Britain: My New Home

7 March 2013

In 2005, award-winning documentary maker Daisy Asquith began filming a unique and ambitious series of long-term documentaries about three immigrant children who move to Britain to begin a brand new life. Captured over five years, their lives have been documented on camera from the moment they stepped off the plane aged 11 right up until they reach their 16th birthday.

The first episode sees Imran, Altynay and Marshal arriving in Britain, their first impressions of their new home and follows their first days at school. Imran is in Peterborough and about to start secondary school in Britain, even though he has never left his village in Pakistan before; Altynay from Kyrgyzstan has to make friends in a Yorkshire village without speaking a word of English, and Marshal moves from Zimbabwe to Newcastle where he is finally reunited with his mother after spending five years apart.

In the second episode, Imran, Altynay and Marshal are in their second and third years in Britain and are adapting to their new surroundings; and in the third and final episode the children reflect back on their journey to Britain and how they finally settled into their new home.

Including brand new footage with the children aged 16, their interviews are warm, intimate and entertaining. They tell the story of multiculturalism in modern Britain and reflect back on their personal journey and describe the challenges they faced.

Production Company: Ricochet

Filmed and Directed by Daisy Asquith

Executive produced by Patrick Holland