Addicted to Pleasure

Succession star Brian Cox explores the origin stories of four of the most addictive substances that still have the world hooked today - sugar, opium, tobacco and whisky. Kicking off with sugar, he reveals how the exploitation of our sweet tooth gave birth to the modern consumer economy and made Britain a major world player. But once that sweet taste wore off, there was a bitter price to pay.

It’s the most devastating addiction in the world, fuelling vast criminal networks, with millions of victims in its thrall… that’s quite a legacy for a little flower. Brian Cox travels to China to discover how the seeds of modern-day opium addiction were planted during the height of the British Empire, leading to war, smuggling, heists, but also significant medical breakthroughs.

It’s a dirty habit, they say. So how did the world get hooked on smoking? And how is it possible that without it, the British Empire might never have existed? Actor Brian Cox visits Virginia to discover how a whole industry has flourished around preventing us from kicking our addiction and makes the surprising discovery that it was the Nazis who first found a link between smoking and lung cancer.

It’s sparked uprisings, been a form of currency (during the American revolution), and is the national drink of Scottish actor Brian Cox. It’s also the weapon of war of Cox’s alter-ego, Succession’s Logan Roy, who uses it to unearth drunken truths from his foes with a battle cry of “DRINK!” More than just a tipple, Cox fascinates in his quest to discover the secrets at the bottom of the glass.