Michael Sheen and Channel 4 questioned over ‘originality' of debt documentary

The Guardian

01-04-2025

A team of independent TV producers who spent their life savings developing a documentary about the UK debt crisis, which they had pitched to the actor Michael Sheen, have questioned the originality of a separate project the Welsh star later made with Channel 4 on the same issue.
Lawyers for the film-makers Daniel Edelstyn and Hilary Powell have written to Sheen and the makers of his show Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway, which aired three weeks ago, raising the similarities it bears with their 2021 project Bank Job.
The pair said they were shocked at the transmission of the Channel 4 documentary because they had been in correspondence with Sheen's team between 2017 and 2020 about the actor being involved in their film, which was pitched unsuccessfully to three Channel 4 commissioners.
In Bank Job, the producers used debt experts to identify £1m worth of high-interest debt owed by people who lived in Walthamstow, east London.
Debt portfolios can be bought and settled for a reduced amount if they are unlikely to be paid off in full, so the documentary makers raised £40,000 by selling bank note-style artworks, bought the portfolio and blew up a van to mark the cancellation of the debt.
Sheen's programme focused on reducing debt owed by people in his home town of Port Talbot. Sheen used £100,000 of his own money to buy £1m of debt, which was then written off.
Both programmes were able to buy large amounts of debt for so little because bad loans are often written down to a small percentage of their value on the secondary market.
In their letter, Edelstyn and Powell's lawyers said they 'support Michael Sheen's efforts to support those treated unjustly in the UK', but that there were 'questions as to the originality of the Channel 4 documentary' as 'it focuses on a specific write-off target of £1m as a story hook [and] … grounds the debt write-off in a very specific locality'.
They claim that Bank Job marked the 'first time an action like this had been undertaken in the UK', adding, 'our client invites all of you (Full Fat TV, Channel 4 and Michael Sheen) to explain what you knew of our client's work.'
'It is difficult for our client not to conclude that its ideas have been used without its permission or, at the very least, cursory credit.'
According to Edelstyn and Powell, the genesis of their film was 2014, when they secured partial funding for the project from the Guardian. Aware of Sheen's work in social justice, they made contact with his team in 2017, who replied saying: 'We are working on a big debt project so we are interested in finding out more.'
Emails show Edelstyn responded to say Optimistic, their production company, planned 'to buy up and destroy a lot of predatory debt' and suggested 'getting Michael involved in one way or another. Perhaps to be the voiceover of the film … given that Michael is an actor I'm sure he could really heist it up.'
Subsequent correspondence included a video call with Sheen's personal assistant, who said in a later email he hoped Sheen would visit them; it was 'too early to say' if Sheen's money could support their film but there were ambitions for 'wider cultural impact … We'll keep you in the loop.'
Powell updated Sheen's PA in December 2018, saying: 'We have purchased and cancelled £1m local payday debt', explaining the stunt wrote off more than £1m 'of toxic high-interest debt in our local community' to highlight the debt crisis.
The last correspondence was in June 2020, when Sheen's PA replied to Optimistic saying their email would be forwarded to Sheen.
According to the letter sent on behalf of Optimistic by lawyers Russells: 'Bank Job premiered in May 2021 at Hot Docs international film festival followed by a UK cinema release and nominations for Bifa and Grierson awards. Our client understands that the production company Full Fat TV pitched their film in June 2021 and Channel 4 subsequently commissioned the idea in 2022.'
A spokesperson for Full Fat TV said the company, 'independently developed and pitched Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway to Channel 4. It is a shame that an important message about the unfairness of the credit system in this country, which Michael spent £100,000 of his own money to highlight, risks being lost due to these unfounded claims.'
Channel 4 said it did not know Sheen's team had been in contact with Optimistic. A spokesperson added: 'These two programmes are significantly different and it's ludicrous to suggest that one is a copy of the other.
'Buying and writing off debt is an established practice which has been covered in the media on multiple occasions and the commissioner who greenlit and worked on Michael Sheen's Million Pound Giveaway had no awareness of Bank Job.'
A spokesperson for Sheen said: 'Michael has said many times that the inspiration for him doing something like this came from watching John Oliver buying medical bill debt in the US in 2016. Michael has long campaigned about debt inequality, which is why Full Fat TV came to him with their ambitious proposal.
'They asked Michael to author a campaigning film to drive change in the debt and credit buying industry and to spend £100k of his own money to write off debt of people in his local community.
'The production company had to demonstrate to Michael how that could be done and, once satisfied, Michael took an enormous personal and financial risk – pledging £100k of his own money. Michael was not paid for making the documentary. Michael is regularly pitched documentary ideas but only commits to the ones he really believes in.'
Edelstyn and Powell have now made Bank Job available free.