raid by the feds shakes steroid dealer William Dillon's confidence, and he wants out. But not before he's enticed by one last job. William Dillon leaves steroid dealing behind - until he's enticed back in by one last job.
07	French Fries Or Bust	20240902	20240909 (R4)	When bodybuilder William Dillon moved to LA, he dreamed of getting rich quick by selling the promise of big muscles in a bottle. But in the spring of 1987, that dream has come crashing down around him. With the authorities closing in on the steroid dealing ring, and fearing for his life, it's time for Dillon and the steroid dealing ring to face the music. In the fallout from the investigators' operation, things get ugly. Loyalties are tested, and Dillon's life could be on the line. News of what was then the biggest steroid bust in American history travels across the US and beyond, and host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela explores how it lay the groundwork for an anti-steroid movement that's about to transform the way these drugs are policed and regulated. Featuring William Dillon, Mike Zumpano, and Professor Daniel Rosenke, Professor of Sports Studies and Stirling College-Chengdu University Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke CBS Evening News, 1987 - CBS Panorama: Dying to Win: Drugs in Sport - BBC1 Senate hearing into steroid use by professional athletes - Senator Joe Biden, US Pool, Associated Press Archive Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO As the authorities close in on the steroid dealing ring, loyalties are tested. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. As the authorities close in on the largest steroid dealing ring in US history, loyalties are tested. It's time for William Dillon and his fellow steroid dealers to face the music.
08	The Genie Is Out	20240909	20240916 (R4)	In the wake of the steroid ring's downfall, the headline-grabbing prosecutions combine with sports scandals and anxieties about steroids making it into high school locker rooms. Lawmakers decide to take action. The Steroid Control Act of 1990, spearheaded by none other than then-Senator Joe Biden, promises to deal with steroids once and for all. But the USA already had a taste of what it felt like to get ripped - really ripped. And it's hard to stuff the genie back in the bottle once it weighs 240 pounds of pure muscle. Today, as millions of Americans take steroids with the aim of bulking up, host Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reckons with the enduring legacy of the steroid ring, and an era which transformed our ideas about fitness and beauty. Featuring former bodybuilders William Dillon, Shawn Ray and Sandra Blackie; Mike Zumpano, co-author of The Underground Steroid Handbook; Professor of Sports Studies at Stirling College-Chengdu University, Daniel Rosenke; Dr Harrison Pope, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; and Daniel Supnick, a former special agent with the US Customs Service. Presenter and Executive Producer: Natalia Mehlman Petrzela Producer: Caroline Thornham Assistant Producer: Mohamed Ahmed Editor: Katherine Godfrey Production Manager: Cheree Houston Sound Design and Mix by Daniel Kempson Original Music by SilverHawk, aka Cyrille Poirier Executive Producer: Max O'Brien Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke A Novel production for BBC Radio 4 Featuring clips from: Nightline, ABC Special for Monday, Nov 20, 1989 - ABC Olympic Games History, Seoul 1988 - BBC Senator Joe Biden remarks on Democratic Anti-Drug Legislation, July 31 1989 - C-Span House Session, September 22, 1988 - C-Span Interview with Philip Halpern - Professor Daniel Rosenke Episodes are released weekly on Mondays. If you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episode, a week early, first on BBC Sounds https://BBC.in/3ybDcHO The downfall of the steroid ring fuels a crackdown from law enforcement and policy makers. The sweat-drenched story of the biggest steroid dealing ring to rip through 80s America. After the steroid ring's downfall, an anti-steroid movement gathers momentum. New laws aim to put an end to juicing. But will they be enough to temper the USA's appetite for bulk? [LISTEN NOW]