HER MAJESTY'S PLEASURE

This project was that rare thing, a commercial assignment that aligns with ones personal work.

The brief was to produce publicity images to promote an ITV documentary called Inside Prison: Britain behind bars. I spent 7 days on the road, visiting 6 prisons all across the UK, from Isle of Portland in the South to County Durham in the North. I had a fixer from the production company, Chalkboard TV, with me who knew the key people featured in the documentary and I couldn’t have done this without Megan’s help.

Chalkboard had enjoyed unrivalled access when filming and the same was true for me. As an outsider working in this kind of environment there are always ethical and moral concerns but I feel that I had really good support from the production company. Megan handled the consent forms and we tried to be as open and honest as possible about what we were doing and how these images could be used.

ITV’s factual entertainment commissioning editor, Satmohan Panesar, said this about the documentary: “With the unrivalled scale of the access, we meet people on both sides of the bars with unbelievable stories that will simultaneously fascinate and frustrate. The extremes of life on the inside, from unexpected acts of compassion to seemingly mundane scenarios that can spark suddenly into violence, will be laid bare through the eyes of those working for the prison service and those detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure.”