Michael "Mini" Cooper[note 1] is an 11-year-old from Craghead, County Durham, who has twice committed arson; firstly at his school, and again at home while his father was asleep upstairs.

His parents, feeling unable to cope, have sent him to Aycliffe Assessment Centre, a secure facility where he is to be examined by psychiatrists and social workers.

Roddam was interested in creating a documentary about an assessment centre for troubled children and the methods they employed, as it was a little-known area of social care among the public.

Critics praised Cooper as a sympathetic subject while suggesting that he was partly the victim of an uncaring system which was unduly focused on his negative qualities.

[10] Cooper credits Mini with providing his younger self a more positive outlet for his behaviour than starting fires, appreciating the rare sense of agency he was given in being its subject; he highlighs that he didn't attempt arson for many years after its production.