60 Days on the Streets

Today, more people are sleeping rough than at any time since WW2. Self-shooting former soldier Ed Stafford spends 60 winter days and nights on the street with no money, no food and no shelter to get a first-hand view of Britain’s growing homelessness crisis. ‘60 days on the Streets’ reveals the human face of homelessness across Manchester, London and Glasgow, telling the stories of those on the streets, how they ended up there and how they survive at a time of increasing crisis.

Risking his physical and mental health Ed lives alongside the homeless to capture the reality of their existence. He’s enters a dangerous world in the grip of booze and drugs where skilful beggars make extraordinary sums and many rough sleepers are actually fake homeless.

In the first of this three-part series, Ed travels to Manchester, a city in the grip of a complex, intertwined homelessness and drugs epidemic, where rough sleeping has increased sevenfold since 2010. In a zero-tolerance crackdown, the local authorities have pledged to eradicate rough sleeping in the region by 2020 – but so far, the problems have proved insurmountable.

During his stay, Ed meets rough sleepers caught in the grip of addiction, many of whom are resigned to a life on the streets. This is a raw, honest and at times deeply shocking portrait of a marginalised community that few of us truly understand.

60 Days on the Street, has been nominated for Best Popular Factual Series at the Edinburgh TV Awards, 2019.