NEWS: WINNER Silver Arrow at British Arrows 2025 for Volkswagen ‘YourWagen’ in the Automotive category (also nominated in Branded Entertainment)
Finn McGough apologises for writing about himself in the third person, but believes it lends his biography a sense of gravitas it would otherwise lack.
Finn McGough is an award-winning commercials, drama and documentary director with a background in Fine Art and an MSc in Psychology — a combination that probably explains his long-standing interest in how people behave when a camera is pointed at them.
He began his career travelling extensively as a documentary director, making Lonely Planet television guides across Kenya and Italy, Locked Up Abroad films in India and Thailand, and being blindfolded and dropped in Azerbaijan for Channel 4’s uniquely masochistic adventure series Lost.
His self-shot observational documentary The Professional Charmer (BBC) - following a charismatic womaniser and convicted con-man - cemented his move toward more intimate, character-led work. This was followed up by Summer With The Johnsons (also BBC), which followed a notorious Gypsy family in the Cotswolds while on the run from the law in connection with a multi-million-pound heist involving the Rothschild estate. Summer With The Johnsons went on to win the PRIX EUROPA for Best Non-Fiction Film and receive an RTS ‘Breakthrough Talent’ nomination.
To contrast this unflinching investigative work he also directed the comic travelogues Dom Joly’s Happy Hour (Sky TV) in Russia and the United States, and an episode of The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan (BBC) in Romania.
Alongside his directing work, Finn is a photographer shooting travel, street and documentary imagery. He bulk-loads, home-develops, scans and prints his own 35mm film — partly for control, partly because he enjoys the process, and partly because he’s gone too far to stop now. His commercial photography work includes campaigns for Volkswagen.
As a commercials director, Finn has shot for dozens of brands across food, retail, finance, charity and automotive, including McDonald’s, Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Co-Op, McCain, Shredded Wheat, Nokia, Philips, Royal Mail, Lloyds, Halifax, Barclays, Santander, Cancer Research UK, Budweiser, Visit Wales and Volkswagen.
His commercial work has been recognised with a D&AD Pencil, multiple British Arrow nominations, APA Top 50 accreditations, BTAA Silver and Bronze Arrows, and a Silver Clio — though he is careful not to bring these up too early at dinner.
His drama short Flak, based on an Alan Sillitoe story, was nominated for Best Film and Best Cinematography at the Rushes Short Film Awards.
Finn continues to make work that is observational, character-led and rooted in real human behaviour — whether that’s on a soundstage, on the road, or waiting for film to dry in his kitchen.
