Documentaries

The Freeway Killer: Lost Murder Tapes

The Freeway Killer:
Lost Murder Tapes

Powerful… Stunning… Beautifully done
Jeanie Vink – Vice President, Discovery

Feature length documentary telling the story of William Bonin, with a combination of interviews, archive and specially shot visuals: 1970s America is left reeling from a serial killer who dumps the bodies of young boys along California’s freeways. A Los Angeles street reporter faces the dilemma of a lifetime. Four decades later, these lost confession tapes help psychologists uncover the truth.

In the making of this film I was able to explore the extreme trauma in this serial killer’s backstory in a way I feel true crime docs often neglect. I interviewed psychologists who’d known him, to discuss how his transition from abuse victim to perpetrator was linked. I also looked at the cultural and political backdrop of 1970s America, to show how the wider society played a roll in his crimes; from undiagnosed PTSD in war veterans to the horrific homosexual conversion therapy being practiced in state psychiatric hospitals. I wanted to show how multiple elements contributed to this rippling tragedy, for both the killer and the many victims of his crimes.

Arrow International Media
Discovery ID & Amazon Prime

America’s Hidden Stories: The Osage Murders

Winner: BEST DIRECTOR – Dunedin International Film Festival, Florida

This is such a powerful and dramatic story that plays out like a murder mystery, but with a much greater and more impactful reveal” – Tim Evans – Commissioning Editor, Smithsonian

To coincide with the release of Martin Scorsese’s movie “Killers of the Flower Moon”, this film sheds new light on the ‘Reign of Terror’ on the Indigenous American Osage tribe in the 1920s, and its enduring legacy.

Authored by an on screen Osage tribal member returning to his community to explore the extraordinary story of oil, wealth, greed, mass murder and conspiracy, he also uncovers the many suspicious deaths that were never investigated, including one in his own family.

I shot this film myself on a single camera with prime lenses for a raw, intimate feel, and to keep our crew as unobtrusive as possible among the tribe. I also wanted to create a visual contrast between the deeply personal, sensitive moments of discovery, with the wide, cinematic expanses of the Osage reservation.

Arrow International Media
Smithsonian & Paramount+

999: Critical Condition

An astounding programme” – The Times

Broadcast Award nominated series following doctors, close-up and personal as they attempt to save lives, moment by moment.

Using “thought track” interviews, no voice-over and following fast paced action on prime lenses for a distinctive, cinematic look and feel.

“Incredible…astonishing” – The Mirror

“The most nerve shreddingly hardcore hospital doc ever” – The Guardian

“There are times when this stunning fly-on-the-wall documentary makes 24 Hours in A&E look like Carry on Doctor” – Radio Times.

Brinkworth TV
Channel 5

Warship: Life at Sea – Series 2

Obs doc series on board HMS Duncan. The inside story of life at sea in the Royal Navy, including an unexpected redeployment to the Gulf to escort oil tankers threatened by Iran. The shoot involved filming in body armour in hostile, high threat areas populated by armed Iranian Guards in the Gulf and Houthi rebels off the coast of Yemen.

Artlab Films
Channel 5

Annie: Out of the Ashes

The daughter of a white Irish traveller mother and a black British father, from birth Annie was shunned by her family. Her mother asked for Annie to be adopted – unwilling to raise a mixed race girl in a strict traveller community.

Then, at the age of just 4 weeks, Annie was found in a burning caravan. She’s only alive today because somebody ran in to save her, took her to hospital and disappeared. She has never met this Good Samaritan or the family that abandoned her. In this film, Annie embarks on an extraordinary journey to try to uncover her past.

October Films
BBC3, BBC1, Lifestyle

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Our Dancing Town: Huddersfield

Winner: RTS Award for Best Documentary Series.

Choreographer Steve Elias wants to bring the multicultural town of Huddersfield together through a 350 strong performance. His journey from arrival to performance day, woven through with the moving personal stories, builds a social and historical portrait of this former mill town.

Twenty Twenty
BBC2

Alex Jones: Fertility & Me

One Show presenter Alex Jones explores the latest medical science of fertility. Newly wed at 38 and with a mother who had the menopause at 44, what are her chances? She finds out the truth and debunks the quackery: how old is too old?

BBC Scotland
BBC1

Women in Prison

The real “Orange Is The New Black”, this genre busting three part series fuses obs doc with drama. Day-to-day life inside a maximum security women’s prison, cross-cut with dramatisation of their back stories. This involved shooting for five months inside the prison following highly sensitive cases including those of murderers.

Raw TV
Discovery ID

Pw: rawtvwip

Football’s Suicide Secret

Nominated for “Best Documentary” at The Mind Media Awards.

One-off film for BBC3 following footballer and PFA Chairman Clarke Carlisle as he investigates the taboo subject of mental illness and suicide attempts in football. He talks to a number high profile players and managers, as well as facing his own suicidal demons head on. This film led to historic changes in the way the FA provides for the mental health of their players across all leagues.

Victory TV
BBC3 & BBC1

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Stacey Solomon: Depression, Teen Mums & Me

Stacey Solomon

Nominated for “Best Documentary” at The Mind Media Awards.

One-off film for BBC3 fronted by Stacey Solomon. She investigates the huge but hidden problem of teenage postnatal depression – something she went through in silence with her first child. She meets mums, tries out treatments and goes on a very personal, therapeutic journey of her own.

Exclusive TV
BBC3 & BBC1

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DRUGGED: Heroin & Crack

Drugged - High on Heroin

Immersing myself in the lives of one crack addict in Florida and one heroin addict in Arizona, I filmed every intimate detail of their lives including getting high, withdrawing, hustling and the tragic effects all this had on their families. These shocking, observational films also offered an insight into the elements in their back-stories that might have led them down such paths. In exchange for letting me into their lives, Pioneer TV offered each addict the chance of a full medical and 90 days in rehab.

October Films
National Geographic

Ria: Diary of a Teen Transsexual

In this groundbreaking one-off film for Channel 4, I follow the extraordinary life of Ria, a teenage, male-to-female transsexual living on one of the poorest council estates in Yorkshire. 17 year old Ria has been waiting for a sex change on the NHS since she was 15.

During the filming, Ria’s life spirals out of control in a direction that nobody had expected, before finally being brought back on track.

Popkorn TV
Channel 4

Britain’s Hidden Homeless

When she was 19, Mercury Prize-winning rap artist Speech Debelle walked out of her family home and became homeless for three years. The lyrics from her first album were penned while living in relative poverty in a London hostel.

In this moving documentary for BBC3 Current Affairs, she looks at how homelessness is affecting more and more young people in Britain, and explores its links with the over inflated housing market.

BBC Current Affairs
BBC3 & BBC1

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Bodyshock: Dad’s Having A Baby

Single obs doc for Channel 4 about Scott Moore who became known worldwide as the pregnant man when he gave birth to his first biological son in 2010.

This film follows him and his husband Tom Moore along with their two adopted sons over Thanksgiving, as they face the trials of living in bible belt America. 

Firecracker Films
Channel 4

Prom Crazy – Frocks & Ferraris

Single obs doc for ITV1 lifting the lid on the rise of the Hollywood style prom in the UK. Following teenagers, parents, and the businesses raking in the profits, this film looks at the part each one plays in this new, British coming-of-age ceremony.

Plimsoll Productions
ITV1

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Jeff Brazier: Me & My Brother

Jeff had as much to learn about life as Spencer, a point gently brought out by filmmaker Anna Keel, whose sympathetic questioning of Spencer opened Jeff’s ears to what it really means to listen” – The Metro

In this acclaimed, one-off obs doc for BBC3, TV presenter Jeff Brazier explores his relationship with his brother Spencer, who has cerebral palsy and no speech.

I spent a month with the Braziers over the Summer of 2010. Since Spencer communicates using a mixture of sign language and his own descriptive gestures, I learned how to communicate with him as the filming progressed.

With Jeff it was a different challenge entirely: trying to chip away the media trained performances and access the raw emotion.

Firecracker Films
BBC3

Glamour Models, Mum & Me

“An inexplicably touching documentary”The Observer

In this intimate, one-off documentary, I follow “Kiss-and-Tell Queen” and plastic surgery addict Alicia Douvall and her diligent 14 year old daughter Georgia on a life changing journey. Alicia wants Georgia to get a boob job and become a topless model by the age of 16. Georgia has other ideas, including University and a “proper job”.

I started filming this mother and daughter duo independently, using a borrowed camera, before winning the commission through Firecracker Films.

One of the highest rating docs on BBC3, went on to sell in almost every territory across the world and has been widely blogged about across the internet.

Firecracker Films
BBC3

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Sara Cox on Friendship

Radio and television presenter, Sara Cox looks at how social media has changed friendship in the 21st century. Sara discovers what it’s like to be part of the Facebook generation by signing up to Facebook for the very first time.

She believes that friendships conducted via social media are less meaningful than those conducted in the real world, and fears that technology may rob her children of the quality of friendships that she enjoys with her own friends. But are her concerns justified?

This film formed part of the series “ON” which launched the new W channel.

Cactus TV
W Channel

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Drug Lords

A companion series to the smash hit drama “Narcos”, this high rating docu-series on Netflix shines a light on some of the most notorious drug kingpins in history and the law-enforcement officials who have sworn to bring them down.

The show profiles cartel leaders with global reach, including infamous Pablo Escobar and his nearly 20-year stranglehold on the world’s cocaine market.

ITN Productions
Netflix