RTS Cymru Wales held an advance screening at University of South Wales last month of a BBC Wales documentary, The Impossible Show: Tsunami Relief Concert, made by Cardiff indie Orchard Media.
After watching harrowing news images from the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, Paul Sergeant, then manager of Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, was moved to raise money for the victims of the disaster.
With the help of two friends, he vowed to put on a concert in the capital in just three weeks – with no artists signed up. As Sergeant says in the film: “We all thought it was probably a crazy idea.”
The documentary tells the story of how the trio pulled off one of the biggest charity concerts since Live Aid, with 66,000 people listening to Welsh stars such as Manic Street Preachers, Katherine Jenkins, Charlotte Church and Goldie Lookin Chain, plus Eric Clapton, Jools Holland and Craig David. It raised more than £1.25m.
The film is now showing on BBC iPlayer. Its executive producer, Adrian Jones, told the screening audience how refreshing it was to make a feelgood show in a genre dominated by true crime. “Ultimately, Wales is a nation of generous people, and this was a story that needed to be told right now in the world,” he said.
