With the global debt crisis high on the agenda at this week’s G20 summit, actor Alex Macqueen is starring in a spoof television advert released in the UK today (19 November 2025). Created by Richard Curtis’ Project Everyone initiative in partnership with Catholic aid agency CAFOD, the satirical commercial Meet the World’s Loan Sharks (1) exposes the global debt crisis as tantamount to pay-day loans.
View and download the spoof advert
Best known for his roles in The Thick of It, Hijack, Rivals and Inbetweeners, Alex will attend a special screening of the 90-second spoof this evening (19 Nov) for MPs at the Houses of Parliament, and it is also being released across the social media channels of NGOs and influencers.
Aid agency CAFOD is calling for the UK government to step in at this weekend’s G20 Summit on 22-23 November in South Africa, to encourage members to support a new system for managing unsustainable debt for lower income countries. The most important aspect of a new system, is that all debt repayments for low-income countries be put on pause as soon as they apply for debt relief (2). Without this, private lenders have zero incentive to cooperate, as they continue to receive payments.
CAFOD is also calling on the UK government to pass a new Debt Justice Law to force private lenders to take part in debt cancellation. UK law governs 90% of countries covered by the G20 debt relief scheme and 50% of all international debt (3).
In the film CAFOD Ambassador, Alex Macqueen, plays the part of a fictional and predatory ‘dodgy lender’ - representing the private banks and hedge funds that are allowed to target vulnerable low-income countries with loans, at exorbitant interest rates. Styled as a daytime television advert for a pay-day loan company, he’s wearing an ill-fitting suit and offers outrageous deals, all with dodgy graphics and sinister undertones.
His character in the film says: “Are you a small country struggling with money? Finances been hit hard, through no fault of your own, by climate change, natural disaster, war? Can’t find the cash to pay for the basics? Like roads, electricity and water? Have no other access to credit?
“We're here to help. We give cash to countries just like you, every day. We’ve lent to dozens of nations. All at incredible interest rates. Worried you won’t be able to pay it back? That even though you’re careful with money you’ll be stuck in a cycle of poverty? A never ending spiral of debt? Not a problem - simply cut back your spending on other areas like hospitals and schools.
“And if you can’t pay it back, don’t worry, we’re happy to lend you more.”
The spoof finishes with a voiceover, stating: “Find out more at unfairloans.com - terms and conditions apply - unless of course you're from a high income country, obviously that’s totally different. Oh and we’re barely regulated - governments allow us to operate this way - so there’s no comeback. And in fact if you don't repay, we'll sue you.”
Alex Macqueen says: “The comparison to pay-day loan sharks perfectly captures the shockingly unethical and exploitative nature of the debt crisis. Those at the sharp end of poverty are forced into debt with scandalous interest rates just to survive, but the more comfortable can access reasonable loan arrangements. Clearly something has gone very wrong.
“With nearly half the world’s population living in countries that spend more on interest repayments than they do on essential services like schools and hospitals, it’s ordinary people who are most deeply impacted by this terrible unfairness. With the G20 imminent, now is the time to bring attention to a too long ignored outrage.”
Maria Finnerty, Lead Economist at CAFOD says: “The UK outlawed exploitative loan sharks years ago, in a hugely popular move with support across the political spectrum. If predatory lending is illegal in the UK we must not allow it to continue globally. It’s time to apply the same logic and compassion to countries where millions suffer the consequences of unethical lending, decimating spending on health and education and condemning hundreds of millions of people to poverty.
“The UK is a global debt superpower, with 90% of private loans to low-income countries governed by English law. The government could change the law tomorrow at zero cost to UK taxpayers, solving 90% of the problem and benefiting millions of people overnight. All that's missing is the political will.”
In the last 10 years the number of low-income countries facing unsustainable debt levels has more than doubled, from 22 in 2015 to 54 (4). Across Africa debt has skyrocketed from $17 billion in 2010 to $74 billion in 2024, a 335% increase in just over a decade, with 34 African countries now spending more on external debt payments than on health or education (5).
Private lenders charge low-income countries interest rates of 6-10%, but wealthy nations 0-1% meaning that low-income countries are often required to repay their original debts several times over. For instance, average borrowing costs for countries in Africa are 9.8%, compared to 0.8% for developed countries like Germany (6).
The impact on ordinary people is devastating. This is money that should be feeding children, training nurses, building schools and preparing for floods. Families feel this every day — when clinics run out of medicine, when classrooms are overcrowded, and when governments can’t hire the teachers and doctors that people need.
Hannah Cameron, Campaign Director at Project Everyone, said: “We wanted to find a simple way to tell the story of the global debt crisis and its human impact. With the help of Alex Macqueen’s dodgy loan shark character we did just that. I hope it leads to increased understanding and public support for new solutions.”
This year’s G20 in Johannesburg offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fix a broken system. For the first time in years, sovereign debt is on the G20 agenda and with 2025 marking a Jubilee Year, global movements are renewing their call for large-scale debt relief.
Anyone wanting to learn and do more can visit unfairloans.com.
Notes to editors
Meet the World’s Loan Sharks is created by Project Everyone, written by Jim de Zoete, produced by Nice and Serious and stars Alex Macqueen as the ‘dodgy loan shark’ and Xin Huang as his colleague.
Organisations including CAFOD are calling on the UK and other G20 countries to reform the G20 endorsed Common Framework for Debt Treatment, including:
Pause debt repayment for all borrower countries upon application for debt relief via the framework
Introduce a timebound aspect so that costly negotiations don’t drag on for years, doing great damage to debtor countries’ economies
Expand the Framework to include middle-income countries
Agree a clear definition of Comparability of Treatment that is clear and enforceable, including via legislation in the UK and NY
Improve transparency
Establish an independent supranational legal mechanism for enforcement purposes, like a sovereign bankruptcy court
African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) modelling demonstrates how capping debt repayments can free up billions for essential services such as education, healthcare and clean water. If debt repayments were limited to 5% of national budgets Ethiopia could send nearly 340,000 more children to school and Egypt could achieve near-universal access to water and sanitation, reaching 2.8 million more people.
3. Jubilee Debt Campaign May 2020
4. Debt Justice
5. African Development Bank Group
7. JUBILEE 2025: The new global debt crisis and its solutions
Project Everyone is a not-for-profit communications agency founded by Richard Curtis to promote the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. A plan agreed to by 193 countries to eliminate poverty, reduce inequality, and combat climate change.
CAFOD
CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and part of Caritas International, working with communities across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to fight poverty and injustice, including those worst hit by climate change. The agency works with people in need, regardless of race, gender, religion or nationality. Find out more: cafod.org.uk
About the G20 Summit
The G20 Summit is a meeting of heads of state and government from 19 countries, as well as the European Union and the African Union. It takes place every year and in 2025 will be in Johannesburg between 22 to 23 November 2025.
Call for debt justice in the Jubilee Year
The world is currently facing the most acute debt crisis in history: 54 countries – from Kenya to Sri Lanka – are facing debt distress.
It’s the world’s poorest countries who are the worst affected, with many forced to spend more on payments to big banks, wealthy nations and global institutions than they spend on health, education or tackling the climate crisis.
And the time to act is now!