This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 20th February 2016.
One
Child: Wednesday, BBC Two
The
Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On: Monday,
BBC One
You've
got to hand it to BBC Two. To celebrate Chinese New Year last week it
launched a new drama criticising China's controversial one-child
policy and its attendant issues of social inequality and state
corruption. As far as party-pooping goes, that's pretty explosive.
A
solemnly compassionate piece, One
Child follows Mei, an adopted Chinese-British student
meeting her blood relatives for the first time under strained
circumstances.
Raised
in relative affluence by a loving British couple, Mei's life was complicated suddenly when a Chinese journalist got in touch with an
urgent message: a brother she never knew existed is languishing on
death row after being framed for murder. For reasons unclear, her
desperate birth mother needs Mei to visit China in a bid to rescue
him.
But
what can she do? When she met her mother in a cramped apartment, the
poor woman was so ashamed she couldn't meet Mei's gaze. It was an
awkward, overwhelming encounter. Mei became even more upset when she
discovered that her mother assumed that, as a rich westerner, she'd
have powerful government connections. Is that all she was wanted for?
Only after meeting her incarcerated brother – a fresh-faced beacon
of indisputable innocence – did she feel compelled to stay and
fight.
His
government-funded lawyer was useless, as were the British consulate.
Their only hope arrived in the form of a campaigning social justice
group, whose very existence is anathema to Chinese state control. Mei
is entering a minefield.
If
One Child occasionally delivers its message with a sweeping
heavy hand, its inherent compassion is undeniable. The plight of
Mei's brother still functions quite effectively as a blunt metaphor
for the way the poorest members of society, whether in China or
elsewhere, are treated as expendable by their ruthless ruling
classes.
Its
portrayal of an anguished mother forced to abandon her child was
elevated by a quietly affecting scene in which she and Mei overcame
their language barrier to pore through a box of modest family
mementoes.
Katie
Leung delivers a dignified performance as the dazed and confused Mei,
while Elizabeth Perkins and TV stalwart Donald Sumpter are wholly
believable as concerned parents trying their best to support their
child.
Though
it sometimes falters under the weight of its well-meaning intentions,
One Child is at least more ambitious and politically sensitive
than most mainstream dramas. That must count for something.
It's
fair to say that when Stephen Fry's series about bipolar disorder was
broadcast in 2006, it played an important role in developing
awareness of the condition. Certain stigmas still exist with regards
to mental illness – such attitudes can't be eradicated overnight –
but Fry's insightful study did encourage a sympathetic discourse that
continues to this day.
In
The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On,
he caught up with some of the participants from the previous
programme. For the likes of Cordelia, her situation had worsened; she
now has breast cancer. There were no condescendingly sentimental nods
to her “brave” battle, just a lingering sense of sorrowful
injustice.
Cautious
glimmers of hope were provided by two young people who'd used their
experiences to raise awareness and help others. The overriding
message – that bipolar is incurable, but there are ways of coping
with it – was helpful in its honesty.
Although
he discussed his second suicide attempt from a few years ago, and was
filmed in frank conversation with his psychiatrist, Fry wisely took a
back seat to allow these people to tell their stories. Once again, a
valuable piece of public service television.
