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

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

Telegraph10-03-2025

'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?

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Wynne Evans issues update and admits he's 'a bit smug'
Wynne Evans issues update and admits he's 'a bit smug'

Wales Online

time8 minutes ago

  • Wales Online

Wynne Evans issues update and admits he's 'a bit smug'

Wynne Evans issues update and admits he's 'a bit smug' The Welsh TV and radio star made the announcement on Instagram weeks after confirming he would not be returning to his BBC show Wynne Evans has announced he is engaged in a post to fans on his Instagram (Image: Western Mail ) Wynne Evans has announced he is engaged in a post to fans on his Instagram. The Strictly contestant and opera singer, 53, proposed to his girlfriend Liz Brookes last weekend during a romantic getaway to Marrakesh in Morocco. Announcing the news to his 92,400 followers on Instagram, Evans joked his partner had "excellent taste in men" and admitted he was feeling "a tiny bit smug" after popping the question. He said: "Big news… I got engaged! ‌ "This weekend in Morocco, somewhere between the couscous, the camels, and me limping around the souks like a man with no spatial awareness, I proposed to Liz — and she said yes! (No take-backs, I've checked.) ‌ "She's clever, she's kind, she's got excellent taste in men. Absolutely no idea how I pulled that off, but here we are. "Feeling very lucky, very happy, and just a tiny bit smug." Content cannot be displayed without consent Article continues below It comes following a turbulent few months for Evans after it was confirmed he had been axed from his popular BBC radio show months after he was caught making a controversial joke during his time preparing for the Strictly tour in January. The opera singer confirmed the BBC would not be renewing his contract, saying at the time: "It breaks my heart to say the BBC has decided not to renew my contract so I won't be returning to my radio show. I'm gutted." Evans maintains that his remark was a nickname for his Strictly co-star Jamie Borthwick, and not a derogatory or sexual term used towards professional dancer Janette Manrara. ‌ Liz Brookes, Evans' now-fiancée, is a business owner from Cardiff. Her business is Grapevine Event Management which organises corporate events across Wales. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter The pair are believed to have met each other in early 2024. She often sat in the audience for the Strictly Come Dancing live shows last year and shared a sweet snap with him after one show, saying she was "proud." ‌ Evans was inundated with messages congratulating him and his partner after the announcement. One fan said: "Wow wow wow this is amazing news! llongyfarchiadau." Another added: "Congratulations, some happy news after a tough start to the year." Article continues below

'I was as famous as Zoe Ball and Sara Cox but then I was cut out of fame for no reason'
'I was as famous as Zoe Ball and Sara Cox but then I was cut out of fame for no reason'

Daily Record

timean hour ago

  • Daily Record

'I was as famous as Zoe Ball and Sara Cox but then I was cut out of fame for no reason'

Former Top of Pops host and huge 90s presenter Sarah Cawood has a very different life 20 years on after 'TV gave up on here' One of the biggest TV hosts of the 90' s Sarah Cawood was one of the key Top of The Pops presenters as she rose to fame but 20 years after her big break her life looks very different. The former presenter got her first big break in the '90s working on kids TV for Nickelodeon and two years later she landed herself a job presenting Channel 4's The Girlie Show alongside Sara Cox. The show ran for two series and followed a magazine format, floating from features to interviews to live music and stunts. ‌ The show took the later 'post-pub' slot of 11pm on a Friday and was branded as being more edgy than its rivals and tried to cash in on the 'ladette' that swept through the decade. She then came aboard the revamped Live and Kicking programme for its final two years on the air. ‌ It was then she landed her biggest role on Top of The Pops. After her spell finished she would go on to present various mini-series and one offs including co-commentating the Eurovision semi-finals in 2007, 2009 and 2010. But it was around that time that many of the big presenting gigs dried up with Cawood joining the team for Heart East Anglia's breakfast show for a year in 2014 before leaving to focus on looking after her children. Earlier this year the star shared her health battle on social media after raising concerns about her breast cancer returning. She was initially diagnosed in 2022, received successful treatment and was given the all-clear. But posting to her fans she revealed the nerves of it coming back never left. In a candid Instagram post, she wrote: "This is the reality of anyone who has had any kind of cancer. I never struggled with health anxiety before but post-breast cancer it's all-consuming and it wears me out a bit tbh. ‌ "I have been feeling tired since the new year began and although it's probably just life-ing, there's always a niggling worry that it's back. "All I can do is carry on doing healthy things, moving my body, practising mindfulness and living each day with gratitude that I got to breathe again this morning. ‌ "So on we go! Batting away those intrusive thoughts and getting on with it. To anyone either going through a cancer diagnosis or anyone who has recovered from cancer and feels like this: I've got you, and my inbox is always open. "And remember, anything that doesn't feel right: get it checked out. Early detection is key." In her Instagram, she also shared with fans how she's made peace with being "unsuccessful" on TV. In another post, she added: "Do I miss telly? I miss the money! And yes, sometimes I wonder what went wrong, but I'm here now so I'm going to make the most of it, however, that looks

Protein review – gym-obsessed serial killer bites off more than he can chew
Protein review – gym-obsessed serial killer bites off more than he can chew

The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

Protein review – gym-obsessed serial killer bites off more than he can chew

'It's basic detective work,' says veteran smalltown cop Stanton (Charles Dale), trying to justify pressurising a lead about her love life. 'Very fucking basic,' says Patch (Andrea Hall), a London colleague who has come to the sticks because of a possible connection with a grisly serial killer. That's the narky style of this ramshackle but moreish Welsh thriller, which takes place in the coke-sniffing milieu of endemic poverty and petty criminality, under ubiquitous sallow street lighting, in which everyone's looking for an out. Patch is right about the serial killer: drifter Sion (Craig Russell) has pitched up in town and blags a cleaning job at a local gym. A traumatised ex-squaddie with an inferiority complex, he takes offence at the group of hoodlums lording it over the machines. So he hammers in the skull of bouncer Dwayne (Kai Owen) and stores some choice morsels in a freezer; an extra protein source for his iron-pumping. But Sion is oblivious to Dwayne having recently cut in on a drug deal with rival Albanian gangsters – so his seemingly brutal murder threatens to kick off a turf war. The title suggests some kind of exposé or The Substance-style satire on modern gym-culture toxicity. And with the meatshake-quaffing Sion, and an ambient whiff of stale testosterone among most of the cast, it is to some extent. But the protagonist – for whom we're ladled out a facile backstory but who is also off the screen much of the time – is too marooned within the film to fully bring that aspect home. More nutritious are the ratty comic exchanges at which debut director Tony Burke excels, like a cokehead Mike Leigh. From five guys arguing about guns in a Yaris, to Stanton and Patch expeditiously shaking down suspects, the repartee not only effectively conveys the diminished expectations in this seedy bearpit, but also squeezes out unexpected vulnerability for the actors to capitalise on. The standouts are Dale, as the ironclad stalwart hiding tragedy, Hall with her personable cynicism, and Steve Meo as the would-be playas' whipping boy, spiralling out into uproarious panic. Too diffuse and unfocused it may be, but Protein has a hotline into great British bathos. Protein is released in UK cinemas from 13 June, and available on digital platforms from 14 July.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store