Review of a Television Program: Tourettes, I Swear I Can't Help It
ENGLISH COURSEWORK.
REVIEW OF A TELEVISION PROGRAMME.
“Tourettes- I Swear I Can’t Help It” is a documentary about two men, one young man named Greg Storey and a middle aged man named John Davison, produced by ProspectCymruWales. The producer was Phillipa Robinson. The programme opens with the protagonist walking with a friend into a supermarket and immediately we see the curse of his illness. We are thrown into his world without having to be subjected to a stuffy medical explanation of the condition. The programme just leaves the viewer’s mind open to explore. It was televised in May of this year, although during the show we see various clips from both men’s lives.
At Greg’s introduction to the programme all we see is a camera shot of a nice looking private school... and then loud screams. This shocks the viewer a great deal because we do not understand what is going on and immediately thoughts fly through our heads. Questions like ‘who’s screaming?’, ‘why are they screaming?’ and even ‘what’s going on?’ join our train of thoughts, but then the RP voice-over of Sue Johnston explains that Greg developed Tourettes at the age of seven. It then skips to the Greg of the present - aged fifteen, and he explains how he had to leave that particular private school due to the fact that his parents could not afford to keep him there as well as pay additional for the special care he required. He goes on to mention that he now attends a public school after a campaign to get his necessary assistance. I noticed that when Greg and John are talking most of their clips are in interview format, I believe the producer chose to do it this way because the camera is focused on their faces so you can see their expressions much better and see their eyes. This makes it all the more personal for the viewer at home. The next clips of Greg are ones of him in school in a lesson and his tics go off and you’d think they would disrupt the classroom but everyone just goes on as normal “It’s
REVIEW OF A TELEVISION PROGRAMME.
“Tourettes- I Swear I Can’t Help It” is a documentary about two men, one young man named Greg Storey and a middle aged man named John Davison, produced by ProspectCymruWales. The producer was Phillipa Robinson. The programme opens with the protagonist walking with a friend into a supermarket and immediately we see the curse of his illness. We are thrown into his world without having to be subjected to a stuffy medical explanation of the condition. The programme just leaves the viewer’s mind open to explore. It was televised in May of this year, although during the show we see various clips from both men’s lives.
At Greg’s introduction to the programme all we see is a camera shot of a nice looking private school... and then loud screams. This shocks the viewer a great deal because we do not understand what is going on and immediately thoughts fly through our heads. Questions like ‘who’s screaming?’, ‘why are they screaming?’ and even ‘what’s going on?’ join our train of thoughts, but then the RP voice-over of Sue Johnston explains that Greg developed Tourettes at the age of seven. It then skips to the Greg of the present - aged fifteen, and he explains how he had to leave that particular private school due to the fact that his parents could not afford to keep him there as well as pay additional for the special care he required. He goes on to mention that he now attends a public school after a campaign to get his necessary assistance. I noticed that when Greg and John are talking most of their clips are in interview format, I believe the producer chose to do it this way because the camera is focused on their faces so you can see their expressions much better and see their eyes. This makes it all the more personal for the viewer at home. The next clips of Greg are ones of him in school in a lesson and his tics go off and you’d think they would disrupt the classroom but everyone just goes on as normal “It’s