Born in London, John Sergeant was raised in the suburbs of Birmingham before going on to study English at Exeter University. Two scholarships underwrote a Masters in Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley where he published feature articles and won a student Emmy for his co-directed thesis film Mark Pauline: Mysteries of a Mechanical Mind.

Between extended journeys through Africa, Asia, and Central America, Sergeant developed a career in UK television documentaries working on over fifty films, most of them for the BBC and Channel 4. The Blue Summer (1999), his first independent documentary feature, screened at the film festivals in London, Zanzibar, Sheffield and Hollywood. The Brittany Job (2005), his second, screened at festivals in Northern Ireland, London, and Cambridge.

In recent years Sergeant produced eleven documentaries with Guardian journalist Jon Ronson and directed or produced seven others for Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel in the US.

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