Midlands documentary filmmaker Jay Martin tackles the pandemic in new BBC series

midlandsmovies • Apr 02, 2021
Local documentary filmmaker Jay Martin tackles the pandemic in new BBC series

Coming off the back of his REDt'BLUE documentary and its recent success, local filmmaker Jay Martin has been commissioned to create a trilogy of documentary shorts about how COVID-19 has affected people in the area.

With a regional Nottinghamshire focus, Jay and his team have now completed three films, 'Frontline', 'The Excluded', and 'A Tale of Two Towns' for the BBC.

The series of documentaries released on the anniversary of the first pandemic lockdown look at the different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic for the BBC’s 'Make A Difference' series. 

Jay goes on to explain, “They [BBC] were keen for me to be an active part of the films, and to work with the same team I had on REDt'BLUE, but apart from that they let me decide the subject matter”.

“Where possible, I always want to ensure my films have a Mansfield/Nottinghamshire focus, and so the ideas for the three films were born”.

“We were on a strict deadline, but as always the whole team pulled together and the films were released online beginning March 23rd, with a TV premiere on a BBC channel to come at a soon to be announced date”, the director adds.

Jay has explained to us he felt it was an incredible opportunity to work with his REDt'BLUE team again to create films that helped to shed a new perspective on each different aspect of the pandemic:


“From our frontline healthcare workers to the excluded artists who've had no financial support through the pandemic, to how the government has handled things from two very different perspectives. It's great to know that the BBC is making good on its promise to promote and empower storytellers from outside of London and Manchester, and hopefully these films will lead to more non-fiction projects with the BBC in the future”.


Frontline investigates how healthcare professionals found the mental and physical toll of working on the frontline of COVID-19, whilst A Tale of Two Towns looks at how the UK government responded to the crisis. Finally, The Excluded explores how those working in the arts industry have been affected by the pandemic. 


Jay concludes by saying, “I would also like to give special thanks to the core REDt'BLUE team, who came back for this series, and brought their A-game as always, our editor Richard Lozberg, composer Jack Bennett, DoP Herbie Elton Rowley, and sound recordist Alex Stroud”.


Watch two of the available films below:

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