We are a production company seeking to make impactful and extraordinary stories to move and change the world. Founded by @bendepear

basement films retweeted
Journalist Ramita Navai follows a paper trail of government records in a new Dispatches investigation, examining the UK’s conduct in Gaza.
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Tonight on @C4Dispatches at 11.05pm “Britain’s Gaza secrets exposed”, our latest and 4th film on Gaza since October 7th. Firstly, as ever we must pay tribute to our colleagues in Gaza who risk their lives every day there. Journalists have been targeted and killed in greater proportional numbers than in any other war in history. In Gaza journalism, like healthcare, the subject of our last film, has become a lethal profession. We have spent the last year sifting through hundreds of internal FCDO IHL – (international humanitarian law) – assessments of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza. As those who have not looked away will know, 73,000 people, including at least 21,000 children have been killed in what a special @UN commission and the majority of international experts call a Genocide, which was meant to stop with the ceasefire last year, but which has effectively continued, albeit at a slower, but still regular child killing, pace. So if it is a genocide- what did we, the UK do ? Did we stop it, as is our legal duty if there is a clear risk ? Did we intervene ? Or did we help enable it ? This film looks at what role our own UK government played, through both Conservate and Labour parties, and the process by which the FCDO assesses whether Israel’s military conduct complied with international law. Watch at 11.05pm on channel 4 to find out. I don’t want to give anything away but the process led to less than a handful of incidents, out of the many hundreds it examined, most with graphic video evidence, being described as possible war crimes. We try to explain how that happened. Why ? is a question for others- and perhaps international courts. Please watch.
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Please watch this tonight at 8pm on @Channel4 Laura Warner has made a beautiful film about a brave and beloved friend and colleague of many years and many people; Jon Snow: A Last Big Story review — a moving film about his Alzheimer’s but also another exclusive story from a brilliant journalist thetimes.com/article/52f4362…
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I just wrote my first note on Substack substack.com/profile/1140460…
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Here are our speeches @senoritaramita & @bendepear in full from Sunday night; talking about the extraordinary number of Drs and journalists who have been killed and why we all cared so much. Thanks to everyone who worked on this and all who supported it including inside the @bbcnews - too many to mention. Our love and respect to @jaber_badwan & @osama.s.alashi and all the Drs & journalists who have survived the onslaught and to all those who were killed.
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BAFTA
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basement films retweeted
The Editing: Factual BAFTA goes to Mel Quigley and Andy Kemp for Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. #BAFTACraftAwards with @SamsungUK OLED
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basement films retweeted
In Gaza, 1 in 5 households survives on just one meal a day. Many families are forced to borrow money or resort to desperate measures to get enough food. @WFP has expanded its life-saving operations, but the situation remains extremely fragile. wfp.org/emergencies/palestin…
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It’s been a multi award winning weekend for our team who made “Gaza: Doctors Under Attack” - yes the one about the targeting & destruction of almost every hospital in Gaza & killing of 1700 medics. Yes the one that went from the @bbcnews to @channel4 FIRSTLY; The amazing @melaniequig_ & Andy Kemp won a @bafta for Editing; our second successive BAFTA in a row for a fillm about Gaza. Also with them is @karimalishah who was nominated as best director but somehow missed out. ON FRIDAY NIGHT Mel & Andy won big at the BFE “Cut Above” awards, winning best current affairs & best single documentary. The industry is now recognising it with multiple gongs, as they did “Kill Zone” last year, showing people understand the worth of strong films about Gaza, when you run them. The people we owe everything to for this film were the Doctors & medics who told us their stories, and the film makers on the ground @jaber_badwan & @osama.s.alashi. They can’t ever make it to awards because as well as Israel targeting and killing journalists, & not letting foreign journalists in, it also makes it impossible for journalists like them to get out. So in effect we attend for them; and here they are below, our colleagues and friends and heroes; we send them love and we salute them.
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Honoured that we have 3 @BAFTA nominations for “Doctors Under Attack”
Very happy we are nominated for a @BAFTA for "Doctors Under Attack"
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We are honoured to have been nominated for a @BAFTA for current affairs for "Doctors Under Attack" the film @BBCNews wouldn't run but we are grateful @Channel4 & @zeteo_news released instead.
Replying to @BAFTA
The Current Affairs nominees are… 📰 BREAKING RANKS: INSIDE ISRAEL’S WAR (EXPOSURE) THE COVID CONTRACTS: FOLLOW THE MONEY GAZA: DOCTORS UNDER ATTACK UNDERCOVER IN THE POLICE (PANORAMA) #BAFTATVAwards with @pandocruises
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basement films retweeted
“My report shows that torture extends far beyond prison walls, in what can only be described as a torturous environment imposed by Israel across the entire occupied Palestinian territory,” @FranceskAlbs told the @UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. #HRC61➜ohchr.org/en/documents/count…
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Very proud that ‘Gaza: Doctors Under Attack’ lnkd.in/eugcfhvE has been nominated by the @royaltelevisionsociety for Best Single Documentary congrats to all @basementfilms2 @senoritaramita @karimalishah and our everlasting respect to the medics & survivors in Gaza who shared their stories with us. 36 hospitals attacked, 1700 medics killed, countless others detained and tortured, and many many are still locked up. Those back in Gaza are still fighting to provide whatever service they can. Finally thanks to Channel4 for showing it after the cowardice elsewhere
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basement films retweeted
Replying to @AssalRad
I reported this story and have been working around the clock since Saturday to cover the deaths and obtain definitive evidence so that we can confidently assign responsibility. We've been reviewing photos of the dust covered bodies of children and verifying their names against the names scrawled on little coffins. We've been debunking false claims about the attack and that the harrowing cemetery photo isn't real. And while it appeared obvious to many early on that the U.S. or Israel hit the school, it takes days to sift through, pinpoint and analyze the evidence. It took four days before a new satellite image we ordered came through so we could confidently assess the damage and the types of weapons used. All that reporting and cross checking and the production of the visuals showing it takes time. But it ultimately allows us to more confidently assert U.S. responsibility, explain our rationale and add to the body of reporting that officials should be challenged with. It's easy to critique a headline, and I agree language matters, but you diminish the reporting. We're not justifying anything, we're stating where the reporting points responsibility, and quoting legal experts on the laws of armed conflict. Here's a gift link nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world…
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Please watch our Basement Films new 3-part series “Hostage” here lnkd.in/eTTdHkgu Directed by Marian Mohamed, and co-produced with Story Films Limited, it tells the extraordinary story of John Cantlie, who along with his friend James Foley, was kidnapped by jihadists and ultimately held by ISIS in Syria. James was horrifically executed, but John survived. It is a tribute to him and all journalists who take the ultimate risks to go to places few will venture to so we can be better informed. The series builds on the amazing reporting of the Anthony Loyd and Manveen Rana podcast Last Man Standing. It was co exec/produced with Peter Beard. The series made by a brilliant team at Story Films Limited and Basement Films. A big thank you to @Simon Young for commissioning the series and pushing it to be the best it could, to Prash Naik at Creators Counsel (as ever), Kezia Tomsett for the amazing score and the team at TVC Soho. And a special thank you to all the contributors and friends/colleagues of John and James who helped make the series. Josh Wilkins Alec Webb Samantha Tilyard Sasha K. Martin McDonnell Ellen Green Shana Kemp Firas Itani Jacqueline Edwards Holly Mina Jones Crissania R
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basement films retweeted
The Committee to Protect Journalists has found more journalists and media workers were killed in 2025 than any year since its records began 30 years ago (2024 was the previous record). Israel was responsible for two-thirds of deaths in both years cpj.org/special-reports/reco…
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In August 2023 our film "Sri Lanka's Easter Bombings" was broadcast by @Channel4 - in it we set out allegations from multiple insiders and whistle blowers that senior Sri Lankan politicians and security chiefs were involved in a conspiracy around the Easter Bombings in 2019 that killed 253 people in hotels and churches across Sri Lanka. Our insiders named two senior Sri Lankans- a politician named Pillayan, and the head of state security at the time Suresh Salley. Suresh Salley was today arrested on charges of "conspiracy and aiding and abetting" the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, and joins PIllayan who has been in prison since last year. Please watch our film - made with the co-opertion of very brave Sri Lankans - here channel4.com/programmes/sri-…
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The investigation and arrest of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor is an extraordinary moment, and to be done effectively it will have to dig deep into the establishment and its protection of him. The main witnesses to any alleged crimes will be the police, in the form of his close protection officers, who went everywhere with him at all times, and the palace, in the form of the structure around him that ensured all legal moves and avenues against him were effectively closed down for over a decade. Any cover up is theirs as well as his. I came across Prince Andrew twice as a journalist and both times he was surrounded by protection officers. The first time was in Pretoria at an event with the UK High Commissioner; Andrew cruised the room followed by his protection, blatantly checking out all the women. The second time was on a plane to Chicago, which when he decided no longer suited his timetable he disembarked from with his protection officers who whisked him back to Windsor whilst the rest of us sat on the tarmac as they searched for airmiles Andy’s luggage. When I was at Channel 4 News we tried repeatedly to investigate Andrew and particularly that photograph. Even after Epstein’s conviction and emergence of “that photo”, they rounded the wagons, having refused to receive US legal papers from his alleged victims. After repeated attempts the police admitted they had looked into the circumstances of the photo before dropping the investigation. It felt like a coup at the time, but the police and palace seemed to go to extraordinary lengths to obfuscate and stonewall all media enquiries, before the royals ultimately paid millions to a woman whom he denied ever meeting. As editor I found the monarchy and conventions of Royal coverage the hardest to comprehend. When, in 2015 we were offered an interview with Charles I was keen to do it to ask about his brother, but we were told we had to sign a draconian 15 page contract that essentially ceded all editorial control to the palace. Indeed, the signatures of previous tv execs littered the pro forma contract which gave Prince Charles the right to final cut, before broadcast and release. After refusing to sign (I took legal advice as I thought it broke OFCOM rules by giving final editorial control to the interviewee) they refused the interview; the contract appeared here independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho…. When Charles was seen to have re-entered public life with a series of spider-letters, I got Michael Crick to doorstep him channel4.com/news/prince-cha…. I was removed from my tenuous membership of the royal broadcast pool. That was the end of our relationship with the Royals; Nnewsnight & Emily Maitlis then got their extraordinary Andrew interview and the rest should have been history; but all this has still taken nearly a decade to happen.
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