Evie Ashton is the presenter and co-writer of Calcutta Hilton. Formerly a co-presenter of TV2's flagship news show Flipside, she also went underground to present TV2's survivor game show 100 Hours.

After meeting John Sinclair, director of Calcutta Hilton, at the premiere of LOTR - The Return of the King, the two of them decided to set off to India a month later to make the documentary. Their meeting had a circular effect - on the way home, they stopped off at Los Angeles to cover Peter Jackson's clean sweep at The Oscars.

The two experiences couldn't have been further apart.

John Sinclair is the director, cameraman and editor of Calcutta Hilton. For the past 6 years he has made his bread and butter as a TV news editor.

After meeting Kerry Hilton a couple of years ago, he became enthralled with the family's work in Calcutta and developed a passion to tell their story.

Inspired by the women who work in the freedom-making business Freeset, John threw in his job to go back and live in Calcutta for the first half of 2005. He offered his services to help the Hiltons achieve their dream of freedom for the women of Freeset and the wider community of Sonagacchi.