We’re now on the fourth episode of Spent, Michelle de Swarte’s sitcom about Mia
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
However, it seems the series has been in the works for much, much longer – and not just because it’s partly inspired by Michelle’s own experiences of working out what to do with her life when her own modelling days came to an end. (She pivoted to stand-up comedy.)
Spent’s executive producer Jack Bayles, who was previously a commissioning editor at Channel 4, says Michelle first came on to his radar more than a decade ago.
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Hide AdHe explains: “I’ve known Michelle for about 12 years actually, from the point where she’d just returned from New York – broke and trying to work out what to do with her life, which ends up


being the starting point of the show. While I was at Channel 4, I’d been tracking her stand-up, as it was really starting to take off…
“Anyway, two years had passed, and she’d uploaded a short film to her Instagram called Voguing to Dancehall, which I’d realised afterwards that she had written and co-directed and I thought, ‘Wow, she can really write and act!’
“So I contacted her and by that point she’d already connected with [production company] Various Artist Limited and the series was in the early development stages.”
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Hide AdJack believes that while Spent may draw on Michelle’s own experiences of being plucked from obscurity to become a model and then feeling like she’d been dropped down back where she started, viewers will find Mia’s story surprisingly relatable.
He says: “We are the kids of consumerism, a lot of people have had a period of their life where they’ve had money and burned through it, and it’s about how you feel about that afterwards. Loads of us have grown up thinking: ‘As soon as I’ve got enough money to do this thing, then I’ll be happy… And as soon as I’ve got enough money to buy this car, or those earrings, then that’s the moment I’ll be really happy.’ And I think a lot of people realise at a certain age that maybe it isn’t the ‘thing’ that’s going to make me feel happy.”
He adds: “I think Michelle had had such a sort of extreme version of that realisation. It felt like a really interesting idea to try and dig into that moment, particularly against the cost-of-living crisis – it’s a big question: ‘Well, if it isn’t how beautiful you look, if it isn’t how much money you’ve got in the bank, if it isn’t a successful career – then what is it that’s going to make me happy?’”
This week, there’s a flashback to 2014, showing Mia seemingly living the high life – but even then, a visit from Jo suggests the model’s life is more complicated than it appears.
Back in the present day, Mia tries to come to Teddy’s aid, but doesn’t get the reaction she expected.