No bells or whistles, but Vicky’s choir is so moving

‘It was like the Moon landing or when Kennedy was shot.’

The Mary Rose Trust’s Alex Hildred on Raising The Mary Rose, Sunday, Ch4

OUR DEMENTIA CHOIR SINGS AGAIN

MONDAY, 9PM, BBC1 hhhh

I’ll be honest, this is not the most thrilling show you will ever watch. It’s a pretty bog-standard documentary format, no bells or whistles, but the subject matter is deeply moving – and also very timely.

It’s a follow-up to the 2019 twopart documentary Our Dementia Choir, presented by Line Of Duty star Vicky Mcclure, now reprising that role with a snazzy new hair-do.

It was Mcclure’s own experience of losing her grandmother to the disease in 2015 that led her to discover the therapeutic qualities of music for sufferers, and to want to bring awareness of this heartbreaking and incurable condition to as wide as possible an audience.

Now she and the members of the Dementia Choir (inset, with their

If you want an insight into the crazed mind of the world’s richest man (currently), look no further than The Elon Musk Show (Wed, BBC2). Pretty much everything you need to know is revealed early on with the appearance of Musk’s mother, the formidable Maye, whose father belonged to the technocrats, a sect who believed the world’s problems could be solved by technology. Remind you of anyone? Elsewhere, some great interviews with old pals and former colleagues, including extraordinary tales about how Tesla and Spacex came to be. carers), led by choir master Mark De-lisser, are hoping to go even further by releasing their first single, What’s Your Story?.

I must confess, this is an issue very close to my heart. A few years ago, I helped kick-start a campaign at this very newspaper to help end the injustice of families forced into penury to pay for dementia care. The Mail helped expose the shocking lack of provision for sufferers and the glaring inequality of treatment in the NHS for those with dementia as opposed, say, to those with cancer.

Story after story of good, hardworking people whose life’s savings were being wiped out or their homes being sold in order to cover the crippling costs of care – in some cases up to £1,500 a week – prompted demands for the then incoming prime minister, Boris Johnson, to draw up plans to tackle the crisis. Since then, there has been a lot of noise and many fine promises. But in practical terms, as this documentary hopes to show, not much has changed. Sufferers and their families are still left largely to fend for themselves. One of the most touching stories is that of Mick Bonser, an original member of the choir who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s aged just 51. His incredible wife Karen is secretary for the Dementia Choir charity, an absolutely formidable woman whose love and dedication to her failing husband is quite simply humbling.

Like so many, she is having to hold down a job while caring for his increasingly complex needs and dealing with the emotional trauma of losing him. She’s ‘knackered, stressed and pushed financially’ – and who looks after her? No one, of course.

It’s hard not to feel a sense of rage watching these people struggling bravely against this horrific disease, smiling in the face of impossible

odds, trying desperately to make the most of the terrible hand they’ve been dealt. Kev, always super-fit, living with friends having sold his home to pay for care; 77-year-old Lesley, looked after by her three daughters, trying to get around the new technology that might prolong her ability to stay living at home.

And always the refrain is the same: why is dementia – which is one of the leading causes of death in the UK – not treated like other illnesses? Why are sufferers treated like second-class citizens? Who cares for the 700,000 unpaid carers, who it’s estimated save the NHS billions of pounds every year. Why is this still happening?

Anyway, like I said, it’s not the best show you’ll watch all week; but it is, quite possibly, one of the most important.

Vicky and choir master Mark