BBC - The Choir: Aylesbury Prison (2020)

Gareth Malone faces a challenge which will test him like no other – to form a choir in one of the toughest prisons for young offenders.

Episode 1
Gareth Malone undertakes a challenge that will test him like no other – to form a prison choir.

The setting is Aylesbury Young Offenders Institute, a prison for young men serving sentences from four years to life. These are some of the most violent young men in Britain.

Gareth arrives at Aylesbury Young Offenders Prison. This is his very first time in a prison and he is understandably nervous. He meets with prison governor Laura Sapwell. The prison is undergoing a programme of improvements, having been placed in special measures. As part of these improvements, Laura has invited Gareth to Aylesbury to set up the prison’s first choir. One of the primary purposes of HM prisons is to try to prevent people reoffending, and she feels that a choir might be a different and unique way to engage with the young men at Aylesbury. She doesn’t know what to expect but she has high hopes that Gareth can make it happen.

Still nervous but eager to get going, Gareth begins recruiting for his choir. With prisoners spread across four wings and often out across the prison in training or jobs, he has a lot of ground to cover to get to all of them individually.

At the end of his first week, Gareth has met almost all the prison’s 200 residents and 20 have expressed real interest in working with him. Gareth may have a fair list of names but getting those people in the same room at the same time is a challenge. Apart from the logistical and security issues, gang rivalries mean that many prisoners have to be kept apart. Despite this, fights break out on average once a day. Gareth has to devise a strategy to minimise the risk of a serious incident while trying to get the boys to trust him and tell their stories.

Getting anyone to sing is an unexpected struggle as the majority of boys only want to do one form of music – drill. With its often violent lyrics and association with gang culture, the choirmaster wasn’t quite expecting to have to find a place for it in his repertoire! Gareth meets an ex-gang member and drill artist who has been in and out of prison for most of his teenage life with a string of convictions since the age of 13. He is desperate to change and agrees to work with Gareth. They create a song together and just as Gareth feels he is making progress, another violent incident threatens to derail the programme when one of the boys ends up in hospital.

Gareth decides to change tack and to start his rehearsals with boys from the same wing to minimise the risk of any fighting. But by this point, his initial recruits have dwindled to single figures. In a minor triumph, Gareth manages to get three prisoners from the same wing in the same room at once for practice. They show a real willingness to work together despite the fact that none of them actually sing.

Weeks into the programme, Gareth is still stuck for a singer, until a new inmate arrives on D wing. Gareth now has a decent group and wants to see how well they do with a performance in front of their peers. Just hours before show time, his new lead singer goes awol. The performance for their peers goes ahead minus Gareth’s new singing discovery and is a resounding success.

It is a tiny first step to fulfilling the promise he has made to the governor that he will form a choir and they will put on some kind of performance to show what progress has been made by prisoners taking part in the programme.

With just three weeks left and a choir of only five prisoners, Gareth has no real idea how he will pull it off in the hardest and most challenging environment he has ever worked in.

Episode 2
In the second of this two-part series, Gareth Malone returns to Aylesbury prison, where he has been asked by governor Laura Sapwell to set up the prison’s first choir.

Aylesbury Young Offenders Institute houses young men serving sentences of between four years to life - among them are some of the most violent young men in the UK.

Gareth has just weeks to recruit enough prisoners to form a choir. In the first six weeks, he struggled to get to grips with a prison system that has to deal with gang rivalries and daily incidents of violence to overcoming the logistics of work and education programmes run by the prison. Gareth managed to find ways to bring boys together without running the risk of them fighting and he even found a way to collaborate with boys who only wanted to perform drill music. He formed a small group on D wing who performed in front of their peers.

Inspired by that tiny ray of light, Gareth decides to go for broke and showcase individual performers and find some way of putting together a large choir for a concert in front of the governor. But he has only seven performers and a handful of half-baked songs, the boys keep getting into trouble and he has just three weeks to put on a show.

Gareth wants to pick up where he left off but he needs to recruit more performers. He reconnects with the only proper singer he found in the last episode, a young man who suffers with mental health issues. Sentenced to four years for armed robbery, Gareth is left wondering if he will ever truly get him to commit to the choir.

A new prisoner wants to work with Gareth. He soon learns that this young man had a steady job before he got involved in a petty crime and stabbing someone. He turns his story into a song. This method seems to open the door as other prisoners work with Gareth, revealing life stories that follow a familiar pattern of drugs, gangs, mistakes and regret.

He now has a small ensemble on D wing and other prisoners writing solo pieces, but he still has no actual choir to speak of. He decides to go after the prison officers but at first they seem as reluctant as the prisoners. However, after a seemingly lacklustre response to his recruiting, he is shocked by a turnout of almost 50 staff.

On B wing, Gareth works with a charismatic musician who has been reluctant to get involved with the choir. Sentenced to life at 15 years old, he credits prison with changing the boy he was at the time of the crime.

Gareth persuades this talented rapper to practice with the 50-strong staff choir - if he agrees, Gareth knows the other prisoners will follow. But he is deeply sceptical and very suspicious.

In the final week, everything picks up pace. Gareth begins to see what a full concert might look like. He has some strong individual performances, bolstered by the staff choir and he even has his quartet on D wing. Gareth is still hoping to get a song and performance from his main singer but in prison things never go to plan.

In one morning, two alarms sound each signalling an incident. The first fight involves one of the boys from Gareth’s quartet. He is now locked in his cell and can’t work with Gareth until after an adjudication. The second incident involves his only and strongest singer, who is attacked while crossing the yard.

A few days later, Gareth manages to get a session in with his best singer. He writes a song in 20 minutes perfectly capturing what it feels like to suffer from and cope with depression. Gareth is impressed but has no idea if this talented singer will show up for the final performance.

As the day of the concert approaches, the governor is forced to pull another one of Gareth’s quartet out of performing. Gareth and the rest of the prisoners crack on with last minute rehearsals. Prisoners invite family members and friends to attend. The governor and local dignitaries file onto an empty wing where the concert will take place.

Gareth is poised - musicians, lights and sound are ready. The boys are brought into holding cells adjoining the stage and extra security are on hand just in case. The staff choir takes to the stage, the governor takes her seat, the lights go down. What follows is an event like nothing ever witnessed at Aylesbury before.