quickSILVER

We make factual and current affairs documentaries. Our films have won five Emmys, four BAFTAs, four Royal Television Society Awards, three Grierson documentary awards, a duPont award, the Robert F Kennedy Journalism Award for International Television, and many other major international TV awards.

Our latest film (a collaboration with @RumpusMedia) sees comedian and writer Ben Elton take a train journey of misadventure through Britain's railway network. In a film packed with wit and revelation he concludes that thirty years after the government sold off British Rail, privatisation is an experiment that’s gone badly wrong. The Times review said it was, "Incisive, entertaining and correct...mixing the right amount of comedy with grim, depressing reality." Ben Elton: The Great Railway Disaster is available to stream on All4)

Other recent films include: 

In Undercover Ambulance: NHS in Chaos (60'/C4) Ambulance paramedic Daniel Waterhouse secretly filmed as the NHS endured its worst winter crisis on record. The Times  described Waterhouse as "heroic" and said the film was "a terrifying expose of the NHS in crisis... Don’t have a heart attack, folks; don’t have a stroke." In its five star review, The Guardian said Waterhouse filmed "every crumbling layer of a system that is close to total destruction...there is a special, awful power in seeing it directly, through the horrified eyes of a medic at work." The film led to widespread news coverage. An editorial in The Sunday Times  said it "lays bare our health care crisis...These are the pictures that health bosses and ministers would rather you did not see."

Afghanistan - No Country For Women (60'/ITV ) has won prestigious Rose d'Or and Grierson Awards, and has  received a BAFTA nomination. The Grierson judges said: “This film stood out as important, gripping and well-made television with incredible access in difficult and complex circumstances .” For her work on this film, correspondent Ramita Navai has just the Royal Television Society's presenter of the year award. The judges said she “delivered truly compelling television, drawing viewers in with an astonishing depth of knowledge on the subject.” An updated reversion of the film, to mark the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, was aired in the US  as Afghanistan Undercover (60'/GBH Frontline). In the US it's so far won a Gracie award and from the Overseas Press Club of America, the David A Andelman and Pamela Title award.

‍The Anti-Vax Conspiracy (90'/C4) won the Association of International Broadcasters award for Investigative Documentary of the year. This 90' feature  was directed by Colette Camden and produced by Flora Bagenal and was a collaboration with Caravan Media for C4/ARTE. As well as the UK, it's being aired across Europe. The Observer said "This fine documentary ...unpacked a new punch every few minutes".(Stream on All4)

‍Airport Chaos Undercover  (60'/C4)  Jane Moore investigate a summer of delays, queues and cancellations, with the help of an undercover reporter secretly working as a baggage handler in one of the UK’s busiest airports. A film that generated widespread coverage in UK papers.

Vaccine Wars: The Truth About Pfizer (30'/C4): The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has saved countless lives but as the vaccine generates record revenues,  Antony Barnett investigates growing questions over US drug giant Pfizer's behaviour.  Is it unfairly profiteering from the pandemic? Has it always played by the rules? And is it doing enough to help poorer countries? (Stream on All4)

Escape from the Taliban (30'/C4) was described by the Times as 'powerful and often harrowing.' Sue Turton's film follows one family as they try to escape Afghanistan after the takeover, profiles Taliban fighters, and follows a key figure in the new regime, Anis Haqqani, as he returns to Bagram prison where he was held for five years. It's available on All4.

India's Rape Scandal ‍(60'/C4/PBS Frontline) investigates a wave of shocking rape cases in India — some of them drawing in politicians from the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party — and allegations of cover-up. The Financial Times says "When it comes to unspeakable callousness, nightmarish plotting and shock twists, real life is frequently more than a match for fiction… Horrendous but necessary viewing". It's available on All4. Watch in the US on the Frontline/PBS site. The Observer made it one of its top ten 2021 shows.

We reported the Covid pandemic with a trilogy of headline-making documentaries for C4, reported by Antony Barnet. Britain's Coronavirus Catastrophe uncovered the key moments which led to the initial UK lockdown. Lockdown Chaos: How the Government Lost Control  revealed why the UK's £12bn test and trace system couldn't stop a second wave of infection,  going undercover inside one of the UK's largest Covid-19 testing laboratories. Second Wave: Did the Government get it Wrong? investigated why two thirds of the UK’s Covid deaths came after September 2020.    All are available on All4.

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