Finding the Voice for a London We Can’t Ignore, Recording the St Mungo’s Christmas Campaign
Christmas campaigns are usually full of sparkle, jingles, festive warmth, cosy scripts about hot chocolate, presents, and fairy lights.
But every so often, a script arrives that asks for something else entirely.
Something confronting.
Something heavier.
Something real.
Last week, I recorded the new St Mungo’s Christmas radio campaign, and it was one of those moments where the work stops being work and becomes a responsibility. I was asked to remove all voice over aspects of the read, and relay what the frontline workers go through.
London at Christmas: Two Realities, Side by Side
The Sunday before the recording session, I was on Park Lane in Central London working for another job as a compere. Across the road from the five-star hotel where I was working, there were more than a dozen tents lined up in the cold. It was impossible to pretend they weren’t there. Impossible to walk past and not feel the sinking in my chest.
London is like that, two worlds living inches apart but separated by circumstances, luck, and systems that fail people long before they ever sleep outside.
So when I stepped into the booth for St Mungo’s, I carried that moment with me.
Finding the Tone: No Gloss, No Performance, Just Truth.
Some voiceover scripts need polish.
Some want clarity, speed, or musicality.
This one needed a frontline honesty, the kind you only get when you speak from lived proximity, from witnessing the city exactly as it is.
I stripped everything back.
No heightened delivery.
No emotive push.
Just a grounded, London voice speaking to other Londoners about something we’re all seeing every day.
To honour the message, the tone had to feel real: firm but human, confronting but respectful, hopeful without being sentimental.
A Campaign That Matters More Than Ever
Homelessness isn’t a seasonal problem, but Christmas makes it sharper.
Colder nights, busier streets, and a nation rushing around while others are simply trying to survive them.
St Mungo’s does work that most of us never see, outreach, emergency accommodation, long-term support, rebuilding lives from the inside out.
Giving my voice to this campaign felt meaningful because it wasn’t about selling a product; it was about giving a presence to people London often looks straight past.
Proud to Lend My Voice This Winter
I’m grateful to the creative team for trusting me with a script like this, the kind that demands care, not performance.
And I’m proud to help bring this message to the airwaves at a time of year when it matters most.
If one person listens… really listens… and chooses compassion over distance, awareness over avoidance, then I will know I’m part of a job that has made a difference.
This Christmas, I hope we all look up a little more, notice a little more, and remember that a city’s strength is measured not by its skyline, but by how it cares for the people at its feet.
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