People shut their eyes to Alzheimer’s.. I wish I’d done more to help my mum and dad
Former Blackadder and Time Team star Tony Robinson on why he thinks a cure for dementia should be scientists’ top priority
Whether playing Baldrick in 80s sitcom Blackadder or presenting history programme Time Team, Sir Tony Robinson has kept us enthralled with his quick wit, comic timing and improvisation.
But behind the laughs is a man who spent parts of three decades watching helplessly as his beloved parents, Leslie and Phyllis, fell under the horrifying grip of Alzheimer’s disease.
Now 74, and a celebrity supporter of Alzheimer’s Society, Tony is campaigning for better care for sufferers, and recognition and support for their army of carers.
This month, he’ll take part in the charity’s Memory Walk in London to raise awareness and funds to help people affected by the brain disorder, which destroys memory and thinking skills.
He said: “People want to shut their eyes and their ears to Alzheimer’s because it seems a big intractable problem. We need a sense of comradeship to keep it top of the agenda.
“We’ve seen from Covid how it’s possible to globally mobilise the medical profession. Together we can move mountains.”
Tony, who lives in west London with his wife Louise, was “totally ignorant” about Alzheimer’s when his father first showed symptoms in the 80s.
It was Leslie, a local government officer, who had taught him the art of thinking on his feet.
The actor recalled: “We would have logical arguments about things like nuclear disarmament and apartheid. He taught me to improvise.”
But once Alzheimer’s struck, the bright, capable father he knew slowly faded away.
Tony said: “You didn’t get a proper diagnosis in those days. We vaguely knew dad had something called Alzheimer’s. He was on medication to stop him becoming agitated, but in retrospect I realise a lot of his agitation was fear because he was in a situation he did not understand and had no control over. “He died in 1989 at 76. It happened very quickly. On his death certificate it said he’d died of a stroke. “They didn’t put Alzheimer’s on death certificates then.” A few years after Leslie’s death, Tony’s mum Phyllis, a shorthand typist, started to become more absent-minded. He said: “I realised I was going to have to watch my mother go the same way as dad, but by that time I had a bit more knowledge about Alzheimer’s. “I was kinder and more understanding to my mum.” Phyllis was in a care home for eight years before her death in 2005. Tony said: “I didn’t feel guilty that I couldn’t look after my mum, but I did feel guilty that I didn’t understand more, that I didn’t go and see her every day, that I sometimes got irritated with her.” He added: “I have so much respect for the carers who keep soldiering on through the biggest crisis of their lives. I can’t do anything about the fact that their loved ones have this disease, but I can tell them how important it is to look after themselves and to get some respite.” Sign up at memorywalk.org.uk to take part in your own Memory Walk this month and help Alzheimer’s Society.