Just tic-king along
WE ARE your normal, bog-standard family,” grins suburban housewife and mum-of-three Elizabeth. “No we’re not!” retorts her daughter Eloise.
Shortly after her 40th birthday, Elizabeth developed Tourette’s Syndrome “out of the blue”. The neurological condition causes involuntary tics, which in Elizabeth’s case, can sometimes be offensive.
Her husband Simon and three children, Bobby, Eloise
and Florence, have got used to the tics, which started three years ago. But it can be tough for other people to understand.
They don’t go out as often as they used to.
“My family is what I like to call a working mess,” grins 20-year-old Robert.
Statistically, one in 100 people in the UK have the condition. “It’s more normal than you think,” says Elizabeth. “We are like any other family, with a few more swear words.”
The whole family has a brilliant attitude to Elizabeth’s condition, with Elizabeth herself preferring to “steam ahead” through her tics as if nothing has happened.
As cameras follow the family over the course of a summer, we follow them on a holiday to Cornwall, through to meeting Bobby’s new girlfriend and even just going out to a restaurant for a birthday meal.
All events have their challenges, but the family takes it all in their stride, with Simon admitting that life these days is definitely funnier.
Elizabeth says: “The whole family approaches Tourette’s with a good dose of humour and support.”
A very personal and goodhumoured documentary that gives a moving insight into how one ordinary family deals with an extraordinary condition.