The 56-year-old, from Kingsbury, north-west London, said: “You have to work a lot harder in documentary these days to get an audience. You have to think of a way to make hard stories accessible. I wanted to do something that was bold and very different. I suppose in a way I had been somewhat inspired by Scandinavian crime dramas.”
Mr Grant, a former Hull University Jewish Society chairman, said film-making was “as challenging” as teaching at JFS in the 1980s.
He explained: “I absolutely adored teaching at JFS. They were my formative years. I adored it so much that I went on to become a school governor after I left.
“I had done everything I wanted to do as a teacher. I was seemingly regarded as quite a successful teacher — but my love lay in the classroom and not going up the food-chain.
“Going into filming was a natural progression. All of my teaching experience helped me as a researcher on a political programme.”
During his time at JFS, Mr Grant also worked as a voluntary researcher for then Labour MP Ken Livingstone, who is currently suspended from the political party.
But the film-maker has not spoken to the former London Mayor for almost 20 years.
Mr Grant said: “Ken is not the person I remember. It’s very sad for me.”
