Black Samphire: The horror film ‘monstifying’ water pollution to share an urgent warning
Black Samphire – an environmental horror about water pollution – premiered at the buzzing Ritzy cinema in Brixton just before World Water Day – but its subject was far from the urban sprawl of south London.
Filmed in West Sussex, the modern-day monster the short film portrays is water pollution and its suffocating effect on Britain’s rivers.
Pic: Silicon Gothic
The filmmakers behind the project – Silicon Gothic co-founders Cathy Wippell and Joseph Archer – say it’s a message they felt compelled to shout about.
“Our world faces so many huge, complex, intangible problems out there, and what Silicon Gothic does is we take those problems and ‘monstify’ them, so we make them physical and understandable.”
As rivers around the country are polluted by sewage, caused in part by a changing climate and extreme weather patterns, it offers a timely message.
A keen open-water swimmer, Wippell – who is both the co-star and author of the film – was inspired to write it after stretches of water she was once able to swim in in her home county were closed off due to rising water toxicity levels.
Wippell tells Sky News: “It’s not something that’s really obvious when you look at a river and you don’t really see what’s sort of lurking under the surface. So, to make something like that tangible and like a threat was really important with the story.”
And the production’s eco-credentials ran deeper than just its storyline, with two beach cleans during pre-production to help raise funds and a strict sustainability policy practiced throughout the shoot.
The production company has pledged to carry out at least one climate positive action per film, not only trying to complete a swifter shoot and produce less waste, but proactively trying to fix damage already caused.
Pic: Silicon Gothic
All cast and crew were asked to sign a green rider ahead of the shoot, detailing the sustainability measures in place on set and basic conduct measures, including bringing a refillable water container to set and agreeing to separate rubbish.
Pass it on, don’t burn it
All meals available on set were vegetarian or vegan, and in place of plastic-wrapped crisps or cereal bars, over 160 flapjacks were homebaked for the shoot.
In the spirit of a “circular production”, assets from bigger TV and film productions were re-used for the shoot, and after wrapping, items were passed on or donated onwards.
Archer admits items from fast turnaround movies and shows are sometimes burned rather than passed on – a crying shame amid a cost of living crisis and pressing concerns around overconsumption of the world’s resources.
Pic: Silicon Gothic
Even the month of the shoot – October – was chosen to ensure that no birds were nesting in the marshes, with priority given to the natural cycle of the marshland, not to the film production.
‘Forget trailer sizes – it doesn’t matter’
Fittingly for a film commenting on the damaging effects of over-consumption of resources, battery-powered generators, rather than traditional gas ones were used as well as LED lights over fluorescent lights in an attempt to be more efficient.
Australian actor Ishtar Currie-Wilson, who stars in the film alongside Wippell, tells Sky News it was a joyful production to work on.
She explains: “The green rider was really refreshing to me, I think because it’s really small, simple, actionable changes. And I think from an individual and like an actor’s perspective, it’s something that we can bring on to all other sets moving forward.”
Pic: Silicon Gothic
The First Omen star goes on: “I know on big productions, there are conversations about trailer sizes and things that really don’t matter. But you can make little changes and it feels quite good as an actress to be able to have control over the variables.”
National treasure Stephen Fry
Comparing it to other jobs, Currie-Wilson says: “After being on this project, I went and did reshoots for a bigger project and was completely aware of my, just single use plastics. So, I made sure that I had a keep cup and my water bottle, and I kind of looked into the past of how much waste I personally would use on a set without thinking about it.”
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Another element in the film is actor and comedian Stephen Fry, who voices an unseen character – a less than supportive media boss.
Describing him as an “absolute delight”, Wippell says his involvement “made a massive difference”, with the recognition and gravitas of his voice “really adding something to the film”.
A micro-budget film with big ambitions, the part-crowdfunded project hopes it will set an example to larger studios.
Setting an example to other studios
Pic: Silicon Gothic
Wippell explains: “It’s so important to do these things at a smaller indie level because it holds the bigger companies accountable as well for their own sustainability measures on their sets. If we can do it with this amount of money, [they] can do it with millions of pounds.”
Away from its eco-credentials, the 13-minute production uses its short screen time to lay bare the plight of our precious river habitats.
The equivalent of more than 1,270 years of raw sewage has been dumped into Britain’s rivers, lakes and seas since 2016, according to Environment Agency data.
But despite hitting the headlines, both water companies and regulators seem slow to take action.
Pic: Silicon Gothic
Campaigning group River Action UK, which partnered with the production, hope those in charge will now sit up and take notice.
‘Delving down into the murky depths’
James Wallace, chief executive of River Action UK, who came on board during production to executive produce the film, says that while they’d previously used animation and short documentary films in their work, this was the campaigning group’s first venture into the world of horror.
He told Sky News: “I couldn’t resist [the film]. It delves down deep into the murky depths of what’s going on in our rivers when it comes to sewage pollution, agricultural pollution, other nasties that lurk in our water.”
He goes on: “It’s going to tell a very powerful story, one that’s going to be really hard to ignore if you’re a politician, if you’re a polluter, or if you’re a member of the public. Hopefully this will really get into the heart of what’s going on in this world.”
Pic: Silicon Gothic
But decades of underinvestment in the sewage and water systems, mean it’s an issue no one seems quite ready to deal with head on.
With the clock ticking as dirty water is pumped into seas and rivers, this green tale about dark forces, strives to highlight the potential horror story flowing through our waterways, and the consequences of ignoring the signs.
Watch the full interview on The Climate Show with Tom Heap, Saturday and Sunday at 3.30 and 7.30pm on Sky News.
Black Samphire is now being developed into a full-length feature film. For more info on the project’s progress visit @blacksamphire on Instagram.
Entertainment
Stalker who believed Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas was his aunt avoids jail
A man who stalked Strictly Come Dancing judge Shirley Ballas for six years has avoided jail.
Kyle Shaw, 37, got a 20-month suspended sentence and a lifetime restraining order on contacting Ballas, her mother, niece, and former partner.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he thought Ballas was his aunt and “began a persistent campaign of contact”.
“He believed, and it’s evident from what he was told by his mother, that her late brother was his father,” said prosecutor Nicola Daley.
The court heard there was no evidence he was wrong, and “limited evidence” he was correct.
Ms Daley said Shaw’s messages had accused Ballas of being to blame for the death of her brother, who took his own life in 2003 aged 44.
He also set up social media accounts in his name.
Shaw had pleaded guilty to stalking the former dancer between August 2017 and November 2023 at a hearing in February.
Incidents included following Ballas’s 86-year-old mother, Audrey Rich, while she was shopping and telling her she was his grandmother.
The court heard in messages to Mrs Rich, Shaw had asked: “Where’s my dad?”
Ballas was so worried for her mother’s safety that she moved her from Merseyside to London.
Kyle Shaw outside court on the day of his sentencing. Pic: PA
In October 2020, Ballas called police after Shaw messaged her and said: “Do you want me to kill myself, Shirley?”
Posts on X included one alongside an image of her home address that warned: “You ruined my life, I’ll ruin yours and everyone’s around you.”
Another referenced a book signing and said: “I can’t wait to meet you for the first time Aunty Shirley. Hopefully I can get an autograph.”
The court was told Ballas’s niece Mary Assall, former partner Daniel Taylor and colleagues from Strictly Come Dancing and ITV’s Loose Women were also sent messages.
‘I know where you live’
On one occasion in late 2023, Shaw called Mr Taylor and told him he knew where the couple lived and described Ballas’s movements.
The court heard the 64-year-old TV star become wary of socialising and stopped using public transport.
Prosecutor Ms Daley said: “She described having sleepless nights worrying about herself and her family’s safety and being particularly distressed when suggestions were made to her that she and her mother were responsible for her brother taking his own life.”
Ballas has been head judge on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017. Pic: PA
Shaw cried and wiped away tears as he was sentenced on Tuesday.
The judge said the stalking stemmed from his mother telling him Ballas’s brother, David Rich, was his biological father.
“I’m satisfied that your motive for this offending was a desire to seek contact with people you genuinely believed were your family,” he said.
“Whether in fact there’s any truth in that belief is difficult, if not impossible, to determine.”
Shaw pictured at court in February. Pic: PA
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Defence lawyer John Weate said Shaw had been told the story by his mother “in his mid to late teens” and had suffered “complex mental health issues” since he was a child.
He added: “He now accepts that Miss Ballas and her family don’t wish to have any contact with him and, importantly, he volunteered the information that he has no intention of contacting them again.”
Shaw, of Whetstone Lane in Birkenhead, also admitted possessing cannabis and was ordered to undertake a rehab programme.
Gary Glitter has been made bankrupt after failing to pay more than £500,000 in damages to a woman he abused when she was 12 years old.
She sued the disgraced singer, whose real name is Paul Gadd, after he was found guilty of attacking her and two other schoolgirls between 1975 and 1980.
Glitter, 80, was jailed for 16 years in 2015 and released in 2023 but was recalled to prison less than six weeks later after breaching his parole conditions.
A judge awarded the woman £508,800, including £381,000 in lost earnings and £7,800 for future therapy and treatment, saying she was subjected to abuse “of the most serious kind”.
The court heard she had not worked for decades due to the trauma of being repeatedly raped and “humiliated” by the singer.
Glitter was jailed for 16 years in 2015. Pic: Met Police/PA
Glitter was made bankrupt last month at the County Court at Torquay and Newton Abbot, in Devon – the county where he is reportedly serving his sentence in Channings Wood prison, in Newton Abbot.
Richard Scorer, head of abuse law at Slater and Gordon, the law firm representing the woman, said: “We confirm that Gadd has been made bankrupt following our client’s application.
“As he has done throughout, Gadd has refused to cooperate with the process and continues to treat his victims with contempt.
“We hope and trust that the parole board will take his behaviour into account in any future parole applications, as it clearly demonstrates that he has never changed, shows no remorse and remains a serious risk to the public.”
Glitter was first jailed for four months in 1999 after he admitted possessing around 4,000 indecent images of children.
He was expelled from Cambodia in 2002, and in March 2006 was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam where he spent two-and-a-half years in prison.
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His sentence for the 2016 convictions expires in February 2031.
Glitter was automatically released from HMP The Verne, a low-security prison in Portland, Dorset, in February 2023 after serving half of his fixed-term determinate sentence.
But he was back behind bars weeks later after reportedly trying to access the dark web and images of children.
Paul Mescal and Barry Keoghan will play Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr in the upcoming Beatles films – with a Stranger Things star also portraying one of the Fab Four.
The two Irish actors will be joined by London-born performers Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
The cast for the Sam Mendes project was revealed at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, with all four appearing on stage and taking a bow together in Beatles style.
(L-R) Mescal, Quinn, Keoghan and Dickinson appeared together at the announcement. Pic: Reuters
Mendes is making four interconnected films – one from the perspective of each of the band members – and they are all set to be released “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.
It marks the first time The Beatles and the families of John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for a scripted film.
Playing McCartney is another big role for 29-year-old Mescal, who recently starred in the Gladiator sequel and was nominated for an Oscar in 2023 for Aftersun.
Barry Keoghan – who also got an Oscar nod for The Banshees of Inisherin – will portray the other surviving Beatles member, Ringo Starr.
Pic: PA
Meanwhile, Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn, who appeared with long hair as Eddie Munson in the fourth series, takes up the role of George Harrison.
Harris Dickinson has the challenge of stepping into the shoes of perhaps the most famous Beatle, John Lennon.
The 28-year-old recently starred in erotic thriller Babygirl with Nicole Kidman and also appeared in satire Triangle of Sadness.
Mendes told the industry audience at CinemaCon there is “still plenty to explore” despite the Beatles’ rise having being well chronicled.
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The Oscar-winning British director is known for films including American Beauty, First World War movie 1917, and Bond outings Skyfall and Spectre.
Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman said the close release of all four films in three years’ time will be “the first bingeable theatrical experience”.
“We are going to dominate the culture that month,” he added.
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