British taxpayers are now covering wages for crew members left unpaid following the collapse of the Simon Pegg film Angels in the Asylum a year ago.
According to US publication Deadline, the government’s Redundancy Payments Service, which operates under the Insolvency Service and draws funding from National Insurance contributions, has begun disbursing money to workers who were owed approximately £600,000 when production halted in February 2025.
However, those receiving payments are getting far less than their full entitlements. One crew member revealed they expect to receive roughly a third of what they were originally owed.
The worker expressed outrage at the situation. “It’s absolutely outrageous,” they said. “The government is paying up for the mistakes of the producers.
Simon Pegg was billed to star and serve as an executive producer on the project
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“This is not why I pay my taxes. Pegg and the executive producers could write this off in a second and pay everyone off.”
The independent feature was housed under a special purpose vehicle called AITA Films Limited. Rob Sorrenti, making his debut as a feature director, served as both producer and director on the project, working alongside Heather Greenwood, whose credits include co-producing Gavin & Stacey: The Finale.
Mr Pegg took on the lead role and held an executive producer credit, though he had no involvement in the production’s financial arrangements and received no payment for his work. Steven Daldry, known for directing The Crown, also served as an executive producer.
The Shaun of the Dead star has also previously been vocal about the government’s handling of taxpayers’ cash, calling for higher taxes to be implemented on millionaires like him.
Production on the Simon Pegg-led film was halted halfway through its shoot last year
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In 2020, six years before taxpayer funds were being used to pay unpaid staff at Angels in the Asylum, Mr Pegg described financial inequality as the “driving force behind both societal breakdown and the very real climate crisis we face”.
He also criticised world leaders for finding the task of fixing a “broken economy” as “too complex” for them. “So let the millionaires help get you started. Tax them. Tax them more and do it now,” he pleaded.
Production on Angels in the Asylum ground to a halt midway through what was planned as a month-long shoot. An AITA Films spokesperson stated: “Crew payments are being handled through the standard insolvency process.”
The company entered administration in April 2025, with Mr Sorrenti and Ms Greenwood initially describing the move as precautionary and temporary.
Simon Pegg is best known for starring in Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, and the Mission Impossible franchise
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The film boasts an ensemble cast featuring Katherine Waterston, Minnie Driver, Lesley Nicol, Rose Williams, Aurora Perrineau and Alex Jennings. Cush Jumbo and Miriam Margolyes were originally attached to the project.
It wasn’t just a crew member who expressed their outrage. After Deadline reported the news, some took to social media to share their thoughts on the decision.
“Taxpayers covering a film flop? Brutal,” one X user reacted, while a second queried: “Simon Pegg attached or not, how does a production get that far without securing payments for its crew?
“At the end of the day, it’s the workers who get hit first and the public cleaning up the mess after. That system needs serious fixing.”
Simon Pegg attached or not, how does a production get that far without securing payments for its crew?
At the end of the day, it’s the workers who get hit first and the public cleaning up the mess after. That system needs serious fixing 👀🔥
— C Y B E R B U N K (@cyberbunk) March 17, 2026
Another also questioned the way in which the industry as a whole worked. “The producer of this was interested in a music biopic I co-wrote,” the X user claimed.
“They loved the script but wanted a more established writer to rewrite it coz we weren’t named writers, even though they liked our writing! FFS! anyway, were told this is how the biz works. Guess we dodged a bullet.” (sic)
Drawing inspiration from true events, Angels in the Asylum follows women who were forcibly held in isolation at Surrey’s Long Grove Asylum during the 1930s after authorities deemed them typhoid carriers.
Those who worked on the production have spoken enthusiastically about the quality of both the screenplay and the footage captured before filming ceased.
Minnie Driver was also attached to the project
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The producers have said it took 15 years to bring the project into production. “It was devastating when we were forced to halt filming due to our second round of financing failing to materialise,” Mr Sorrenti and Mr Greenwood stated.
Scenes were originally scheduled to be filmed in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth, with locations including Westgate, Schoolhouse Lane, and Gospelgate. A crew of 70 had been expected to shoot in the town in February 2025.
Nearly a year after entering administration, AITA Films owes creditors approximately £3.8 million. Among those owed money is Brandhouse Global Limited, which provided nearly £487,000 in interim financing after expected funding from Parkland Pictures failed to materialise.
In December, the company’s administrator Kallis Insolvency Practitioners revealed discussions were underway with a potential rescue investor, prompting speculation that Sorrenti might attempt to restart production this summer.
An AITA Films spokesperson dismissed such suggestions at the time, saying: “That is not currently the case.”
GB News has contacted Mr Pegg’s representatives for comment.
