Takin' Over the Asylum

I wrote this series a very long time ago. David Blair and I were just starting out on our careers and neither of us really believed it would ever be made. We used to meet in the Trevi, a small Italian restaurant near the old BBC Scotland building and David would give me "notes" on my drafts. When we got to the end of the last script he asked me what I wanted to do next. I said, "I don't know. Make this. Win an BAFTA. Make something else." Bizarre to think that it actually happened.

Anyway, I did want you all to know that Takin' Over the Asylum is coming out on DVD later this year. There were a lot of people who lobbied for this for a very long time. Someone even started an online petition, but I guess the Powers that Be remained unconvinced. However, it appears that the democracy/anarchy of the internet succeeded where everything else failed. The BBC finally responded to the fact that the entire series had been pirated and posted on You Tube and decided that maybe it would be an idea to release it on DVD after all. Will post when I know the release date once I know it! Thanks for keeping the faith with this series. It means a lot to me.

This was probably one of the finest series to come out of the BBC in the mid 1990's and stands head and shoulders above anything else today. It took a gritty look at life inside an asylum, an institution now rarely seen in the UK. It aimed to show that those suffering from mental illness were just like you and me once but a trigger in their life had caused the illness to manifest itself. It took a few people and protaryed their lives in a caring way showing some making it through and others not.

Well done to the writers of this series for giving us a frank yet compassionate view of mental illness and its perception in society today.

I won't re-tell the story. I will simply say that the casting is creative, the script scrupulous, the production perfect, the direction indiscreditable. A wonderful artistic construction.

However, as we move into the 21st century Governments, all over the western world, are closing the very services that are desperately needed by mentally ill people. They are now integrated into society while the hospitals are closed down.

But at what cost to those who are mentally ill?

Where are the patients of those hospitals now? Prisons, park benches or cemetery.

Although this series was seen (and then soon after repeated) on Australian TV back in '94 or '95, it's brilliance still resonates. From the pen of Donna Franceschild, and directed by David Blair, it tells the story of a handful of 'loonies' - patients in a Glasgow mental facility. As in 'Girl, Interrupted', one is led to pondering the question: 'who are the real loonies?' Heavily laced with humour and poignancy, we - the 'normal' ones - are led into the lives of these people through the eyes of Eddie McKenna (Ken Stott), an alcoholic loser-type, whose desire is to be a radio disc-jockey, but who spends his days selling windows for the manager-from-hell. In my opinion, the salespeople at the windows company deserve to be behind locked doors far more than those in the institution. But I feel that this is the exact conclusion the writer wishes us to make. This series launched the extremely talented Ken Stott into regular TV appearances, such as 'Messiah' and 'The Vice'. It also features outstanding performances from David Tennant, Ruth McCabe, Angus McFadyen, and my favourite female actor, Katy Murphy. Ms Murphy seems to have a special knack for portraying wounded women. If you get a chance to see it, do.

This wonderful series in finally on DVD for everyone to enjoy. Funny and affecting, and with a brief cameo from Spike Milligan this is one of the best mini series I have ever seen.

The best thing about this series is that it doesn't patronise, insult or caricature mental illness, but treats it as a real thing, the 'loonies' as real people and shows that not all the loonies are inside the hospital.

Yes, some of the patient's illnesses are humorous, such as Rosaline obsessively cleaning everything, but this is never taken fun of, or used as a cheap plot device and there is a heartbreaking story behind her OCD.