Mug of Life (often styled as A Mug Of Life) is a short-form documentary social project where filmmaker Will Shears approaches strangers in London parks, offers them a cup of tea, and records a gentle conversation that centres the stranger’s life story rather than the creator’s performance - standard.co.uk 
YOUTUBE o_fbn-N6QGQ
Meet the man behind 'A Mug of Life' - the social project involving cups of tea - youtube
# How it works The format is deliberately simple: a friendly invitation (“Would you like a cup of tea and a chat?”), a park bench, a thermos, and patient listening, followed by careful editing into a short video that tries to preserve dignity and emotional truth rather than chase “gotcha” moments.
A key part of the workflow is aftercare: the project keeps in touch with participants and shares the finished video with them before publishing, so consent is not a one-shot checkbox but part of the relationship - standard.co.uk
# Why it resonates Mug of Life lands because it pushes against two quiet modern defaults at once: that strangers should not be bothered, and that ordinary lives are not “content-worthy” unless they are celebrity-adjacent or extreme, even though most people carry vivid, unshared stories. It also treats tea as a social technology: a culturally legible token of care that makes a public-space interaction feel safe, structured, and time-bounded, which matters when the underlying aim is to reduce Loneliness without turning people into props.
# Ethics and consent The project sits in a sensitive zone between documentary practice and platform virality, so the difference between “human connection” and “extractive storytelling” is mostly made of small choices: asking permission clearly, avoiding humiliation, staying contactable, and letting participants veto publication.
It also helps to treat the conversation as something that can be meaningful even if it never becomes a video, because that keeps the interaction honest and reduces the pressure to manufacture a dramatic arc.
# Format - Use a predictable prop and script (tea, biscuits, bench, one clear invitation) so people can quickly understand what is happening and decline comfortably. - Keep the recording setup visibly minimal, and be ready to stop instantly if the vibe changes. - Get explicit permission to film, and separate that from permission to publish. - Offer a follow-up channel (email, QR code, or card) so participants can later opt out or ask questions. - When editing, prioritise consent, context, and kindness over punchlines, because the long-term asset here is trust.
# See also
- Loneliness
- Hitchhiker Interviews
- Documentary Ethics
- Cup of Life channels - onetab