Chris Atkins (journalist)

Chris Atkins
Born Christopher Walsh Atkins
1976
Nationality British
Education Bromsgrove School
Occupation Documentary film maker
Notable work

Chris Atkins (born Christopher Walsh Atkins[1] in 1976[2]) is a British journalist and documentary film maker. He has made several fiction feature films, feature length documentaries and television documentaries. His work is noted for causing controversy and has often faced legal action as a result of his films. He gave evidence to the Leveson Inquiry into the ethics of the British press.[1][3]

Atkins was educated at Bromsgrove School from 1986–1994.[4] His early career involved making low-budget dramas with director Richard Jobson,[5] including Jobson's debut feature film, 16 Years of Alcohol, which was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards in 2003, winning two. He also produced The Purifiers with Jobson, a martial arts film set in the future, which was acquired by Working Title and released in the USA by Newline Cinema. in 2005 he produced Jobson's A Woman In Winter, starring Jamie Sivves, Julie Gayet and Brian Cox. It was nomainted for two Scottish BAFTAs, including best film.

in 2007 he directed his first feature documentary Taking Liberties (2007)[6] which strongly criticised the Blair government for undermining civil liberties since the war on terror. While making Taking Liberties, Atkins was held under anti-terror laws when he tried to speak with the Home Secretary John Reid at the 2006 Labour Party conference.[5] The film was released in over 50 British cinemas shortly before Blair stepped down in 2007 to very strong reviews. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw gave the film 4 stars, saying "there's something exhilarating about this thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile docu-blast against Tony Blair's insidious diminution of native British liberties." The film was BAFTA nominated for the "Carl Foreman award for special achievement by a British director, writer or producer in their first feature film" in the 2008 British Academy Film Awards.[7]

In 2009 Atkins directed his second feature documentary, Starsuckers (2009).,[8] which heavily criticised the media for the negative effects of celebrity culture. The film gained wide notoriety for selling fake celebrity stories to several British tabloid newspapers, and for secretly filming journalists from sunday tabloids who were attempting to buy celebrity medical records. The Guardian newspaper published two front page stories about Starsuckers in October 2009, and the News Of The World attempted to sue the film for secretly filming one of their journalists. Atkins also secretly filmed the celebrity publicist Max Clifford boasting about how he kept embarrassing stories about his clients out of the media, and Clifford also tried to legally block the film's release. The film also criticised Bob Geldof over the negative consequences of both Live Aid and Live 8 charitiy concerts, leading Geldof to write Atkins a scathing 6,000 word letter attacking the film days before it was screened on Channel 4 in 2010. Thirty minutes of footage from Starsuckers were shown as part of Atkins' evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.[3] His evidence was quoted extensively in Leveson's final report.

Atkins went on to make TV documentaries for the Channel 4 television series Dispatches,.[9] In 2012 he spent a year undercover investigating the illegal trade in confidential data,[10] in which Atkins bought private information on volunteers from unwitting private detectives to illustrate the ease with which data is bought and sold on the black market. The film culminated in Atkins being unmasked by two private detectives who chased him down a street. He also produced and directed the Dispatches special, Celebs, Brands and Fake Fans, which attempted to show how social media popularity can be bought and sold. The film generated considerable controversy when it was revealed that Atkins had secretly filmed several members of the ITV soap Coronation Street at a gifting suite, where Atkins had handed out fake products in return for glowing endorsement tweets from several Coronation Street stars, including Brooke Vincent. The investigation was run on the front of The Sun and The Mirror newspaper, and ITV threatened to sue Channel 4 if the film was broadcast, but the film was screened in August 2013 without any legal action.

Atkins occasionally writes for The Guardian.,[10] including an investigation into how British soldiers who join the Army aged 16 and 17 are more likely to suffer PTSD, depression and suicide.

Atkins was also a credited writer on the hit BBC3 show "The Revolution Will Be Televised", which featured political stunts by Heydon Prowse and Joylon Rubenstein. The first series won a Television BAFTA in 2012 and was nominated again in 2013.

In 2013 he produced and directed the Panorama episode "All in a Good Cause", which looked into unethical investments made by charities such as Comic Relief,[11] the aftermath of which resulted in Atkins claiming he had, "turned into the comedy establishment's most hated man".[12] The investigation into Comic Relief's investments, and the resulting public outcry, led to the charity selling off millions of pounds of shares in arms companies, alcohol firms and tobacco manufacturers and changing its investment policy. Atkins' Panorama was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA in 2014.

In June 2014 the Wall Street Journal[13] as well as Campaign Magazine[14] reported on Atkins and Nimrod Kamer's protestations at the advertising festival, Cannes Lions.

In 2015 Atkins wrote and directed "UKIP: The First 100 Days", a 1 hour drama for Channel 4. The film was a fictional documentary set in an imagined future where UKIP had won the 2015 general election, and mixed real news archive with fly on the wall style footage of a fictional UKIP MP, Deepa Kaur. The film was broadcast on the 16th February 2015 and caused considerable controversy, leading to over 6000 complaints to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom. UKIP supporters were upset that the film portrayed UKIP policies in a negative light so close to the general election. However the Ofcom rejected all of the complaints and ruled that the film had not breached the Ofcom code.

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 "Atkins' Evidence to the Leveson Inquiry". 2011-12-06. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "VIAF entry". Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  3. 1 2 Lisa O'Carroll and Josh Halliday (6 December 2011). "Leveson inquiry: Chris Atkins, David Leigh, Charlotte Harris - live". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Bromsgrovian News Review" (PDF). Lent 2008. p. 20. Retrieved 5 August 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. 1 2 Wheeler, Brian (2007-06-01). "Taking liberties?". BBC. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  6. ↑ Reynolds, Nigel (date=2007-02-05). "New film 'exposes Orwellian Labour'". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 2008-05-12. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0977667/awards
  8. ↑ Starsuckers celebrity hoax dupes tabloids, The Guardian, 14 October 2009
  9. ↑ Greenslade, Roy (2013-08-05). "Coronation Street Twitter sting claims: Channel 4 to air Dispatches film". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  10. 1 2 "Chris Atkins". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  11. ↑ "Panorama, All in a Good Cause". BBC. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  12. ↑ Atkins, Chris (13 December 2013). "How I revealed bad investments by Comic Relief - and turned into the comedy establishment's most hated man". The Independent. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
  13. ↑ Jack Marshall, "Ad Agency Spoofs Cannes for Promo Videos featuring Nimrod Kamer", Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2014
  14. ↑ Ben Hall, "Watch: Satirist takes on Sir Martin Sorrell and joins Kanye West's entourage", Campaign Magazine, June 19, 2014

External links

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