Russell Brand: Open Secret on Netflix charts the comedian’s rise, trial and conviction – Russell Brand: Open Secret, a new documentary about the British comedian, is now streaming on Netflix in Australia. The film follows Brand’s career and the investigation that preceded his criminal trial, according to Netflix.
It arrived on Friday 13 November, days after Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison for rape and sexual assault. The sentence was handed down at Southwark Crown Court in London, Courthouse News and NBC News report.
For Australian subscribers, the 84-minute film is part of Netflix’s new releases this week, alongside titles in TV Central’s Netflix Australia guide for 9–15 November. It comes from 72 Films, the Fremantle company behind Netflix’s Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story.
What is Russell Brand: Open Secret about?
Netflix describes the film as tracing Brand’s path from comedian and film star to political activist and YouTuber, and then to his criminal trial.
From comedy stardom to a criminal trial, this documentary charts Russell Brand’s meteoric rise and steep fall following allegations of sexual offenses.
Netflix synopsis
The documentary uses archival footage and interviews with people who knew Brand. It also examines the 2023 investigation by The Times and The Sunday Times, led by Rosamund Urwin and Charlotte Wace.
Who appears in the documentary?
Netflix lists contributors including:
- Rosamund Urwin and Charlotte Wace, The Times and The Sunday Times
- Comedians Nish Kumar and Harriet Kemsley
- Guardian columnist George Monbiot
- Actor and writer Sarah Solemani
- Laura Conder, a producer who worked with Brand on Stay Free
- Mark Pinheiro, Brand’s former housemate
- Former partners Amanda Alguero Alejos, Georgina Baillie and Jordan Martin
- Alleged victims whose identities have been protected
Accounts from contributors in the film are their own claims. They are separate from the charges tested at Brand’s trial.
What the court decided
A jury at Southwark Crown Court found Brand guilty on 5 November of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. The jury found him not guilty of two further counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.
On 9 November, Judge Joel Bennathan sentenced Brand, 51, to 10 years and six months in prison. The convictions relate to four women and offences between 2004 and 2009, Courthouse News reports. Brand had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
How the film was made
Director Olivia Isaacs says the film was three years in the making. She also says the team worked carefully around the criminal case.
We began filming before the police had brought any charges, and from the start we were acutely aware that we couldn’t transmit anything before the trial concluded or do anything that might prejudice it.
Olivia Isaacs, director, speaking to Netflix Tudum
According to Isaacs, the survivors filmed for the documentary were not part of the trial. She adds that the team spoke to hundreds of people, and not all of them had allegations.
The message is that you’re not alone, and that it’s never too late to speak up.
Olivia Isaacs, director, speaking to Netflix Tudum
Who made Russell Brand: Open Secret?
Clare Cameron, David Glover and Mark Raphael are executive producers. Meanwhile, Kate Yandle, Laura Spence and Felicity Cross produced the film for 72 Films.
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For more TV Central Netflix news, head here. You can watch Russell Brand: Open Secret on Netflix.