In October 2008, weeks after the catastrophic collapse of Lehman Brothers, the man whose ideas influenced the world admitted he might have been 'partially' wrong. At the heart of the story is Alan Greenspan, who for 20 years was one of the most powerful people in the world.

The programme explains how we changed our attitude to risk, learnt to live with debt and, above all, how governments stepped back from regulating any of it. With testimony from many of the key decision makers who shaped our lives over the last two decades, including Gordon Brown, governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King, and an exclusive interview with former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan, it charts how the financial bubble grew and grew. The series on the global crash examines the boom years before the bust. One year on, the programme explains why the collapse of one bank had such disastrous consequences for the world's economy. Gordon Brown, Tim Geithner and Alistair Darling reveal the dilemmas they faced and the decisions they took. A cast of contributors including national leaders, finance ministers and CEOs describe the tense negotiations in New York and London as the investment institution headed towards bankruptcy.

In September 2008, the collapse of Lehman Brothers tipped the world into recession.