Manners McDade’s Simon Russell scores BBC Two’s The Debt Saviours
Directed and produced by Philip Wood, ‘The Debt Saviours’ is a BBC documentary exploring the help available for people in poverty, as offered by the charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP), led by its evangelical founder John Kirkby.
There are currently more than four million people across Britain who are bearing debts that are unsustainable and charities are increasingly being relied upon for offering financial advice and help.
The documentary follows Kirkby and some of CAP’s debt coaches around the country as they provide help and guidance.
Simon Russell is a London-based award-winning composer, known for his work using found sounds, sampling and electronics. In 2009, Simon scored Havana Marking’s documentary feature, Afghan Star that went on to claim two Sundance awards, The Grierson Award 2009, and a Prix Italia. In the same year, Simon scored From St Peter’s To St Paul’s, that won the RTS Award for Best Arts Documentary. Most recently, Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer won a Sundance Award and the Best Documentary prize at the British Independent Film Awards in 2013.
Other notable documentary works include We Are Many (directed Amir Amirani), about the demonstrations against the Iraq war in 2003, (a score for which Simon collaborated with Alex Baranowski), Smash & Grab (directed by Havana Marking), an innovative documentary about the notorious diamond thieves, the Pink Panthers; Vote Afghanistan! (directed Martin Herring & Havana Marking), about the country’s first free elections in 2009; 2 series fronted by Waldemar Januzczak: The Dark Ages – An Age Of Light, a 4-part series looking at art and architecture in the Middle Ages, and the 4-part Renaissance Unchained, both for BBC4, and 52 episodes of the animated show Canimals, for Aardman.
Most recently he was worked on projects such as James Bluemel's remarkable BBC documentary series Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (Which was awarded two BAFTA's, RTS Best Documentary Series 2017 & Prix Italia 2016) and Exodus: Our Journey Continues. Simon also worked on ITV’s three-part series; Joanna Lumley’s India, in 2017.
More information about the programme here.
The Debt Saviours airs tonight, on BBC Two at 9pm.
