Ian Watts
Photography
TV
Channel 4 -The Talk
I was the cameraman on the popular Channel 4 programme The Talk. It's an hour-long thought-provoking documentary that reveals a part of British life that is little known about outside the black community. 'The Talk’ in the black community is to prepare children for the reality of living in a society where their skin colour marks them out for a lifetime of challenges white people may not understand.
Interviewees included Maro Itoje, Lenny James, Gillian Joseph, Tinie Tempah, Gary Younge, Emeli Sande, Marvin and Rochelle Humes, Ashley and Jordan Banjo, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Ade Adepitan. They all shared memories of the talk(s) they’ve given or received, contextualised by family archive or an event that triggered the talk such as a prominent death in police custody.
Watch the full episode here: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-talk
Above and below are some of my photos from the programme.
Broadcast Awards 2021 nominated for
Best Documentary Programme
Best Lockdown Programme, News, Documentaries and Factual
© Ian Watts 2024
BBC TV - My Name Is Leon
I supplied a photo of the poet Linton Kwesi Johnson for the BBC feature film My Name Is Leon. Set in 1980s Birmingham, the feature film tells the uplifting and poignant tale of nine-year-old Leon, a mixed-race boy separated from his blue-eyed baby brother as he was taken into care, who is on a quest to reunite his family.
BBC TV - Studio 17
I supplied UK TV production company Widestream Films a selection of my photographs of reggae artists for their feature length BBC TV documentary film on the origins of Jamaican recorded music, Studio 17 - The Lost Archives, directed by Mark James. The programme was shown on BBC TV.
Jamaican record producer, Clive Chin, left, with musician Dave Stewart during the making of Studio 17 - The Lost Archives.
Photo Mark James