
Sam Collyns
Production
Biography
Sam Collyns is an award-winning British film documentary producer and director. In a career that has spanned twenty years at the BBC and a further ten in the independent sector, Sam has won BAFTAs and Grierson awards as Executive Producer and Director. He has made a broad range of current affairs and contemporary history documentaries for all the UK’s main channels – as well as international broadcasters such as PBS Frontline, Al Jazeera, ARTE and ABC Australia.
Known For

Hosted by award-winning journalist Nelufar Hedayat, the eye-opening series examines how our appetites shape our world, investigating the global food chain and the origins of our favorite ingredients.
Food Exposed with Nelufar Hedayat

Tory! Tory! Tory! is a 2006 BBC television documentary series on the history of the people and ideas that formed Thatcherism told through the eyes of those on the New Right. It was nominated for the best Historical Documentary at the Grierson Awards in 2006.
Tory! Tory! Tory!
In 2013 Belfast experienced one of its most violent summers in recent years. Alys Harte is on the frontline with a notorious Loyalist band who are marching into the eye of a storm.
Petrol Bombs and Peace: Welcome to Belfast

Britain feels under-funded and falling apart. On the eve of the election, as politicians debate the causes, economist Tim Harford looks at what the numbers reveal about the broken state we're in.
Skint: The Truth About Britain's Broken Economy

Shamima Begum and Hoda Muthana made it into worldwide headlines when they left their countries to join ISIS. When they return, their countries don't want them back.
The Return: Life After ISIS

On 27 August 1979, Lord Mountbatten, great uncle to Prince Charles, was blown up at sea by the IRA off the west coast of the Republic of Ireland. Three others were killed on the boat that day, including two teenage boys. Later that afternoon, in a second strike, the IRA killed 18 British soldiers, across the border in Northern Ireland. Forty years on, this is the story of that remarkable Bank Holiday Monday – movingly told by those directly affected by it.
The Day Mountbatten Died

Billie JD Porter goes in search of the human face of the prostitution business, talking to the young men who pay for sex and to the young women who sell their bodies.
Prostitution: What's the Harm?

Samuel Little claims to have killed up to 93 women in 40 years. This chilling documentary examines how such a prolific killer could be on the loose for so long.
Confessions of a Serial Killer

A documentary about the UN sex abuse scandal where companies and staff working for the United Nations in the Congo and other Central African countries were involved in rape and sex abuse of local women. There have been over 1700 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse against UN peacekeepers in the last 15 years. Ramita Navai reveals why it keeps happening despite UN promises to stamp it out. It was produced for Channel 4 and for PBS Frontline – and ARTE. The film won the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Journalism award for Television – International. Nominated for 2019 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Documentary. Shortlisted for 2019 Grierson Awards for Best Single Documentary – International and Best Current Affairs Documentary. In 2020, the documentary won the 22nd Media Awards for “Children’s Rights in One World” in Germany.
UN Sex Abuse Scandal
The inside story of Theresa May's tumultuous premiership with exclusive access to the former Prime Minister and interviews with friends and critics.
Theresa May: The Accidental Prime Minister

In a uniquely personal journey to mark the centenary of the partition of Ireland in 1921, award-winning reporter Peter Taylor revisits the films he has made over the past 50 years to reflect on the controversial issue of a united Ireland. With frank and intimate observations, Peter reveals how his own understanding of the issue has evolved: from the early days when he took a Hull bus driver and his wife to Belfast, and a group of Catholic and Protestant children to Wales, to his revelatory interviews with MI6 officers and others involved in the secret talks between the British government and the IRA that eventually led to peace.
Peter Taylor: Ireland After Partition

Journalist Peter Taylor reveals the story of how a former undercover MI5 officer put his life and career on the line to encourage the IRA to end its violent campaign and embrace politics.
The MI5 Spy and the IRA: Operation Chiffon

In a uniquely personal journey on the 50th anniversary of the deployment of British troops in August 1969, Peter Taylor reflects on almost a half century of covering the Northern Ireland conflict.