Following the release of BBC's new factual drama, Then Barbara Met Alan, about the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995, writer Jack Thorne, director Amit Sharma and disability leads Nichola Garde, BBC, Ally Castle, Channel 4, and Caroline O'Neill, DDPTV, discuss disability and the TV industry. The panel is chaired by Jordan Jarett-Bryan, Channel 4 News reporter.
The four-part drama explores the heartbreak and pain of a family being torn apart from having to make a choice no parent would ever want to make.
Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen play married couple Nicci and Andrew and together they have two daughters Katie (Alison Oliver) and Marnie (Niamh Moriarty).
However, Marnie is terminally ill with a life-threatening condition and the doctors believe the kindest thing to do would be to let her die.
Executive produced by Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials), Am I Being Unreasonable? sees Daisy May Cooper star as Nic, a woman grieving a loss that she can’t share with anyone while stuck in a miserable marriage. Her son Ollie (Lenny Rush, Apple Tree House), who she adores, is the only one keeping her going.
When Jen (Selin Hizli) arrives in town, Nic’s life is lit up with laughter, but through this kindred spirit her dark secret begins to come to the surface.
Starring Ruth Madeley and Arthur Hughes, the drama tells the true story of the group behind the unstoppable and fierce campaign of direct action that significantly moved forward the battle for disabled rights in Britain.
Written by Jack Thorne and Genevieve Barr, the series is told through the eyes of Barbara Lisicki (Ruth Madeley) and Alan Holdsworth (Arthur Hughes), two disabled cabaret performers who first met at a gig in 1989.
One of my first TV shows was about endangered animals around the world,” recalls presenter Ade Adepitan. “When I met with the producer and director, they told me: ‘This show is going to involve scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, trekking through the jungle in South Africa and Namibia, and hiking up mountains in Romania. We don’t want you to feel under any pressure, but is this something you think you can do?’ I said: ‘When do we start?’ I’m the sort of person who takes things on and then finds the solution as we go along.
Set in a fictional care home in Liverpool, Help tells the poignant story of the relationship between a young care worker (Comer) and a patient (Graham), whose lives are irrevocably changed by the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020.
Jodie Comer plays Sarah, a smart young woman who has never felt like she fitted in at school or at work. Despite her family telling her she’d never amount to anything, she finds her calling unexpectedly as a carer at Bright Sky Homes and can effortlessly form special connections with residents.
To mark the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act, the film will tell the true story of the activists who waged an unstoppable campaign for disabled civil rights in Britain.
Madeley said: “To have the opportunity to play such an incredibly powerful character and tell such an important story is honestly a dream, especially within the context of disabled, deaf and neuro-diverse history.
From RTS Award-winning writer Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials), Help tells the moving story of a young worker in a fictional Liverpool care home, Sarah (Comer), and her patient Tony (Graham), whose lives are torn apart by the coronavirus pandemic.
Graham said: “Jack is one of the greatest and most truthful writers of our generation and in Help he has crafted a profoundly important piece of social realism.
Produced by Dragon Film and TV and One Shoe Films, the drama tells the exceptional true story of the bold campaign of direct action that led to the victory of disabled civil rights in Britain.
The story is told through the eyes of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, two cabaret performers with disabilities who met at a concert in 1989 and soon fell in love and had a baby.
They became big advocates and the driving force behind the Direct Action Network (DAN), a national group campaigning for change through non-violent direct action.
That was the main takeaway from an RTS question and answer session following an exclusive screening of the final episode of season one.
All five panellists emphasised how working as a team was fundamental to the show, described by one reviewer as “a riveting realisation” of Pullman’s world.
“We did a lot of talking. It’s not me alone at my desk but a lot of people working together,” explained Jack Thorne who wrote the script for His Dark Materials.
