Credits
Sam, Hilly, Lucy, Lewis & Megan
The guys are co-producers and co-owners of the series as well as being the stars of the show. We kept them busy! They gave us feedback on the films at the rough cut stage, did a brilliant job of providing the voiceover (Lewis became expert in erecting the voiceover booth!) and have continued to generously share their lives with us. We love them!
Katy Lock & Daniel May
Katy did most of the shooting on “The Specials” working closely with the guys and their support workers & families. She edited the episodes in her spare bedroom while drinking vast amounts of tea.
Dan, our resident technical wizard, was the one who came up with the idea for making “The Specials” a web series. He created and developed the website, constructed our home editing suite, built a mobile voiceover booth from MDF and old carpet and did all the sound mixing and colour grading on Season 2, all the while executive producing the web series and shooting second camera.
Small Opportunities
Carol & Dafydd are Hilly’s parents and started their company Small Opportunities to set up the house where “The Specials” live. Both they and their support workers worked closely with Katy & Dan throughout all stages of the production, checking that the housemates were enjoying the process but also felt able to raise any issues they might be having. This continual communication was vital as “The Specials” navigated some tricky emotional situations.
Read our story or watch our series Home At Last to find out about their work.
Carolyn Strauss
Carolyn is an American television executive producer who is responsible for many of our favourite programmes. From commissioning “The Sopranos”, “The Wire” and “Sex & The City” as head of HBO Entertainment, to executive producing “Game of Thrones”. Carolyn discovered “The Specials” when a friend sent her and D.B. Weiss the link. She got in touch and is now our beloved Executive Producer. She was brilliant at making sure we stayed true to the show’s ethos as we prepared it for broadcast in the USA.
D. B. Weiss
Dan is the creator of “Game of Thrones” and along with Carolyn, came to meet us in London after seeing “The Specials” online. He has been incredibly encouraging Executive Producer and together with Carolyn helped us crack the difficult nut that was the first episode of Season 2.
Rosie O’Donnell
Another of our amazing Executive Producers, Rosie talked about “The Specials” on her radio show and then brought it to Oprah Winfrey’s attention which kicking off a whole new chapter for us. Season 1 & 2 were made in association with her company KidRo Productions, Inc.
Oprah Winfrey
It was a mind-blowing day when Carolyn told us Oprah loved our show and wanted it for her channel: OWN. Thanks to Oprah we had the support and resources to shoot a second series and “The Specials” reached a much wider audience in the USA.
Sheri Salata
The president of OWN, Sheri steered “The Specials” as it made the transition to television in the USA. Together with Oprah, she was one of our Executive Producers and was brilliantly supportive.
Support Workers
Over the years we have received an incredible welcome from the support workers who, despite initial shyness, supported the guys in their wish to make a web series about their lives. So, a massive thank you to: Alex, Anthony, Anuska, David, Gaz, Hannah, Jack, Jamie, Jodi, Jonathan, Laura, Liv, Lizzie, Nathan, Nicki, Poppy and last but most definitely not least Robbie, who manages “The Specials” home.
Claire & Étienne Collot
Claire & Étienne met Katy through Facebook as they loved the show and had a little boy called Benoît with Down Syndrome. They very kindly offered to translate “The Specials” into French. Subtitles are now available for both Season 1 and 2. Merci beaucoup !
If you would like to translate “The Specials” into your language, get in touch.
Chris Oram
Chris oversaw post production of the re-edited episodes of Season 1 as they were prepared for television broadcast.
Jon Gray
Jon did a brilliant job of sound-mixing Season 1 in post production. Many hours were spent on that final scene in the nightclub…
Liam Jolly
Liam joined us in our home editing suite and cut 3 of our favourite episodes in Season 2: Eps 2, 3 & 4. He also complied with our home custom of drinking copious amounts of tea and beer while watching the cricket.
Moses Ngabo
Moses spoke to Katy on a train back from Brighton when he saw her viewing footage on her camera. He asked to do work experience on the project and used his discerning ear to pick out some of the music in the series.
John Nassari
Our dear friend, John, is also an exceptional photographer. His photo session with the guys provided the banner photos you see on this website.
Philip Spence
Philip is a digital graphic designer and collaborated with Dan & the guys in creating the design of the website.
Related
Voiceover
Recording the voiceover was hard work, but a lot of fun! You might be surprised how we did it…