One TV ‘journey’ that was well worth making
‘Idon’t think I can do this, so I’m going to prove to myself that I can,” said Vicky midway through Without
Limits: Vietnam (BBC One). Vicky lost a leg two years ago in a roller coaster accident at Alton Towers theme park. Now she was gamely scrambling up a rocky slope, one of six Brits attempting to become the first disabled group to visit the magnificent, cathedral-like, but very remote, Hang Chuot cave in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam.
This was a travelogue with a difference, about six strangers coming together to challenge their own and viewers’ perceptions of their disabilities by travelling 900 miles along Vietnam’s celebrated but gruelling Ho Chi Minh Trail. Three, including Vicky, were sharing driving a modified 4x4; the other three were on seemingly indestructible Soviet-era motorbikes.
One-armed biker Andy possessed a preternatural ability to stay upright on the rutted and potholed roads. “We must look like the circus has come to town,” he said, pretty much nailing the response of the many Vietnamese who stopped to gawp at them passing.
The travellers were entirely matter of fact about the different issues that they each had to deal with day to day. Lou was profoundly deaf, Steve was paralysed from the chest down, Mary was born with dwarfism and suffered from depression, and Charlie elected to have a leg amputated after years of trouble following a snowboarding accident. Things that, together, they could easily talk about and never had to make excuses for.
As such Without Limits was particularly good at highlighting some of the more hidden aspects of disability, and the fact that the biggest obstacles are not always visible – such as Andy’s excruciating phantom limb pains, or Steve’s concerns around unfamiliar foodstuffs because, quite literally, he could not feel what effect they would have on his innards. And while there was a palpable sense of challenge, it never felt over-egged or manipulative.
As we gradually got to know each of the six, their disabilities didn’t so much recede as simply become part of their individuality. Which in turn made their achievements as a group all the more appreciable, not least in working together to ensure that Steve, as the least able among them, could become the first wheelchair user ever to see the awe-inspiring interior of Hang Chuot.
Journey is a word that is terribly overused in television these days, but this was one that was well worth making and sharing.
Channel 4’s Educating… series has been one of the station’s most consistently absorbing documentary strands of recent years and Educating Greater Manchester, focusing on the once-troubled Harrop Fold School near Salford, is proving to be no exception. This third episode explored how some pupils need challenging to bring out the best in them. And not always in the obvious ways.
“We really promote and push the more unlikely children to get involved and find the confidence to get up on stage,” said music teacher Miss Burgess, who was organising the school play, an ambitious production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical
Into the Woods. “And anyone who thinks they can just swan into a part is in for a big shock.”
The swan in question was performance-obsessed Year 11 student Mitchell, a young man whose unabashed love for wearing make-up and high heels was not so much tolerated as celebrated by students and staff alike. On the other hand, his failure to work for his forthcoming GCSES brought him in line for a major life lesson – in the form of being denied what he most wanted: a part in the school play.
At the other end of the scale was self-confessed “one of the lads” Callum, who was struggling to shake off the shackles of convention and embrace his dream to at least have a go at being an actor. His teachers were determined to show him the right way.
Although other storylines featured, those of Mitchell and Callum dominated, as did the school authorities’ subtle wielding of both carrot and whip when it came to encouraging them to move in particular directions. It was fascinating to see how small nudges, as well as more serious upbraidings, were employed to help each of these boys to better make decisions that had a direct and lasting influence on their futures.