Trackers hidden inside a child’s favourite panda teddy, spending monitored over £5 and a woman beaten to the point she thought she would miscarry are some of the survivors’ stories told by Billie Piper in a searing new domestic abuse awareness film.
Refuge’s short film Make the World a Refuge explores the different forms domestic abuse can take, such as coercive control, technological and financial abuse, alongside physical violence.
The 42-year-old actor, who has been an ambassador for the domestic abuse charity since 2022, retells the real-life testimonies of survivors with devastating emotion.
Her intervention comes as The Independent campaigns for the Brick By Brick appeal with Refuge to raise £300,000 to build a safe home for women escaping abusive partners. Already the appeal has raised £130,000 towards making a secure home for survivors.
Be a brick, buy a brick and donate here or text BRICK to 70560 to donate £15.
Make the World a Refuge sees a shocked Piper in a stripped-back room as she recites testimonies, such as: “He got our kid this cuddly panda and she took it everywhere and I realised it had a tracker in it.”
Other upsetting quotes highlight forms of financial abuse, such as: “He never actually physically hurt me but when he set up our bank account, he would get notifications every time I spent more than £5.”
It also shows how forms of abusive dynamics can take place between young people, with one quote depicting a young girl whose boyfriend shared non-consensual images with their school to humiliate her.
At one stage Piper is seen lying on the floor, staring at the camera as the film closes with potentially fatal consequences of domestic abuse: “He beat me so much I thought I would miscarry.”
Speaking at an event to mark the launch of the campaign video, Piper explained that she pitched the idea to Refuge last year after speaking to a friend who was experiencing a “troubling time”.
Piper said it was paramount to her to depict forms of abuse that might seem normalised behind closed doors.
“I really wanted to give survivors a voice. I just felt it made complete sense to me, especially when you’re sort of signposting different types of abuse that maybe historically have been somewhat normalised, having a sense of a real person behind those stories,” she said.
Coercive control – an act, or a pattern of acts used to threaten or intimidate a survivor – was made a criminal offence in 2015, but Piper said that more information needs to be shared on the topic.
“It comes down to education,” said Piper. “Judges need educating and what coercive control is, so it’s imagining if someone isn’t killed by their abuser, they turn on themselves.”
“It is fatal and I think that particular area needs a lot more reinforcement because although [the law] has been in place since 2015, there’s more work to be done.”
The charity reports that one in four women in England and Wales will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, but a national shortage of safe spaces means a woman desperate to escape is turned away from a refuge every two hours across the country.
The Independent’s Brick by Brick campaign has been backed by a host of high-profile celebrities including Dame Helen Mirren, Dame Joanna Lumley, Sir Patrick Stewart, Olivia Colman and David Morrissey, who have been calling for donations to create a secure home for domestic abuse victims.
Be a brick, buy a brick and donate here or text BRICK to 70560 to donate £15.
The national domestic abuse helpline offers support for women on 0808 2000 247, or you can visit the Refuge website. There is a dedicated men’s advice line on 0808 8010 327. Those in the US can call the domestic violence hotline on 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org