(BBC ONE, 2023)
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, BBC Current Affairs approached Tanya Stephan to develop a film about Ukrainians’ personal experience of war, that would do away with reporters, external commentary and foreign camera crews. She and producer Maria Drovnenkova created a unique, year-long collaboration with five Ukrainians on the frontline and in cities under attack, capturing raw and intimate footage - to take us to the heart of the experience of surviving and fighting the invasion.
The film was commissioned by BBC One’s flagship Panorama strand and broadcast to mark the first anniversary of the invasion.
Ukraine's War Diaries on BBC iPlayer
Watch Ukraine’s War Diaries on Vimeo
A devastating account of how normality can evaporate, obliterated by the grotesque realities of a war - Sunday Times, Pick of the Week
Raw, powerful, essential viewing - The Telegraph
Unusual and deceptively brilliant. You may assume that so well-reported has this war been, there would be little left to learn. You would be wrong - The Times (Saturday Review)
A smart idea, powerfully realised - The Radio Times
A very important, first-hand, sincere account of this war - Vitaly Shevchenko, BBC Ukrainecast
Shocking, powerful and heartbreaking - The Times
Directed by TANYA STEPHAN
Producer MARIA DROVNENKOVA
Editor PAWEL SLAWEK
Composer SIMON RUSSELL
Executive Producer LEO TELLING
Panorama Editor KAREN WIGHTMAN
Camera:
VLADYSLAV BARBASHOV
PAVLO DOROHOI
DENYS KHRYSTOV
IRYNA TSYBUKH
DMYTRO YELISICHENKO
(90’ ITV 2021)
At the Tuam mother and baby home in Ireland, 796 children, born to unwed mothers disappeared. Were they neglected, discarded or trafficked? Sixty years later, the remains of some have been found in a sewage tank. The Bon Secours nuns claim to have no knowledge of what happened to them. But when survivors come forward, illegal documents and a vast transatlantic network that trafficked children is exposed.
The Missing Children is a feature-length true crime documentary conceived, developed, produced, filmed and directed by Tanya Stephan. The project began when Stephan met Annette McKay, a British woman who discovered that she had a sister among the 796 missing from Tuam. Bowled over by her story, Stephan began a long journey to piece the Tuam story together, to find survivors, and people adopted to America from Tuam, and to unearth archive and evidence of falsified documents. The development of the project was financed by Nevision and the film was commissioned by ITV and co-produced with RTE in Ireland, the true crime streamer Topic in the USA, Sundance Now, and distributed by Abacus.
Watch The Missing Children on ITVX
This jaw-dropping revelatory documentary will not be easily forgotten - The Sunday Times
Outrage feels like the only appropriate response to Tanya Stephan’s commandingly thorough chronicling of the mother and baby homes scandal - The Irish Times
WINNER– BAFTA Specialist Factual 2022
WINNER – Grierson Award for Best History Documentary 2022
WINNER – Royal Television Society TV Journalism Award- Current Affairs International 2022
Nominated – Prix Italia Best Documentary 2022
Highly Commended – British Journalism Awards, Best Documentary 2022
Short-listed - Rose D’Or Best Documentary 2022
Long-listed – BAFTA Craft Award, Best Director (Factual)
Production Company: True Vision & Nevision
The Missing Children was also commissioned as a 3-part true crime box set series for Sundance Now, and the true crime streamer Topic in the USA where it streams on Amazon and Apple TV.
To create the series, Stephan took a deeper dive into the stories of some of the thousands of children trafficked from Ireland to the USA, unearthing extraordinary testimonies from adoptees who are now tracing their birth mothers, fathers and siblings.
The series featured at Crime Con 2022 in Las Vegas and was nominated for the Crime Con Awards for Best Documentary Series.
Watch the series in the US:
https://www.amazon.com/The-Missing-Children-Season-1/dp/B09TFC1KCJ
https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/the-missing-children/umc.cmc.5fm7g241fbv4slyicrpy8hgqj
Watch the series in the UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Missing-Children-Season-1/dp/B09MZRT31P
(ITV, 2020)
She may be a BAFTA and Oliver Award-winning star of stage and screen, but the much-loved actress has, for her entire adult life, privately and publicly fought a devastating battle with her mental health. Now, in one of the most intimate and honest documentaries you’ll watch this year, Sheridan pours her heart out during a soul stirring journey - The Sun
The honest portrayal of Sheridan’s journey both before and during lockdown was a must-watch - Metro
Viewers were left in tears on Tuesday as they praised the actress for 'breaking the taboo' on maternal mental health - Daily Mail
Heart-rending... so compelling to watch - Observer
A lovely and tender film - The Times
Authenticity and lack of pretension shone brightly throughout... an affecting documentary - i newspaper
The one-hour special by filmmaker Tanya Stephan gives illness, addiction and anxiety the space to breathe - The Independent
An admirably open documentary... Sheridan Smith gains a whole new level of respect - Radio Times
Shortlisted - Grierson 2021
Nominated - National Television Awards 2021
Production Company: True Vision
(Channel 4, 2009)
Very timely.. and for once some TV that lives up to its billing. This look at the fortunes of two girls - Zara, seven and British Asian; Aisha, 12 and white - attending an independent Muslim school in Nottingham really is revealing. The kids are charming, challenged by the moral precepts they are learning and - in comparison to many non-Muslim children - fantastically serious. But so would you be if, at the age of seven, you were considering the implications of suffering 'hellfire' if you behaved badly... We want, says one of the girls to the others, 'to go to paradise' They nod in agreement. Great TV, but president Sarkozy won't be tuning in. - Michael Hodges, Time Out
In this extraordinary documentary, film-maker Tanya Stephan has gained quiet and unique access to two very young girls... being put through their first paces at a school which teaches, essentially indoctrination. Immensely valuable. Rather terrifying. - Euan Ferguson, The Observer
Production Company: Rise Films & Tanya Stephan Films
(BBC One, 2011)
In this exceptional and profoundly moving documentary, a woman called Sylvia - who donated her eggs anonymously in 1991 - takes the courageous decision to contact the recipient, Joan, and Joan's 18-year-old twins, having felt conflicted and tormented for years... Meanwhile her own 19-year-old son Eliott conceived with the aid of an equally anonymous sperm donor, attempts to track down his birth 'father'... The outcome of all this is momentous and fascinating, both medically and ethically. It will knock you sideways. *****Time Out
Heart-warming.. a riveting watch - The Telegraph
It was touching and humbling to watch.. 'My soul is satisfied' said Sylvia. Mine too. - John Crace, The Guardian
Production Company: Rare Day
Series Director
3 x 60 minutes, BBC TWO, 2016
With top-to-bottom access, this series takes an eye-opening look inside the Post Office network - an iconic national institution undergoing the biggest shake-up in it’s nearly 400 year long history as it battles to reinvent itself for the modern world. But does progress come at too high a price?
We spent nine months filming the human stories behind this nationwide upheaval. There are postmasters having to give up the job they love, communities up in arms about what they see as the destruction of their village, and the stories of post office managers who have to execute what can be difficult and controversial changes. At the same time, there’s a new breed of postmasters and entrepreneurs seizing an opportunity.
“A poignant film about a beloved national network on its knees” – The Radio Times
“Incredibly powerful”- The Telegraph
“Emotionally charged” – Daily Mirror
“..all so involving and interesting. Important too” – Sam Wollaston, the Guardian
Production Company: Blast! Films
BBC2, 2016
Pentecostalism is the fastest growing Christian faith in Britain. This one off documentary as part of BBC's Black and British Season tells the powerful and moving stories of worshippers at one of London's oldest black majority Pentecostal churches.
Intimately shot and collaboratively made with a diverse team, the film follows members of the congregation at defining moments in their lives – dedications, funerals, and the full-immersion baptism of teenagers. At the heart of the film are the lives of young people who are finding refuge in the church to help them turn their lives around.
“Beautifully crafted and intimately shot. It was a film that stayed with you long after the tv was switched off.”
Best TV Programme Runner Up - Sandford St Martin Religion & Ethics Broadcasting Awards
Premiere: Ritzy Cinema: 12th November 2016
BBC FOUR/BBC TWO/SPEAKIT FILMS, 2018
Behind the scenes, access documentary about English National Opera collaborating with Turner Prize winning artist Wolfgang Tillmans on a radical new production. Unprecedented access to the company, performers and the artistic process.
(S1) SERIES DIRECTOR
3 x 60 mins, 9pm Channel 4 (2013)
A warm, playful and visually sumptuous ob doc series going behind the scenes of London’s most eccentric and iconic department store in the lead up to Christmas. Ep1 drew over 2 million viewers and topped the 9pm doc slot on C4 in 2013.
Due to its success, the series was recommissioned as a 4 x 60 the following year.
“This fabulous documentary series about the posh shop” – (Heat magazine)
“Essential viewing” – (British Vogue)
“A fascinating look behind the scenes of one of London’s most indulgent department stores” – (Telegraph)
