C4 Dispatches Special: Growing Up Poor: Britain’s Breadline Kids
Observational film that follows three children growing up in poverty across the UK, in traditionally well-off towns and cities. The film is told from the perspective of the children. Articulate and engaging, they tell their own stories and wryly observe the impact poverty and homelessness is having on their families, including the toll it is taking on their parents’ mental health.
Role: Filmed and Produced
BAFTA | Nominated
Broadcast Awards | Nominated
Reviews:
"The film is a seminal moment in television which has made people talk about the crisis of destitution that is hiding in plain sight in the UK, and how dreadful it is." Editorial - The Guardian
“This was a programme designed to give a voice to those suffering their real-life effects, and to bear unsentimentalised witness to them. You could wish that the people in charge were watching but – they know, don’t they? At some level, they must know. And still we have food banks opening in schools and communities clubbing together to make sure children don’t go hungry in the holidays. Because if you have no conscience, knowing makes no difference. ★★★★☆" ” Lucy Mangan - The Guardian
“The documentary feels like a landmark moment in mainstream social affairs reporting, and not just for its unusual online reach ahead of the programme airing. It avoids all the pitfalls of the genre that’s come to be known as “poverty porn”. Anoosh Shakelian - New Statesman
"Growing Up Poor: Britain’s Breadline Kids review — as we shop for trinkets, this was a wake‑up call. ★★★★☆" Chris Benin - The Times
"Growing Up Poor: Britain's Breadline Kids was the most articulate film about poverty I’ve ever seen. Whatever your political beliefs, there’s no getting away from the fact that this brilliant Dispatches is an indictment of Britain in 2019. In a wealthy country like ours, there should be no reason this film ever had to be made. ★★★★★” Kasia Delgado - inews
“Dispatches’ willingness to lay bare the problem of child poverty in the UK is a crucial conversation starter. Because, put simply, it was impossible to watch these children – much more grown-up than they should ever have to be at their young ages – and not feel as though something needs to change." VICE
“This is a humbling, shaming and important watch." Anne Richardson - Daily Record
“It is a documentary to inspire fury. It is full of stories that should inspire fundamental change. Britain’s Breadline Kids are the children that Prime Minister Boris Johnson cannot deny…” Adrian Lobb - The Big Issue
“Why isn't this issue front and centre of the election agenda?" Keith Watson - Metro
"Heartrending doc... youngster Courtney's words will stay with you.” The Sun
“Eight-year-old raids piggy bank to pay mum’s electric bill in heartbreaking Dispatches documentary.” Isobel Lewis - Metro
“Our politicians need to see this heartbreaking documentary" Anita Singh - Telegraph
“This heartbreaking film allows three young people to talk about their precarious situations.” Sunday Times
“Anyone who's ever said people on benefits should get off their backsides and get a job needs to watch this and take a long, hard look at themselves.” Lara Kilner - The Sunday Mirror
“This one-off documentary from the Bafta-winning director Jezza Neumann - just in time for the festive season - should shame us all.” The Times
“A heart-rending Dispatches film claims that the Government's benefits "simplification" is just one aggravating factor affecting the staggering four million British children growing up in need.” i Newspaper.
“Austerity's shocking impacts exposed.” Ammar Kalia - The Guardian
“This sobering film looks at a handful of children like Courtney, including 15-year-old Danielle, who struggles to revise for her GCSEs in the family bedsit, and nine-year-old Rose, whose mum is still paying for the funeral of her sister.” Alison Graham - Radio Times