Child Poverty & Cannabis: Not Everything Is Green In The Professor's UK

Rapper turned documentarian Professor Green, aka Stephen Manderson, still considers himself to be learning the journalistic ropes, but that's never stopped him from approaching topics that would make most investigative vets baulk. In the past, he's dissected suicide, homelessness and illegal dogs in the UK — each a topic that Manderson has been drawn to through his own sometimes turbulent history. His latest documentaries for the BBC — Is It Time To Legalise Weed? and Living In Poverty, a look at the astounding, and rising, number of children growing up impoverished in one of the world's most affluent nations — are no different.

"[They're] pretty much the same as the ones I've done in the past," agrees Manderson. "It's just stuff that I've encountered and that I have half a relationship with. I grew up in a low-income family, and obviously cannabis has played a big part in my life, for better or worse. I wouldn't have the name Professor Green without it," he adds with a small laugh.

"We took the child poverty documentary to Parliament for a screening last week, and there wasn't a single member of our government there."

While not the most common career progression for rappers, Manderson says of making the documentaries that, "I think it's a good medium to make people aware, but also to give people the opportunity to think about what... I guess it's helping people make their own decisions."

Having said that, returning to these situations, and putting them under a fine lens, isn't an easy process. At several times during the episodes, Manderson is clearly confronted by what he finds.

"It was really difficult," shares Manderson, "especially the child poverty documentary. 'Cause you forge relationships with people, you know. You have to. But when you emphasise often what happens is you take on other people's problems and you go home with them, which obviously they live with them. So you know, they suffer more, but it's quite difficult to immerse yourself in that, you don't just get the - it's not like an office job where you go in, crunch numbers, leave work, and work's finished. It does sit with you.

"It all gets dredged up again. I guess it's more because it brings back a lot of what I went through as a child, but the situations of the kids that I met were living in were far worse than what I saw. Some of it was similar to what I saw but a lot of it was worse. What I saw first-hand anyway."

While the films have been well-received so far, including increased awareness and support for families in dire financial situations, Manderson tells that it can often feel like "preaching to the choir". "We took the child poverty documentary to Parliament for a screening last week, and there wasn't a single member of our government there. Which kind of tells you everything you need to know... It was so commonplace people that there were just like, 'Yeah, I'm not really surprised by it.' And you just think that's why nothing ever changes.

"There's this idea, and I don't know if it's because they just don't care or because  they are totally ignorant and so far away from the people that they affect with the decisions they make, but this government has this false idea that you can come from anywhere and make whatever you want of yourself. And I mean, don't get me wrong, .02% of people probably can, you know, they get a golden ticket... But for the most part, where you're born, you know, your start does quite often determine your end. There are ceilings and it's really, really difficult. And talking to kids and seeing it, it's hard. It is really - it's horrible, when you hear a child already havin' given up, and accepting - life as it is. They're robbed of any dreams, hopes or aspirations because they just accept that, you know, that'd be nice but that's just not life."

Professor Green: Weed & Child Poverty premieres Monday, 2 Oct at 9.30pm on BBC Knowledge (available on Foxtel and Fetch TV).