Professor Green: ‘Making documentaries is horrible’

Musician turned TV documentarian Professor Green struggles with his new career as it exposes him to horrifying experiences.
The British rapper, real name Stephen Manderson, moved into factual television in 2015, when he presented BBC Three show Professor Green: Suicide and Me, a hard-hitting look at why suicide rates are so high among men. The 34-year-old’s father committed suicide in 2008.
Earlier this year (18), he returned with a new show on white working class alienation and poverty, but he says he doesn’t enjoy making such hard-hitting films as he finds the life experiences of those he meets harrowing.
“People always ask me, ‘Do you enjoy documentaries?’ No! It’s horrible,” he tells Britain’s Rollacoaster magazine. “I’ve met people in horrible situations who’ve gone through terrible things and their lives don’t change after the documentaries, but the reward is making people think.”
Green, who recently split from his model girlfriend Fae Williams, explains that he feels obligated to make documentaries as he is not a trained journalist, and so people may be more open towards him.
“I’m not a journalist but that’s probably been in my favour because I don’t approach people as a journalist, I approach people as a person,” he shares.
In addition to his work as a filmmaker, the star is now preparing to release his first album in four years and is embarking on an acting career, making his movie debut in British horror Are We Dead Yet? later this year.