When Bankers Were Good is a one hour long documentary by popular British satirist and writer Ian Hislop about Victorian financiers. Bankers during that era achieved unprecedented levels of success but many were not entirely comfortable with their wealth at a time of great wealth disparity and against the backdrop of national debates about the moral purpose of money, it leads to plenty of soul-searching and some gave much of their fortune to good causes.
Notable financiers discussed in the film include Samuel Gurney who used his wealth to fund the work of his sister Elizabeth Fry the famous prison-reformer, and George Peabody the merchant banker who made a huge donation to solve housing problems in London. Angela Burdett-Coutts and Natty Rothschild are also mentioned. Among the people interview on camera for the film are Lord Turner (the chairman of the FSA) and Lord Rothschild.