[2] In 1996, Sweeney was sued for criminal defamation in France by the Barclay brothers, owners of The Daily Telegraph, but the claimants lost their case.

[citation needed] The claimants justified their legal claim in the French courts on the basis that the broadcast could also be heard in a small coastal part of northern France, although this was widely considered forum shopping.

[3] Sweeney appeared on the BBC arts programme, The Late Show when he filmed behind the scenes footage of the campaign of the 1992 United Kingdom general election.

Shortly before his departure, the Press Gazette reported that "[Sweeney] was secretly filmed speaking with a source over drinks who turned out to be an ally of [Tommy] Robinson".

By then Mugabe had banned BBC reporters from the country, forcing Sweeney to hide in a car boot to travel to a meeting with the leader of the opposition.

[10][non-primary source needed] Sweeney spent four years investigating the cases of Sally Clark, Angela Cannings and Donna Anthony, three women who had been falsely imprisoned for killing their children.

[12] Sweeney wrote that he lost his temper due to days of harassment by Davis and the Church, and a strong personal reaction to the psychiatry exhibition.

Sweeney went into a similar outburst in January 2009 when being interviewed on Radio 4 about the Tom Cruise film Valkyrie—clearly referring to the episode two years previously, as a part of a rehearsed joke.

[18][non-primary source needed] A follow-up Panorama programme also hosted by Sweeney titled "The Secrets of Scientology" was aired on 28 September 2010.

The BBC was accused of putting students at risk and of compromising the future ability of the university to pursue studies in other countries with strict regimes.

[26] Sweeney was the presenter of a controversial Panorama about the ex News of the World undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood called "Fake Sheikh: Exposed".

The Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, wrote to the BBC asking them not to show it in case it prejudiced any future trial, and Mahmood unsuccessfully tried to get an injunction to stop Panorama broadcasting recent video of him with no disguise.

Sweeney also made derogatory remarks about the BBC, ordered a large amount of alcoholic drinks which he claimed were being paid for with his expenses,[36] and called former IRA leader Martin McGuinness "one of [his] political heroes".

[46][47] In 2023, he released the feature documentary The Eastern Front: Terror & Torture in Ukraine, directed by filmmaker Caolan Robertson with Byline TV.

[citation needed] On 24 May 2024, Sweeney was announced as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Sutton Coldfield in the 2024 United Kingdom general election.

These include the best-selling novel set in the war in Burma, Elephant Moon (2016), and a co-authored investigation into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Murder On The Malta Express (2019).