Mental health woes ‘not a barrier’

Actor David Harewood has said mental health issues need not be a barrier to success and that he hopes a documentary about his psycho tic breakdown will help others to feel the same.

BBC Two show David Harewood: Psychosis And Me sees the actor retrace his steps and delve into his breakdown after being sectioned at 23.

Harewood, who played a CIA boss in the US TV hit Homeland, spoke out about his experiences publicly for the first time in 2017 for World Mental Health Awareness Day through a tweet that received thousands of interactions.

He said: “I want to instil this idea that it is no barrier to future success. You’re not on the scrapheap of life because you’ve got depression or anxiety.

“It doesn’t make you any less, it doesn’t make you a bad person or damaged goods. If anything, it gives you a level of insight that people who have never had that condition will never experience.”

Birmingham-born Harewood visits the friends who first took him to hospital during filming and is visibly upset on-screen.

At one point, he believed Mar tin Luther King was talking to him“from beyond the grave”.