Call The Midwife: BBC drama hailed for mental health theme
CALL The Midwife writer Heidi Thomas has told how mental health issues in her family inspired her to write the heartbreaking storyline featuring Sister Mary Cynthia’s battle with depression.
The BBC drama, now in its sixth series, has won credit for its compassionate and bold approach to issues including stillbirth, abortion, homosexuality, race and disability.
It has now shone the spotlight on the issue of mental health by telling the story of the young nun who finds herself locked up in Linchmere Hospital, a mental health institution, where she undergoes electroconvulsive therapy.
Call the Midwife writer Heidi Thomas said that she was keen to tackle the issue. She said: “I have a very personal interest in all aspects of mental health, as I grew up with a brother with learning difficulties and my family has been impacted by suicide.
“Both issues were misunderstood and very hard to discuss thirty years ago.
“One of the wonderful things about a popular show like ours is it has the ability to shine a light on hidden lives, and to provoke discussion.
“Importantly, as a long running series, we are also able to show how mental illness can affect someone’s life over a period of years.”
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“We receive hundreds of messages from fans after every episode of Call The Midwife, but when we feature mental health the postbag is especially moving, perhaps because those who suffer psychiatric problems, and their loved ones, can feel so alone.
I have a very personal interest in all aspects of mental health
“Seeing their problems depicted in a show watched and loved by millions of people seems to give them courage, and perhaps some hope that they will meet with understanding.”
Praising the programme for its sympathetic approach to the subject, Alison Kerry, head of media at the mental health charity Mind, said: “Call the Midwife should be congratulated. It’s good to see TV drama depict mental health problems in a sensitive way.
“When TV programmes cover mental health it starts conversations among friends and family and can prompt people struggling with their own mental health to seek support.”
In the latest series, Sister Mary Cynthia, played by Bryony Hannah, struggled to come to terms with the violence she saw when visiting a young mum with an abusive husband.
The nun went missing and was later found in hospital, where she had ECT, before being taken to Northfi eld Therapeutic Community in Birmingham.
The real-life institution was praised for its group psychotherapy work in the Second World War. It helped transform patient and staff relations and end the authoritarian regime of traditional mental hospital, which treated its patients as inmates.
Northfield helped boost a patient’s self esteem, which has been championed by this newspaper as part of its mental health crusade, and won support from Prime Minister Theresa May.