WELSH actor and activist Michael Sheen has written off debts totalling £1 million for 900 people in South Wales in an exposé of how the debt industry works.

In a Channel 4 programme broadcast last night, Mr Sheen uses £100,000 to buy approximately 900 personal debts for people living in South Wales.

The actor set up a debt-buying business of his own after working with a former director of a debt collection company.

Mr Sheen lives in Port Talbot and talks about a local cafe where people had been “crying at these tables” during the closure of Tata Steel’s last blast furnace, which led to steelworkers losing their jobs.

He also reflected on his mission to buy debt from the Financial Conduct Authority which took nearly two years.

Mr Sheen tells how he approached several major banks to discuss the debt-buying and selling industry but they all declined to speak to him.

The Secret Million Pound Giveaway is still available to watch.