From soaps to high-end drama and even comedy, scripted television is taking mental distress seriously. Caroline Frost investigates
How TV is tackling our mental health
‘I
f that storyline wasn’t there, I would not be here. That’s the reality of it. You have saved my life.” That’s what Hollyoaks fan John told one of the soap’s stars, Ashley Taylor Dawson, when the pair were brought together by BBC Radio 5 Live earlier this year. John, who uses gender neutral pronouns, had previously phoned the station to share how they had been struggling during the lockdown of 2020, to the point where they had planned to end their life. Then they happened to sit down and watch an episode of Hollyoaks, coincidentally the traumatic conclusion
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of a depression storyline featuring two characters Adam and Darren. “Adam took his own life, but Darren didn’t, and you see the fallout of that,” explains Taylor Dawson, who has played Darren for more than two decades. “It was very testing as an actor, but the feedback was humbling and overwhelming, and then I spoke to John. They told me, ‘I saw the reaction of the family, and I saw my own mum in my head, and I realised I couldn’t do it.’ “Television reaches so many people, and if it helps just one person like John, it’s invaluable.” Hollyoaks has been tireless in
highlighting mental health issues. A forthcoming storyline concentrates on character Diane Hutchinson’s struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). But it is by no means the only TV show to both reflect and help drive the UK’s increasing concern with people’s mental welfare. Clive Crump, a mental health worker at Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Service, credits modern writers with striking a delicate balance between compassion and narrative thrills. “On the one hand, they demonstrate that mental illness is just part of the tapestry of normal human life and, on the other,
Channel 4
Hollyoaks character Diane Hutchinson
