Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway may be a gimmick – but it's a very generous one

Telegraph

10-03-2025

'My name is Michael Sheen. I am Welsh. People describe me as ' Welsh actor Michael Sheen ',' the actor says by way of introduction to Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway (Channel 4). Michael, is it because you're always going on about being Welsh?
His documentary has a striking premise. Sheen will spend £100,000 of his own money on buying £1 million worth of debt – this is the way that the debt-buying business works – and write it off. Because he is Michael Sheen, the recipients are all Welsh, and specifically people who live in the south Wales corridor including his family's home town of Port Talbot.
This involves Sheen setting up a debt collection business and applying to the Financial Conduct Authority for a licence. Or rather, someone does this on Sheen's behalf, because mention of his name might alert banks to the stunt and then nobody would sell him the debt. For dramatic purposes, he refers to all of this as a 'heist' and sets up an HQ 'like they have in the movies' in an abandoned warehouse. He sits there with his laptop at a desk in a cavernous, empty space. 'This is absolutely ridiculous,' he admits, but it injects some humour into proceedings.
And in one sense Sheen is aware that this is all a tremendous gimmick, because what he's doing here is drawing attention to the unfairness of people on the lowest incomes being charged the highest interest. Or being denied credit and having to resort to loan sharks (he meets an anonymous loan shark in the pub, and asks him if he ever resorts to violence. 'I'm not going to beat you up for a grand,' is the reply, which isn't strictly a 'no'). He is keen to stress that these aren't feckless layabouts but people like Ceri, a single mother who works full-time as manager of a gym and whose debt has spiralled to £12,000.
In another sense, the £100,000 giveaway is a serious undertaking because Sheen says this really is his own money. The process of making the programme took much longer than he expected – 18 months – and by the time he got around to actually spending the cash, 'ironically, I genuinely am not sure if I can afford to do this'. But he made the commitment and he honoured it, and whatever you think of Michael Sheen – he does seem to rub some people up the wrong way – this is a very generous thing to do.
Are the banks going to change their ways because Michael Sheen has made this Channel 4 show? Of course not. But he is willing to put his money where his mouth is, and wouldn't it be nice if other celebrities did the same?