2025 marks the 50th year of the Whitechapel Centre, Liverpool’s leading homeless and housing charity. Half a century of opening doors, offering beds, serving meals, and crucially, listening. It’s a milestone, but not one they’re eager to celebrate. As the team put it, “We wish we weren’t needed anymore.”
Sadly, the truth is the opposite. Whitechapel’s work is more urgent than ever. Rising costs of living, fragile jobs, and a harsh housing market mean more people than ever teeter on the edge of homelessness.
We spoke to Adam Sheldon, Director at Big Egg Films, about the mini-documentary he created with the Whitechapel Centre, the important work they do, and how film can play a crucial role in social change.
Beyond the stereotypes
When many think of homelessness, they picture the man sleeping rough in a city doorway. Whitechapel does support people on the streets - but their work reaches much further. Families, young people, and those whose homes are unsafe all find help here. Much of it is preventative: stepping in before a crisis becomes catastrophic.
Still, Whitechapel is best known for its outreach teams. The people who walk Liverpool’s streets at night, offering help where it’s needed most. For their 50th year, we decided that’s where the story should begin. Not polished or packaged, but documentary-style, warts and all - showing lives being saved in real time.
Why film matters
"Homelessness is easy to look past. Walk through the city centre and the sight of rough sleepers can fade into the background - like street furniture. Not because people don’t care, but because life feels overwhelming enough"
Film cuts through that filter. By bringing people’s stories into focus, it asks us to see the humans we might otherwise ignore.
"Film allows us to be on the front line of the problem of homelessness. It's is as close as we can get to walking in the shoes of someone who is about to embark on their first night sleeping rough, or feel the emotions of a family as they have nowhere to call 'home'. It is by capturing these moments sensitively that we can effecitively call for meaningful action".
And it doesn’t just ask for donations. Sometimes awareness is the first act of solidarity. Recognising someone as human. Offering a smile. Donating clothes. Understanding that none of us are as far away from homelessness as we’d like to think. As one outreach worker reminded us, “You’re only ever a few paychecks away."
A story from the streets
One of the moments captured in the film shows just how quickly life can unravel. A 34-year-old man, freshly arrived in Liverpool, was spotted pitching a brand-new tent outside the library. He thought it would be safe - well-lit, with CCTV. What he didn’t know was how vulnerable that spot made him.
"As a film maker, I was sturck by the openness and honesty in how he told his story. The gravity of the situation that was unfolding before me demonstrated just how quickly anyone can become one of the city's forgotten citizens. Thankfully, the work I saw the Whitechapel do meant that he wasnt forgotten. But what about the others who aren't as lucky?"
Whitechapel’s team intervened. That very night, they helped him into shelter and began planning his next steps. Only the year before, he’d been earning £200 a day as a roofer, driving a Mercedes. Now, suddenly, he was homeless. The outreach team caught him on his first night - the difference between a plan and a downward spiral.
Seeing the human
This is what Whitechapel has always done: remind us that homelessness is not a choice. It is circumstance, often brutal and sudden. The charity insists on seeing the person first: someone’s brother, someone’s father, someone who needs safety and dignity.
"Bearing whitness to the Whitechapels work with Russell and Mike reminded me of excatly why I became a film maker. Their attention to detail, non-judgemental compassion, and humble acts of humanity are the story that I wanted to do justice with this film."
Bringing the work to the public
To mark the anniversary, the Open Eye Gallery in Liverpool is hosting a special exhibition. Visitors will see Whitechapel’s story told through film, photographs, and memories collected over five decades. The aim isn’t to celebrate the passage of time, but to shine a light on resilience, transformation, and the urgent need to keep going.
Big Egg Films is proud to have partnered with Whitechapel to bring these stories to life. Because the best way to understand their work isn’t through statistics or annual reports - it’s through the people whose lives have been changed. And sometimes saved.
Watch the trailer and visit Open Eye Gallery to see the full film from the 25th September to 19th October. For more information visit: https://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/
