Benedict Sanderson
agent: Camilla Chiverton - camilla@sternwild.com
Benedict Sanderson is a multi-BAFTA-winning director and cinematographer whose work is defined by spectacular visuals and a deep sense of heart and humanity.
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, his feature-length film for Netflix/Minnow, tells the horrifying yet inspirational story of Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her Utah home in 2003. Considered the most famous child kidnapping in America, Elizabeth and her family speak in depth about the ordeal for the first time.
See No Evil, filmed and directed by Ben for Passion Pictures/Channel 4, is a beautifully intimate yet harrowing exposé of decades of abuse by evangelical church leader John Smyth. The series drew widespread acclaim, with The Guardian calling it “an immaculately made, deeply harrowing two-part documentary,” and The Times describing it as “a profoundly disturbing but excellent exposé.”
His 90-minute BAFTA-winning feature BBC/ PBS documentary, Atomic People tells the extraordinary stories of 15 survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It was widely acclaimed, receiving five-star reviews from The Financial Times, The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Irish Independent and The Telegraph with The Radio Times calling it “a most remarkable, moving and harrowing piece of television,” and The Guardian describing it as “a deeply moving, quietly devastating film.”. It was the recipient of multiple awards including a Royal Television Society Award for Best History Documentary, an RTS Craft Award for Editing, and Special Jury Prize at the Venice Television Festival.
Blending scripted drama with documentary, Ben wrote and directed Dublin Narcos for Blast! Films and Sky Documentaries / NOW TV. The series traces the drug-fuelled history of Dublin from the 1970s to the 2000s, and was praised by The Guardian as a “brilliant three-part documentary” and described by The Sunday Times as “illuminating and gripping TV.” It received two BAFTA nominations for Best Factual Series and Cinematography, alongside a Grierson Award nomination and three RTS Craft Award nominations for Directing, Cinematography and Editing.
Ben’s BAFTA-recognised work extends into observational documentary. Between 2018 and 2023, Ben directed and filmed two series of the acclaimed Minnow Films/BBC series The Detectives, spending five years embedded with elite police units in Greater Manchester. These high-risk verité films follow the pursuit of violent organised crime groups involved in exploitation, kidnap and murder. In Spring 2024, Ben won a BAFTA for his cinematography on The Detectives: Taking Down an OCG. The previous series, The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime, was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Factual Series in 2022 and won an RTS Craft Award for Best Editing. The Sun described the series as “TV gold.”
In 2022, Ben directed and filmed the three-part investigative biography Mother Teresa: For the Love of God? for Sky Documentaries / NOW TV. The series offered an explosive reassessment of the saint, featuring interviews with whistleblowers within the Catholic Church. The Guardian awarded it four stars, citing its “damning testimony from a killer witness,” while The Times called it “a complex and fascinating profile.”
Across a 20-year career, Ben has directed and filmed episodes of the Netflix global hit DOPE, and worked as a director on multiple award-winning series including the seminal first series of Hospital (BBC Two), Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds (Channel 4) and 24 Hours in Police Custody (Channel 4). Alongside his documentary work, he has written and directed drama shorts, including Vigilante, the story of a shopkeeper during the 2011 London riots, which screened at and won awards at film festivals worldwide.
Ben honed his craft in-house at the BBC, having worked his way up from the warehouse floor to trainee lighting cameraman at global equipment provider Procam. During this period, he also worked as a camera assistant on the iconic British comedy Peep Show.