Our story

A Daylight Robbery was born with the ethos that anybody could get involved, and the doors were always open to creative people from unconventional backgrounds, some of whom are very successful today.

A Daylight Robbery was founded by Adi Dowling in 1992 A.D, as a college project in the West Midlands city of Coventry.

Established as part of a youth training scheme, and supported by Belgrade Theatre’s Depot Studios with access video cameras and editing equipment, Adi began following DJ’s and MC’s around the UK - leading to the first A Daylight Robbery production, Parks & Wilson: A Hard Days Night.

At the same time, Adi initiated a voluntary project to engage with young people in the Coventry, visiting youth clubs in areas like Hillfields, Wood End, Foleshill and Stoke Heath, to create collaborative short films and music videos. This led to the Maverick TV film Blazed, produced with young people on an estate in Hillfields for Channel 4.

In 1995, Adi Dowling won a First Cut New Directors award to produce A Piece of the Action, broadcast on Channel 4 and MTV. Filmed on Beta-cam, Hi-8 & Super-8mm film, and produced on a budget on £15,000, this short film examined Coventry’s urban youth culture before the explosion of the underground dance music scene in the late 1980’s. Produced with the assistance of Dominic Day, this project was the precursor to the Reflection Media series.

In late 1995, Janey Hamilton joined A Daylight Robbery, and the organisation expanded into stage sets and vision mixing for large-scale events, including Amnesia House, Helter Skelter and Bass Odyssey, alongside a residency at the Colosseum’s iconic indie night, Green Onions.

The Team

Adi Dowling - Artistic Director
Keith Aspinall - Online & PR
Roger Jermaine - Community Liason
Phil ‘Noizie B’ Evans - Resident DJ
Jamie Shufflebotham - House Photographer
Kady & Roman Dowling - Trainees