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4 hours ago
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In Michael Sheen’s Secret Million Pound Giveaway, the Welsh actor Michael Sheen – that is how he says people describe him, so I am merely obliging – is putting his own money on the line to expose the world of high-interest debt and credit. Due to the murky issue of reselling debt, Sheen discovers that it may be possible for him to buy £1m’s worth of debt for a relatively paltry £100,000. Over two years, this documentary shows him working towards buying up the debt, which he plans to write off immediately, pulling off what he calls a “heist”.
But this heist is only a framework; Sheen’s Robin Hood act, while impressive, is more of a carrier for the message. The real point of the documentary is to simplify the story of debt, credit and interest rates and to reveal the extent of the problem, particularly in areas with high levels of deprivation.
Sheen focuses on his home town, Port Talbot, and meets ordinary working people who are struggling to get by. Ceri, the manager of a community centre and boxing gym, explains concisely how debt can spiral. She describes getting through her savings, turning to food banks and credit cards, then being stuck with high-interest repayments, thus exacerbating the problem.
This documentary compares the breathtaking profits made by banks and other financial institutions with the suffering on which some of that profit is built. Sheen is indignant at the unfairness of the system. He reads out a slew of statistics, including that, in October 2024, 2.2 million low-income families in the UK had high-interest credit loans. These arrangements have an enormous impact on the households that can least afford it. Sheen digs into loan sharks and unofficial lenders, uncovering stories of violence and intimidation, of missed payments leading to interest doubling and doubling again. He hears about one man who borrowed £500 and ended up repaying £5,500.
The persistent and repeated refrain is that the people who have the least are being forced to pay the most, often just to get by. So when it comes to Sheen’s idea for a heist – “Ocean’s … one,” as he calls it – you can’t help but root for him. With the assistance of his man on the inside, Roland, he secretly sets up a debt‑collecting company and applies for the necessary licence and paperwork. The secrecy is necessary, because debt collectors are “reluctant to have that corner illuminated”. Sheen explains that lenders sell on debts for a lower cost if they no longer consider them to be profitable. Of course, the borrower still has to pay off their original commitment.
The process takes Sheen about two years. While he waits for official approval, he tries to get banks and financial bodies to explain why they refuse to provide more affordable loans, given the obscene profits they make. Not one will send a representative to speak to him, perhaps sensibly, given that it’s hard to justify the unjustifiable.
The title is far more feelgood than the documentary itself. It will be eye-opening for viewers oblivious to the problem; viewers, perhaps, who are more cosseted by their class, wealth or environment. For others, it is confirmation that the financial system is rigged and that the poor continue to be exploited at every level. But to see that laid out with such clarity is useful and important.
In fact, it’s a credit (so to speak) to Sheen that this remains engaging and infuriating for the full hour, because finance is not the most visually arresting of topics. People tend to be shy about money and debt is a sensitive topic. We see spreadsheets with their contents blurred out; the big climax – the debt being written off – is illustrated by a piece of paper being ripped up. For privacy reasons, we don’t get to see whose debt is wiped out, or how this will affect their lives.
But that isn’t really the point. Sheen’s documentary –for which he wasn’t paid and in which he uses his own money to pay others’ debt – provides a decent, moving and clear explanation of the injustice. It also shows that action is powerful, as is his pure belief that the system can be changed. We may not all have £100,000 to throw at it, but Sheen’s dogged determination to do something “one brick at a time” should be an inspiration to all.
