I don’t watch Hollyoaks (honest) (daily Channel 4 6:30pm) but there is a character with MS). It might get people talking about MS.
Paul
That’s interesting Paul - I don’t watch Hollyoaks either but I’m glad to hear such a topic is being tackled. Anything that might get people talking and perhaps even understanding this wonderful disease better can only be good!
i watched hollyoaks for a while when first diagnosed.
it is nancy who has ms.
only watched one episode when she was diagnosed.
carole x
I don’t watch Hollywood but I’m always wary when a TV programme gives a character MS. If it’s part of a long-running storyline and/or it’s happening to a regular character, then there’s a good chance that they’re handling it properly. Contrast that with US cop show Law & Order. The wife of one of the detectives was diagnosed with “relapsing-remitting chronic progressive MS”. She rapidly became too weak and disabled to even hold a toothbrush. I love that series, but I wish the writers had picked a different condition, or done their research properly to give a realistic diagnosis and progression.
That should have said Hollyoaks, not Hollywood. #@!%@!# predictive text!
I saw the episode where Nancy got her diagnosis and thought it was good and handled well. But I watched another episode on catch up yesterday and thought it wasn’t so good. I hasten to add, I’m not an avid viewer but seeing posts about it on FB decided to take a look.
Not a soap, but the best depiction of MS I have seen was The West Wing where the President had RRMS. But generally TV doesn’t depict MS too well - I suppose it’s not visible or rapid enough to sex. As Dr House was wont to say “It’s not MS. MS is boring”
I think that was the point with Law & Order. They needed a way for one of the cast to leave without killing him off, so they decided to give his wife a debilitating condition. They picked MS but, unlike West Wing a few years later, they didn’t do their homework. The diagnosis was nonsense and happened far too quickly. I’m not an expert, but I’m not sure that even aggressive PPMS would have deteriorated as rapidly as it did in this series. They wanted something dramatic and ended up giving completely the wrong impression of what MS is like for the majority of sufferers.
West Wing, on the other hand, gave a reasonable diagnosis and a realistic depiction of the condition. I wish more production companies were as diligent.
The best MS film I’ve seen is Go Now with Robert Carlyle and Juliet Aubrey
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But, they killed off Bobby Simone in NYPD blue, so could never understand his appearance in Law and order!..never mind,it’s not real or I’d be more worried about his racing pigeons and who’s looking after them! I think the worst ever storylines were in Eastenderers and Waterloo Road. Still, they’re not medical documentaries.