The Super-Rich and Us (BBC Documentary)

The Super-Rich and Us ( BBC Documentary Episode 1 )

Episode 1 of 2

Britain has more billionaires per head than any other country on earth, yet we're also the most unequal nation in Europe. We were told the super-rich would make us richer too, so why hasn't that happened, and what does the arrival of their astronomical wealth really mean for the rest of us?

In programme one of this two-part series, Jacques Peretti looks at how the super-rich first exploited an obscure legal loophole to make Britain one of the most attractive tax havens on earth. He argues this was no accident. Wooing the super-rich was a deliberate strategy by government to reconfigure the British economy, under the belief their wealth would trickle down to the rest of us. But it didn't. The OECD now say the British economy would have been 20 per cent bigger had we not pursued the super-rich. So who sold us the fallacy and why?

Jacques meets the super-rich themselves - from those buying premiership football clubs to the billionaires who are breaking ranks to criticise the decisions that made them richer and society more unequal.

Jacques challenges the architects of these policies, as well as tracking down the foreign multimillionaires who are buying up Britain and turning us from a nation of property owners to a nation of renters.

He uncovers new research that shows growing inequality has been driven by this key factor of unaffordable property, and the far-reaching effect this will have on every aspect of our lives. Inequality is reshaping Britain into two simple classes: the 99 per cent and the one per cent. This is the story of how it happened and what it means for all of us.

The Super-Rich and Us ( BBC Documentary Episode 2 )

In episode two, Jacques investigates how inequality was pinpointed as a business opportunity before the crash by the biggest bank in America, as a way of making money from a more divided society. Jacques also looks at how our work life was made deliberately more unstable in the 70s to drive a new 80s profit culture, and how an acceptance of huge executive bonuses was manufactured.

Jacques meets the billionaires who have gained, and those that are fearful for the society being created, and the people whose decisions are changing the very way we live.

LONDON BILLIONAIRES 2015

For the first time viewers are given an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most exclusive holiday destinations in the world - Necker Island. This film is an intimate portrait of how the rich, powerful and famous holiday, and what it's like for the staff who serve them.

It's an upstairs-downstairs world where nearly 100 staff cater to just 30 guests - where some have over a staggering £40,000 a night to experience the perfect island paradise. And while Necker is home to Sir Richard Branson and his family, it is also a serious commercial venture. Selling the Caribbean dream to the most demanding guests in the world is a daily pressure.

'If you’re one of those lucky people who’re in that position where you get that extreme wealth, you’ve just got to make sure that wealth goes back to society in some form or another–whether it’s creating more jobs or tackling the problems of the world. That money must not languish in a bank account and be unproductive.'

Who are the super-rich Russian elite who have chosen to make London their home? Why have they favoured the capital city? And why do they obsess about the English education system, polo and the monarchy?

We enter the lives of an entrepreneur chased out of Russia for his liberal views and growing bank balance, as well as one of London's biggest art collectors and philanthropists. We tap into the life of Russia's top supermodel. And as we follow two debutantes preparing for the glitz and glamour of the Russian ball, we meet Princess Olga Romanov, the granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas II's sister, who vividly recalls her coming out as a debutante.

Debunking some of the myths about Russians in London, this film takes us further under their skin than before. They love the capital city for its security and freedom, for them it is an English dream. But how do they see us? Why, when in London, do they still feel a need to access their Russian roots and culture? What is it that unites the Russians in London and brings them together for a fairy-tale night by the banks of the Thames? And on what do they spend their wealth?