Frail, vulnerable, elderly . . . and utterly failed by modern Britain

ALAN KINGE said he ‘muddled by’ when it came to caring for his wife Val.

Suffering from multiple sclerosis, Val relied on Alan to do everything for her — despite his own ill-health. Two visits a day from carers had lightened his load until a non-personalised ‘dear Customer’ letter arrived stating the visits were being stopped due to funding.

This second part of the Panorama, Crisis In Care: Who Pays? (BBC1) report focused on the shocking state of care for the elderly.

Filming in Somerset over the course of ten months, reporter Alison Holt highlighted the insane bureaucracy families must negotiate to get help for their loved ones.

Widow rita McAlister, 77, had Parkinson’s, dementia and a permanent disability from a broken neck. Yet because she was a homeowner, her family had to fight to get the NHS to pay for her nursing care. As daughter Siobhan said: ‘ She’s being penalised for being ill.’

In the end the family were granted funding — for three months only.

In ten years’ time, there will be twice as many people over 80 as now. And despite this, budgets are being slashed and a much-needed government green paper on adult social care is yet to be published.

While those like Alan — who fed, bathed and changed his wife — were saving the government £57 billion a year, other vulnerable

CHEEP LAUGHS: If the team presenting Springwatch (BBC2) don’t have a running bet about the number of double entendres they can drop, I’d be very surprised. The Great British Bake Off has nothing on Springwatch smut.

people have nobody to care for them and fight their corner.

A widow with no family nearby, Pat Lees, 86, had slipped under the radar and was struggling to cope at home — so much so that the Panorama team intervened on her behalf.

The first part of the Crisis In Care investigation appalled viewers with its footage of adults with learning difficulties being mocked and abused. That resulted in immediate action including staff suspensions.

Last night’s episode was just as important and hard-hitting, but seemed unlikely to lead to any swift solution for rita, Val, Pat and others like them.

Bleakness and despair were also in abundance in the feature length finale of The Virtues (C4). As TV dramas go, they don’t come much darker. They also don’t come more brilliantly acted.

The demons that possessed Joe (Stephen Graham) came to the surface as he recalled the abuse he had suffered in his Irish children’s home at the hands of older boys.

Writer Shane Meadows admitted the story was drawn from memories of his own childhood abuse and his desire to confront his tormentors.

In yesterday’s episode, Joe set out to do just that. His abuser was bed-ridden, full of bitterness and lived in a filthy hovel. In a moment, Joe realised the power lay with him and instead of strangling him he forgave him with a kiss.

Joe’s scenes unfolded at the same time as another character, dinah (Niamh Algar) confronted her own past. As a teenager, her mother forced her to give up her son for adoption and had blocked his attempts to make contact.

Joe and dinah’s showdown scenes played out simultaneously. The Catholic symbolism was heavy — a little overdone, perhaps — as the camera panned to the religious artefacts in the homes of both dinah’s mother and Joe’s abuser.

In the end it boiled down to good versus evil, redemption versus retribution, with Joe being able to forgive — and dinah not.

every performance was outstanding, all the more impressive considering much of the dialogue was improvised.

Whether it was an alcoholic fighting the urge to drink or a father broken by his son living in Australia, every scene was spellbinding.

It had better start clearing space on that mantelpiece now for the awards that will certainly follow.