Katie’s at the crossroads
IT’S felt at times as though Katie Price has lived out every moment of her life on TV, or certainly the past 20-odd years of it.The Katie & Peter franchise alone, documenting her day-to-day life with first husband Peter Andre, ran to nine series.And that was just the start.
But KATIE PRICE: HARVEY AND ME (BBC One, 8.30pm) isn’t really about her.Well, all right, it is, in the sense that her name is in the title and there’s barely a moment she’s off camera, but it’s not about Katie in quite the way those other programmes have been about Katie.
This documentary, first and foremost, is about Katie’s disabled son Harvey, and the crossroads they’re having to face together as he turns 18.
Harvey was born with septooptic dysplasia, a disorder that affects his brain function, hormones and vision. Factor in Harvey’s other conditions, including Prader-Willi syndrome and autism, and getting him the right long-term care becomes a huge challenge.
There’s a scene at the beginning of the programme where Katie gives Harvey the assortment of pills he has to take every day. “Half of them keep him alive,” she explains, “and half of them are for his behaviour.”
She then goes on to point out various bits of damage around the house, each the result of that behaviour getting somewhat out of hand. Loud noises, such as slammed doors, he finds particularly distressing.
Harvey’s 18th birthday is significant because it means he must shortly leave his special needs school. Katie must now find another establishment that can continue to care for her son.
Harvey has the cognitive understanding of a seven-year-old (“He’s happy with Peppa Pig, Barney and cake…”) but in society’s eyes he’s now an adult.
Finding somewhere suitable is tough. Harvey’s combination of conditions makes him an exceptional case. But a friend and mentor leaves Katie in no doubt as to the consequences of getting it wrong.
“Not that I want to scare you, “this friend tells her, “but if the placement doesn’t work, the local authority can come in and forcibly take Harvey away if they feel he’s at risk to himself and others.
“He could end up in a mental health unit, or an assessment and treatment unit. Once they’ve gone in there, it’s really difficult to get them out.”
Of course, Katie Price has chosen to have her private life televised so exhaustively over the years that her fiercest critics might approach this film a little less kindly than they should. Some might even be tempted to dismiss it as merely one more chapter.
If that’s what this show is, then it’s one I very much doubt she wanted to write.