The Thirteenth Day of Christmas

A young man has lost his mind while living at home with his Mum and Dad, who can't cope with his inane demands and tantrums. What starts as a realistic social issue drama swerves into a psychotic breakdown. Then the sister comes home and confronts the shambles, hyperventilates, gets it together and saves herself. In the process, we learn nothing.

Have you seen Rebel Without a Cause starring James Dean? The maverick method actor set the standard for heartfelt coming of age angst and alienation. No one since has done it better, or improved on that film's schematic rendering of cllueless parents and the caustic void at the core of the new materialistic culture.

Poor Richard has become very difficult to live with, his mental problems have spiralled out of control, severe paranoia and schizophrenia, his parents are ill equipped to deal with him.

This wasn't comfortable viewing for several reasons, the first thing you'll be aware of is just how good a performance from John Wheatley this was, it is a very, very good showing from him, he plays the part incredibly well.

Trouble is, it's quite a bleak drama, particularly as it's set at Christmas time, for current thinking, this now seems very ill judged, mental health is dealt with very differently now, to how it was back in 1985, sadly nowadays it seems more widespread, a quote from this said that one in a hundred people suffered with some sort of mental illness, compare that to modern day.

In comparison to the other episodes in this series, this has a very odd vibe, not a murder mystery as such, this has more horror tones to it.

It's well made, well acted, Elizabeth Spriggs is delightful as always, but it's such an utterly grim watch, not sure I could watch this again, 4/10.