Tim Samuels

As part of the BBC’s controversial White Season, Samuels tackled mass immigration into Britain in The Poles Are Coming - which examined the influx of Polish immigrants into the Peterborough area of England. In 2009, he presented a BBC Two series, Hardocore Profits which revealed the unexpected global human impact of the pornography industry in countries like Ghana – and the industry’s move to the financial mainstream.

In 2013, the mental health charity Mind awarded Tim Samuels its Making A Difference award for his television and radio work - the first time it has been given to an individual.

Samuels published his first book, Who Stole My Spear?, a candid exploration of what it means to be a man and the state of masculinity today. Blending the autobiographical with journalistic and anthropological research, the book examined the plight of modern men – covering relationships, work, religion, mental health, fatherhood, pornography, and rites of passage. Samuels argued that, ‘Trapped in bodies barely changed since caveman days, males are now contending with corporate culture, lifelong commitment, rampant depression and crazy expectations to be a success at work and home.’ He made the case for ‘good masculinity’ – a new way for men to connect with their innate nature and conditioning but in positive, contemporary ways. Who Stole My Spear? was serialised in The Sunday Times Magazine.

In 2007, Samuels' series Power To The People aired on BBC Two. Yoko Ono gave her blessing for the John Lennon song to be used as the title and soundtrack. The series saw him seizing Trafalgar Square with a platoon of abandoned soldiers, bringing a dying village from Cornwall to annex London's Islington and forming a rock group made up of lonely old people - The Zimmers. The popstar pensioners, with a 90-year-old lead singer, covered The Who song My Generation which then broke into the UK charts, received more than 5 million YouTube hits and saw the band appear on NBC's The Jay Leno Show alongside George Clooney. The Great Granny Chart Invasion won Best Current Affairs documentary at the Royal Television Society awards in 2008.

Samuels moved from news to documentaries. In A Dirty Weekend in Hospital for the BBC's Mischief strand he led a hundred victims of the MRSA superbug on an impromptu cleanup of ten of the worst hospitals in England. The programme won Best Current Affairs Documentary at the World Television Festival in Banff in 2006. In the same year he also fronted a current affairs travelogue series around Europe.

Samuels continues to contribute provocative journalism to the Newsnight programme. The SNP complained after Samuels drove a car covered in St George's flags around Scotland during the 2006 World Cup, after England fans had been attacked for wearing their national shirts. In the Immigrant Song Contest, Samuels satirised the Eurovision Song contest - with immigrants to the UK covering Eurovision entries. For Newsnight, Samuels has repeatedly investigated the case of British businessman Krishna Maharaj who is jailed in Florida.

Timothy David Samuels (born 3 October 1975) is an English documentary filmmaker, author and broadcaster. His work is characterised by approaching serious topics in provocative and entertaining ways to produce hard-hitting documentaries. Samuels formed older people's rock group The Zimmers for a BBC documentary and is a regular presenter on BBC television and radio in the UK. He has been referred to as a younger British Michael Moore, but without the political agenda. Samuels has won three Royal Television Society awards and best documentary at the World Television Festival in Banff.