‘Russell Brand: Open Secret’ Documentary Set at Netflix

A Russell Brand documentary is coming to Netflix, set to chart his comedy stardom to a criminal trial that culminated in a 10-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault this week.

Russell Brand: Open Secret is from the producers of Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story, 72 Films, a Fremantle company, and directed by Olivia Isaacs.

The doc promises to feature inside voices and archive footage, providing insight into Brand’s life and the investigation that started it all at The Times and The Sunday Times, through their chief news correspondent, Rosamund Urwin and investigations correspondent, Charlotte Wace. Crucially, Russell Brand: Open Secret will examine how, despite many people in the TV industry being aware of his behavior, he evaded punishment for so long.

Brand’s four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court captivated the country and British media. After being sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison on Monday, the disgraced star was led away and transferred to HMP Wandsworth prison. He’ll be expected to serve around seven years of that prison sentence before being released on licence.

The judge, Justice Bennathan, took Brand through all of his crimes in extensive detail, citing the witness impact statements from the four victims before handing down the sentence. He said Brand operated with “staggering arrogance” during the attacks and that his entourage often “indulged” his “dreadful behavior.” He said toward the end of his statement: “Whatever women wear, wherever they go, indeed whatever they drink, they retain the right to say ‘no’ and to demand justice from criminal courts when sexual predators like you, Russell Brand, act without their consent.”

Among the crimes he was convicted of were a violent anal rape of a woman at his Hampstead home in 2009 and three sexual assaults.