Eureka!: The Secret Millionaire (RDF for C4)

C4's The Secret Millionaire

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Stephen Lambert dreamt up the hit philanthropy format after a conversation with his wife.

Where did the idea come from?
At commissioners' briefing sessions, the word "philanthropy" was often mentioned. One day my wife said: "Do you realise that a small amount of money can make a huge difference to people's lives?" This resonated with me and I realised we could realistically find people willing to give their money away, and that these people are often frustrated that they don't have direct contact. When they give to good causes, most people wonder whether their money has gone to the people who deserve it.

How did it evolve from there?
The idea of making it "secret" came quite quickly - if people went around telling everyone they were rich, it would distort the way people behave around them and it would feel quite grubby to watch people begging.
 
What do you think made it stand out?
I don't think I'd seen people giving away their own money on TV before and in terms of the format, we thought the reveal at the end would deliver a strong climax each week.

How was the pitch received?
Danny Cohen, who was then running documentaries at Channel 4, got quite excited by the idea and ordered a pilot. Meredith Chambers then took over. I think they liked that it wasn't very formatted apart from the beginning and the end. The rest is very flexible and there's the capacity for things to happen in an unpredictable way.
 
What challenges has the format presented?
We thought about hidden filming, but I hate doing that over a protracted period as it's difficult to pull off. So we had to explain why the secret millionaires would have a film crew following them. We used the fact that they're outsiders to come up with a range of explanations, such as someone from the country trying to live on a pension in the city, which was our line in the pilot. Because the community ends up receiving help, we figured they wouldn't feel too bad about the white lies.

These are also some of the roughest places in Britain in which to film, and it's important not to go crashing into the community. Formats like this work well when you have experienced documentary-makers on board, not just people who have made formatted factual entertainment shows.
Stephen Lambert was executive producer of the first two series of The Secret Millionaire