DOCUMENTARY
BBC1, 10.45pm “The word dementia annoys me. The more it comes at me, the more I shall kick it away.” So says Tom Sivyer, who was diagnosed with Vascular Dementia in 2014, aged 79.
Shortly afterwards, his grandson Dominic began filming this intimate and heartbreaking documentary that follows Tom and the family through a hugely difficult period.
Dominic says: “I wanted to make sense of an illness that was taking away the most important man in my life. Maybe I was trying to hold on to him before he disappeared.”
Dominic is extremely close to his grandparents, but violent mood swings and severe short-term memory loss has caused problems.
Dominic’s nan Pam, now 82, has found it difficult cope and Tom has been sectioned, sent to a care home and moved around the family.
This is difficult to watch in parts as it charts the devastation of dementia – in particular as Tom refuses to believe he is ill. But ultimately it is the love story of Dominic’s grandparents that will bring a tear to your eye.