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''The Last Days of Lehman Brothers'' is a British television film, first broadcast on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
and
BBC HD BBC HD was a 24-hour high-definition television channel provided by the BBC. The service was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 26 March 2013. It broadcast ...
on Wednesday 9 September 2009. Filmed in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, it was written by
Craig Warner Craig Warner (born 25 April 1964) is a multiple award-winning playwright and screenwriter who lives and works in Suffolk, England. His play '' Strangers on a Train'', based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, ran in London's West End in 2013� ...
and directed by Michael Samuels. It was shown as part of the BBC's "Aftershock" season, a selection of programmes marking the first anniversary of the collapse of the American
investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...
Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, ...
. It featured
James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include '' Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), '' L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen' ...
, Ben Daniels, Corey Johnson, Michael Landes and
James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in '' The Likely Lads'' and its sequel '' Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in '' When the Boat Comes In'', Roy ...
.


Synopsis

''The Last Days of Lehman Brothers'' summarizes the events that occurred over the weekend preceding Monday, 15 September 2008, when Lehman declared bankruptcy. Some of the story is narrated by the fictional character "Zach", a Lehman employee often taking orders directly from Dick Fuld. Zach often breaks the
Fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
, talking directly to the viewer. Investment bank Lehman Brothers is in trouble after a turbulent six months in which their real estate investments have lost billions of dollars, causing steep drops in Lehman's stock. Lehman's boss, Dick Fuld ( Corey Johnson), who brought the firm through other crises, is himself growing desperate. Fuld's plan to spin off the company's bad assets into a separate company does not satisfy investors, and Lehman stock drops by 75% in one week. Fuld's only remaining solution is to have Lehman acquired. Both
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...
and
Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...
are interested in purchasing the firm but are dissuaded because so much of Lehman's assets are "toxic" (worthless). Lehman's problems have put the US government in a delicate position. The collapse of a firm of Lehman's size would have catastrophic economic repercussions well beyond the firm itself. Because there is no political support for a government bailout of the firm, the government turns to Lehman's competitors for help. Late on the afternoon of 12 September, a Friday, the leaders of the top investment banks on
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
, Lehman's competitors, are summoned to the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses the State of New York, the 12 northern counties of New ...
. American Treasury Secretary
Hank Paulson Henry Merritt Paulson Jr. (born March 28, 1946) is an American banker and financier who served as the 74th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2006 to 2009. Prior to his role in the Department of the Treasury, Paulson was the Chairman a ...
warns the incredulous group that Lehman is not
too big to fail "Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the great ...
and that there will be no
bailout A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy. A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global sys ...
using public money. Instead, Paulson cajoles the bank heads to work out some joint plan among themselves to relieve Lehman of its toxic assets, warning them that the steep price they would pay to save Lehman would be easily outweighed by the cost of its failure. He also intimidates the bank heads by reminding them that they too will soon need help. A solution must be found before trading opens in Japan on Monday morning. By Friday evening, Bank of America begins stalling the deal, noting that Lehman's valuation puts them "underwater" by billions of dollars. Fuld must now depend on Barclays, and he is clearly growing more desperate. Retaining hopes that Bank of America will change its mind, Fuld secretly orders the firm's attorney Harvey R. Miller (
Richard Durden Mark Richard Durden-Smith (born 8 February 1944), known as Richard Durden, is an English actor, with a range of television, film and stage credits. Personal life Durden-Smith was educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and Merton ...
) begin drafting a bankruptcy petition. Miller is incredulous, telling Fuld that a Lehman bankruptcy would be an unprecedented catastrophe, akin to the United States government going bankrupt. As Paulson's group searches for alternatives, Lehman's assets are subject to "valuation" by analysts from other firms. The analysts spend the night poring over boxes of paperwork. Calculation is made extremely difficult because much of the assets are based on
collateralized debt obligation A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) is a type of structured asset-backed security (ABS). Originally developed as instruments for the corporate debt markets, after 2002 CDOs became vehicles for refinancing mortgage-backed securities (MBS).Lepk ...
(CDO) instruments whose value is difficult to assess, though it is clear that Lehman put a higher value on certain CDO's than other firms had. Overseeing the valuation, Zach mentions how the trafficking of subprime mortgages caused the economic crisis. The narration then shifts to Ezzy, Zach's sister back in Tennessee. Ezzy describes how she got her house by getting a mortgage from a broker who did not exhaustively check her financial papers, and used free software downloaded off the internet to alter her paychecks. Her mortgage was then sent to New York where other bankers packaged her mortgage and, along with other mortgages, turning it into a security that could be bought and sold. Successive bankers repackage and grade the securities, and actively trade them at enormous profit, but devote little attention to whether the homeowners themselves can pay their mortgages. Eventually the financial world is forced to acknowledge that their CDO's are based largely on mortgages like Ezzy's, causing their value to collapse. Discussion continues at the Fed throughout Saturday with little result. John Thain of
Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment ban ...
( Ben Daniels) pulls out of Paulson's bailout group, telling Paulson that his company is in discussions with Bank of America. As they are no longer committed to Lehman, Bank of America is free to consider acquiring Merrill Lynch, which desperately needs the deal. Since the prospect of acquisition makes it less likely that Merrill will need help from the Fed, Thain has little incentive to continue participating in Paulson's discussions. Paulson doesn't discourage Thain from leaving, seeing that an acquisition of Merrill Lynch could prevent another crisis that would also require some intervention by the Fed. As Thain leaves, he learns from Paulson of the Fed's plans to bail out AIG, whose
credit default swap A credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the buyer in the event of a debt default (by the debtor) or other credit event. That is, the seller of the CDS insures the buyer against som ...
s insure half of the western world's banking system. By Sunday morning, Fuld receives word that Barclays has agreed to acquire Lehman Brothers, saving it. Jubilation is short-lived. Under British law, Barclays cannot guarantee Lehman's debts until its own shareholders vote on the matter, and that will not happen until Tuesday – beyond the Monday morning deadline. Paulson reiterates that the Fed will not "back-stop" Lehman, not even for the two days it will take for Barclays's shareholders to vote. With no chance of a buyout, Lehman has no choice but to file for bankruptcy. Harvey Miller is summoned to the Fed to prepare the bankruptcy petition. Miller is reluctant, warning Paulson that Lehman's assets exceed $600 billion. Paulson is adamant, telling Miller that he had been trying for months to get Dick Fuld to have Lehman acquired, but that the price was never high enough. Lehman's CFO signs the petition just minutes before the midnight deadline. A devastated Fuld leaves his office as Lehman's now unemployed staff cleans out their desks. In a voice-over, Zach notes that the Fed ''did'' bailout firms that faced collapse after Lehman.


Cast

* Corey Johnson as Richard 'Dick' Fuld *
James Cromwell James Oliver Cromwell (born January 27, 1940) is an American actor and activist. Some of his best-known films include '' Babe'' (1995), '' Star Trek: First Contact'' (1996), '' L.A. Confidential'' (1997), '' The Green Mile'' (1999), ''The Queen' ...
as Henry 'Hank' Paulson *
James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in '' The Likely Lads'' and its sequel '' Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in '' When the Boat Comes In'', Roy ...
as Ken Lewis * Michael Landes as Zach * Ben Daniels as John Thain * William Hope as
Bart McDade Herbert "Bart" H. McDade III is an American businessman who was the President and COO of Lehman Brothers at the time of its bankruptcy. During the end of Lehman's existence, McDade was tasked with largely running the firm and saving it as the then ...
* Michael Brandon as
Jamie Dimon James Dimon (; born March 13, 1956) is an American billionaire businessman and banker who has been the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase – the largest of the big four American banks – since 2005. Dimon was previously on ...
*
Henry Goodman Henry Goodman (born 23 April 1950) is a RADA trained British actor. He has appeared on television and radio, in film and in the theatre. Early life He attended the Central Foundation Boys' School and joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Lo ...
as John Mack *
Alex Jennings Alex Jennings (born 10 May 1957) is an English actor of the stage and screen, who worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. For his work on the London stage, Jennings received three Olivier Awards, winning for ...
as Tim Geithner * Peter Polycarpou as
Lloyd Blankfein Lloyd Craig Blankfein (born September 20, 1954) is an American investment banker who has served as senior chairman of Goldman Sachs since 2019, and chairman and chief executive from 2006 until the end of 2018. Previous to leading Goldman Sachs, ...
* David Annen a
Greg Fleming
* Richard Durden as Harvey R. Miller * Joshua Dallas as Ace * Laura Brook as Donna Lewis * Katrena Rochell as Ezzy * Lauren Ward as Samantha


Production

The film followed previous BBC drama ''
Freefall In Newtonian physics, free fall is any motion of a body where gravity is the only force acting upon it. In the context of general relativity, where gravitation is reduced to a space-time curvature, a body in free fall has no force acting on ...
'' and was produced following a collaboration between the BBC's factual and drama departments. The production is a work of fiction based on the real events that took place; the story was put together after watching interviews and with off-the-record chats with well-placed sources. It was completed in a short time frame; five weeks for scriptwriting, two for filming and five for editing. It was written by
Craig Warner Craig Warner (born 25 April 1964) is a multiple award-winning playwright and screenwriter who lives and works in Suffolk, England. His play '' Strangers on a Train'', based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, ran in London's West End in 2013� ...
(writer of '' Maxwell'' and ''
The Queen's Sister ''The Queen's Sister'' is a 2005 British television movie directed by Simon Cellan Jones. The teleplay by Craig Warner is a semi- fictionalized account of the life of Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II, from 1952 until ...
''), directed by Michael Samuels (''Caught in a Trap'', '' The Curse of Steptoe'') and produced by Lisa Osborne (''
Little Dorrit ''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur C ...
''). Warner told ABCNews.com that he tried to make the film "fun and comprehensible" because "a bunch of white guys sitting around in suits talking about money isn't very interesting." The fictional character of Zach (played by Michael Landes) was introduced as Fuld's aide, and Landes says that the voiceover he gives "brings an element of humor". Osborne said that the production was about much more than just finance:
It was a disaster movie, it was ''
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted aft ...
'' with the titans of Wall Street racing the clock to save the stricken bank; it was a Greek tragedy with Lehman's chief executive brought down by his own tragic flaw; it was ''Twelve Angry Men'' with solutions sought in smoke-filled rooms.
Due to the low budget, locations in London were sought instead of those in New York. Locations included
Addington Palace Addington Palace is an 18th-century mansion in Addington located within the London Borough of Croydon. It was built on the site of a 16th-century manor house. It is particularly known for having been, between 1807 and 1897, the summer resid ...
near
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensiv ...
which acted as the Federal Reserve, and a disused office in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
's
Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central Lo ...
which served as Fuld's New York office. Coincidentally, the office had previously been used by Lehman Brothers and desks originally used by the company were used to dress the set.


Reception

Overnight figures indicated that the production gained 1 million viewers, a 5% audience share, behind England's
2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...
qualifier on
ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for ...
, '' Motorway Cops'' on
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...
and '' Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA'' on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service i ...
. Robert Epstein of ''
The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...
'' said it was "all very fast-moving" and that "ultimately, it was hard not to be bored by what was one of the most important – and dramatic – events of the past year. The end of Lehman – and the programme – couldn't come soon enough." ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'''s Sam Wollaston didn't think his boredom was entirely his fault, saying he found it "unengaging" and "a mess". Tim Teeman of ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its s ...
'' said that "some vivid performances transcended the baffling material" and John Preston of ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' said:
If I hadn’t read beforehand about how Last Days had been written and shot in a tremendous hurry, I think I might have guessed. The tone wobbled awkwardly at times, as did the focus. However, its faults were always faults of ambition, not timidity. Craig Warner's script consistently aimed high, with his boardroom exchanges being especially good: the chippy competitiveness and testosterone surges slowly subsiding into stunned disbelief.
Rachel Cooke in the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' also said that Warner "tried his best" but that it was "dull and confusing in spite of a cast that included the superb James Cromwell". She also said that documentary ''The Love of Money'' about the Lehman Brothers collapse "wiped the floor" with ''The Last Days of Lehman Brothers'', but Adam Sweeting said, comparing the drama and the documentary, that the latter "gives you a lot more numbers and facts, but rather less human insight."


See also

*
Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, was the climax of the subprime mortgage crisis. After the financial services firm was notified of a pending credit downgrade due to its heavy position in subprime mortgages, the Federal Re ...
* ''
Too Big to Fail "Too big to fail" (TBTF) and "too big to jail" is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the great ...
''


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Last Days of Lehman Brothers, The BBC television docudramas British television films 2009 television films 2009 films Films about financial crises Lehman Brothers 2000s British films