The Convex Conversation

In part two of our special with music legend and CCO of Whizz Kid Entertainment, Malcolm Gerrie gives an insight into the new film he’s just finished shooting with blind tenor Andrea Bocelli. 

Malcolm and the team from Lionsgate have had incredible access to the star and his family at their home and venues all over the world. The much-anticipated film comes out in the autumn.

Malcolm also chats about his 23 years exec producing the BAFTA's – and revamping the Brits, introducing unexpected collaborations with artists like Eurythmics and Stevie Wonder, Robbie Williams and Tom Jones.

In part one of our two-part special, the story of how a teacher from Newcastle pushed the boundaries in music, creating the legendary eighties show The Tube.

Malcolm Gerrie booked ‘low priority act’ Madonna for her first UK performance, helped U2 break America at Red Rocks, breathed fresh life into Tina Turner’s career and exec produced live performances from Elton, REM, The Who, The Jam and many more. 

Malcolm exec'd the Bafta's for 23 years, revamped The Brits, and has just finished making a film with blind tenor Andrea Bocelli. He feels the time is ripe for a new music show which reflects what’s going on in the world right now - something radical which creates some noise - and he challenges Sky Arts or Netflix to get cracking! 

Hacked Off board director Emma Jones explores Prince Harry’s ‘monumental victory’ against News Group Newspapers and what it means for hundreds of other victims of press intrusion. 

Emma was at London’s High Court when Rupert Murdoch’s group settled with the Duke of Sussex at the eleventh hour, minutes before the trial was due to start. NGN issued an unequivocal apology for incidents of unlawful activity and serious intrusion as well as paying substantial damages.  

Hacked Off campaigner Hugh Grant is now calling for the Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan Police to investigate a criminal prosecution for phone hacking and the use of private investigators by NGN newspapers, including The Sun. Emma says the actor wanted his day in court but believes civil cases are weighted against claimants and reluctantly settled. 

Prince Harry's barrister says NGN have paid out more than a billion pounds in settlements and legal costs. 

80 years since Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated, 87-year-old Holocaust survivor John Hajdu MBE shared his story of survival with the Princess of Wales this week and got a big hug. 

So, we’re re-running our episode where John tells Helen about his harrowing life as a young boy in Budapest seeing Jews persecuted & killed and his parents forced to labour camps. Comforted by his teddy bear as the horrors unfolded, the bear remains his constant companion.

John was honoured to be photographed by Rankin two years ago. Rankin said: “John’s bear is a tangible reminder that the stories we are telling happened in recent history and we must learn from these events – for a better future.”

Black & white photographs by Rankin

Award-winning artist George Butler creates ink and watercolour drawings in situ in war zones, refugee camps and disaster areas all over the world and some of his work can be found in museum archives, including at the V&A.

His testimonies of ordinary people capture suffering, courage, moments of hope, and introduce us to real characters behind the headlines, whose situations we rarely hear about on the news. 

George has drawn in a leprosy clinic in Nepal; spent time with The Hazda tribe in Tanzania as they work with the honeyguide birds, and most recently been in Syria where Action Syria UK - a charity he co-founded - funds doctors and teachers.

His new book – Ukraine : Remember Also Me – is described by BBC's Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet as “a remarkable first draft of history – raw and revelatory”. 

Photograph by Mauricio Gris

Petro collecting books after a missile strike - Kramatorsk, Ukraine

Photograph by Bram Janssen

Matriarch & great-grandmother 99-year-old Madame Olga - Kyiv, Ukraine

Photography by Tim Brown

Jesse Dufton was the first blind person to lead a climb of The Old Man of Hoy – a daunting sea stack in the Orkney Islands, off the coast of Scotland. It earned him a Guinness world record and was the subject of Alastair Lee’s multi-award-winning documentary Climbing Blind. 

In newly-released Climbing Blind II, Jesse describes being “right at his limit” and “redlining for what felt like an eternity” as he leads a brutal and painful ascent of Devils Tower in Wyoming with his sight guide, wife Molly. 

Jesse has been climbing from the age of two, has many first to his name, and refuses to give in to a genetic condition which totally robbed him of his sight in his mid 20s.

Image from Devils Tower from Climbing Blind II, thanks to Alastair Lee, Brit Rock Films

Image from Devils Tower from Climbing Blind II, thanks to Alastair Lee, Brit Rock Films

Devils Tower, Wyoming

Pioneering jockey Khadijah Mellah, from Peckham, became the first UK jockey to compete in a horse race in Britain wearing a hijab. 

A minute later, she made history again by riding her mount, Haverland, to victory in the Magnolia Cup at Goodwood. A film was made of her remarkable story and an academy set up in her name to help other youngsters from under-represented urban areas pursue a career in racing.

24-year-old Khadijah explains how, as a young Muslim woman, she’s changing perceptions in sport. She recently chatted to the King and Queen, who she's met a number of times, and took part in the Hillclimb at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed in an Aston Martin Valkryie with F3 legend Peter Dunbrek. 

Investigative journalist Glen Campbell details his decades long search for fugitive Lord Lucan – the Eton-educated gambler who disappeared without trace after murdering his children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, in 1974.

Glen forms an unlikely partnership with Sandra’s son, Neil Berriman, and their investigations all over the world are subject of a gripping new BBC three-part documentary, Lucan.

They speak to Lucan’s aristocratic friends, his brother, the nanny’s boyfriend, and the clues finally lead them to Australia to confront a man of interest. Find out what happens next in a hunt which has enthralled detectives and press alike for half a century.

Investigative journalist Glen Campbell with Sandra Rivett's son, Neil Berriman

Laura Harnett spent 20 years as a high-flying corporate executive, in the boardroom at Selfridges and working for brands like IKEA and Coca-Cola. Never did she imagine she’d be championing a humble cleaning sponge.

However, frustrated by supermarket aisles full of microplastic-filled cleaning tools, and a devastating diagnosis of breast cancer, she gave it all up to become an entrepreneur in her 40s and start Seep.

Seep is a B Corp which designs eco-friendly, plastic-free, biodegradable cleaning accessories using natural renewables like wood, loofah and bamboo, and aims to stop a billion plastic cleaning tools going to landfill by 2030.

* 20% off for Convex Conversation listeners using HELEN20 at www.theseepcompany.com 

The eye-opening trek inspired Miles and Spencer to write A Line in the Sand – a best-selling sleuthing adventure capturing the essence of the Middle East through the eyes of two lifelong friends, following clues left by Lawrence of Arabia.