Tom Parker: Inside My Head
Nominated: National Television Award (Best Authored Documentary)
90 minute film for Channel 4 and Stand Up To Cancer | Spun Gold TV
Filmed, Produced and Directed
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“This was a film about so many things: cancer treatment during Covid, the specific cruelty of brain tumours, the gruelling reality of treatment, the inequality of accessing the latest medicine and a young family facing an unpredictable future with courage… Heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure, it was a privilege to watch.”
★★★★★ The I
“When it came to that final concert, no sentient mammal could fail to be moved as Parker took his bow.”
★★★★★ The Telegraph
Senior Producer: Alice O’Brien | Film Editor: Dominic Coke
Original Music By: Rob Manning | Executive Producers: Nick Bullen, Lee Connolly
Assistant Producer: Callum McCulloch | Production Manager: Alex Ward
Interview Director of Photography: Patrick Smith
Cover Image Credit: Alun Callender
In 2021, I had the privilege to spend eight months filming with the late Tom Parker, his wife Kelsey and their family. In October 2020, Tom was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour called a glioblastoma multiforme.
When I met Tom, he was asking himself difficult questions about his and his family’s future, the life he’s lived to date, and his experiences with fame. I was struck by Tom and Kelsey’s candour, and their ability to find the positives in what has been the most challenging time of their lives. This was none more so apparent than when Tom set about readying himself for a charity concert to be held at the Royal Albert Hall in September 2021 - less than a year after his diagnosis.
We decided that the film we made should be a hybrid of a couple of different styles; I followed Tom’s incredibly personal experience of living with cancer in a traditional observational documentary style, but I also filmed Tom’s preparations for the concert alongside meetings with other people like him, aimed at helping him find out more about the treatment landscape in the UK.
The result of the time we spent together was this 90-minute documentary for Stand Up To Cancer and Channel 4, which I filmed, produced and directed.
In making this film, the very talented Alice O’Brien and I built a lasting relationship with the Parkers, and were trusted to film some of the hardest things they’ve ever experienced, including the wait for critical MRI scan results. I conducted master interviews and directed a six camera shoot for the inspiring concert at the Royal Albert Hall which formed the final part of the film.
In the edit, Dominic Coke and I worked hard to interweave the three different structural elements of the film, and came up with novel ways to tell the story of Tom’s rise to fame as well as his present condition (borrowing ideas from feature documentary). The film received great feedback from the brain tumour community and, most importantly, from Tom and his family.
