(London, UK) Channel 4 are to televise a new series directed by David Dehaney called ‘Young, Autistic and Stagestruck.’ The Channel 4 series follows nine autistic youngsters as they try to produce their own stage show, guided by theatre professionals.These professionals have never worked with a cast of young people who are all on the autism spectrum.
The first episode of the series introduces the first five youngsters. Twelve-year-old Ben has high functioning autism: he’s exceptionally bright but experiences acute loneliness. But as the project develops he starts to bond successfully with the other youngsters.
Andrew, 17, is classically autistic, and despite limited social skills, he is very keen to have his first proper relationship with a girl. From day one he starts getting closer to Claire, 19, and takes her on the first date of his life: a night at the cinema. Claire is a talented singer and pianist who also struggles socially.
Mollie, 11, is prone to tantrums and lengthy sulks, which test her mother’s considerable patience. She suffers from PDA – Pathological Demand Avoidance – a pervasive developmental disorder with symptoms including mood swings, language delay and obsessive behaviour. A talented singer, Mollie was diagnosed with autism at four.
Eleven-year-old Jozsef is more challenged by his autism, but his playfulness makes him endearing to others and soon turns him into the group joker.
The first episode of ‘Young, Autistic & Stagestruck’ is on Monday 12th April on Channel TV in Britain.
23 users commented in " Young, Autistic & Stagestruck on Channel 4 Television "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI hope Americans get to see this too. My grandson is autistic.
I thought this was really good, i have an 11 year old son with Asperger Syndrome and i dont fell we see enough programs like these on the tv. I cant wait to see next episode.
thanks for your support, our daughter mollie was in the show she had fun and made 9 good friends
me and my 9 year old son watched this he is also autistic he was amazed that there are other children that feel like him . he also took a real shine to mollie and keeps asking when is it on again .
me and my 9 year old son watched this he is also autistic he was amazed that there are other children that feel like him . he also took a real shine to mollie and keeps asking when is it on again .
i watched this with my 12year old son who also has aspergers. I could relate so much to what Bens mum said about him with my son. He too was surprised that he isnt alone in how he feels. People in general make him feel so inadequate. i was worried watching it that he would be upset but he couldnt leave his seat and wanted to watch it to end.
Thankyou
This show is so poorly edited, and you do not get to see how the parents have to pick up the pieces after every break down the children have.
Autism PDA – AutismPDA.org!
Hi
My friend Andrew features in the programs a lot with his parents.
He attends my college and took a few weeks off college to film this. I have mild asd myself so I related to the program very well. Andrew was great and he has told me very little about the program so I am so excited to see the other three programs.
My teacher went to see them perform their show in the West End aswell and loved it.
Andrew and his freinds from college feature on our special needs website here: http://www.wagang.webs.com
I think there is a picture of Andrew on there somewhere!
Enjoy
Thanks
Jenny
This program “young,autistic and stagestruck has made me feel that I am not alone .I have a 12 year old daughter with aspergers who wasnt diagnosed til she was 10 due to the death of her father (aged 4 ,clouding the issue),when I heard Mollies mum speaking about her behaviour etc I was reduced to tears ,but not just through sadness but to realise that I am not the only one ,my daughter Emily is almost identical to Mollie on every level ,but because she is a girl with Aspergers I tend to feel that people think she is a spolit brat and that I am a bad parent that cannot control their child.This program has been the best program on the television about autism as each and everyone of the children featured have their own individual strengths and weaknesses but are united together to achieve one goal,a show.Cant wait til the next episode and congratulations to all the young people who helped make this very special program,judith
my younger cousin has aspergeous and i think this programme gives a great insight into autism and shows people that autism is not an illness.
I have Aspergers Syndrome although quite mildly.
I happen to look very similar to JJ from Skins, who also has almost exactly the same personality as me. And Jenny, if you’re friends with Andrew, lucky you because he seems really sweet and cute :D.
Well done Channel 4, both for Skins and for this amazing documentary 😀 xxx
If you like this show, you will love the film Autism: The Musical. http://www.autismthemusical.com/
It’s a magical, award-winning documentary. I think the UK show is based on The Miracle Project – Theater program that the film was based on.
http://www.themiracleproject.com/
Enjoy 🙂
Hi I loved the show! I also have a Daughter with high functioning Autism She is 7 and she is so much like Ben and Molly. It is very interesting to see these young people share their life’s like this because i can see how much my daughter goes through it helps me help her.
Thankyou
I simply love this progrtamme – I am so pleased to see this programme brings into the public domain the difficulties experienced by children with varing degrees of ASD and also what this means for their parents and families too. Thank you
This program is wonderful. It has been very interesting to see how drama activity has made the children happy and confortable within themselves. My son doesn’t have autism, but has learning difficulties with delays in all areas of development. It would be wondeful if more programs like this one could be done, not just about autism. I would love to know what is out there for my son to join.
I have just watched the last episode of young, autistic and stagestruck. WOW, those young people are amazing!!!.They have achieved such a lot and I feel priveliged to have been shown just a little bit of the way they have to live their lives. I hope they all go on to live their dreams. Good luck to you all, you all deserve a massive pat on the back….and to the team that worked with them, well done. Thanks Channel 4 for bringing this subject to the fore. Let’s hope it hes opened people’s minds to accept that we are all different.
I just have to say how my heart went out to the parents of these autistic young people, and I feel good that there are people out there who will work hard with them to help them relate, specifically the directors that worked so hard with them at the Lyric theatre, and also the drama therapist. As a parent myself, I’ve had ups and downs with my own children which have hit me hard, especially with one of my sons suffering from mental illness. My career has been in teaching young children as well as university students, and I am also a qualified clinical psychologist with an interest in neurological disorders, so I am well acqainted with how the families affected by autism can suffer. I am now 70 years old and well-retired, but the program has inspired me to offer voluntary services to an autistic organisation or special school! I give praise to all involved in this programme including all the staff involved in making this film. I do hope you make a sequel.As sue evans said in the blog – “let’s hope people will open their mind to the reality that we are all different”.
I really enjoyed this series; it was a bit of a cliffhanger – would they make it, would the students all be included in the final performance? Brilliant to see how the students were changed by the experiences of new relationships, learning to share and commit, and the success of performing. Much time and money and personnel were required to pull this off; if it had not been paid for by a TV channel, would it have happened? Would such a project be funded by local authorities/ government?
It’s great to see autism and bi-polar being addressed. Now please let’s have some programs about schizophrenia – the last taboo area.
I’m really glad to see that Mollie’s mom is reading the comments here. I’m in the US and love the show, and am impressed by the strength and love that the parents show to their kids. When Mollie’s mom is crying in episode 3, my heart broke. What an emotional scene.
My wife taught special needs children for 23 years, and now works as an artist at a studio where kids with various disabilities create wonderful art, so she was interested in the show as well.
I wish everyone involved in the show all the success in the world!
I thought this series was a real insight into what young people with Autism and their families go through, It was amazing to see the end product and truly inspiring to see the journeys that Molly, Ben and all the other amazing individual characters went through!! Good luck to all of them and I hope more of these types of documenteries make it onto our screens to help aid understanding, acceptence and encouragement for all our children with disabilities!!!
I have watched all 4 episodes of this programme and I have been extremely impressed. The show which only had 3 hrs in total to try and sum-up autism and the potential that young people on the spectrum was great. I myself was diagnosed with Aspergers at the age of 10 and a half, which suddenly explained a lot for my mum. I have spent the last 6 odd years working in education specialising in ASD’s and behaviour. I am now studying to become a paediatric nurse at university. Like myself this amazing group of young people have been able to challenge perceptions of autism. Many people, including professionals jump to conclusions and assume that because a child has a specific label they must do X,Y and Z. I am not debating that autism causes young people and their families issues, some which are extremely stressful, but wasn’t it amazing to see young people on the spectrum showing empathy, making friends and supporting each other.
Each of them are a credit to their parents hard work and investment in them, because I know for a fact that if it were not for my mum I would’nt be where I am now.
Each and everyone of those young people should be so proud of themselves, because as a fellow autist I am extremely proud of the work they have done to broaden the minds of what is a quite closed minded society, who freak when something doesn’t conform to their norms.
The other thing I liked about the show was that it was based around drama, which I must say is one of my favourite pastimes from my school and college years. It is amazing how one can come on so far in communication, confidence and self esteem through expressive arts such as singing, dance and drama, isn’t it?
And now to my last point else you will all get migraines from the length of this message. I have been trawling the internet for support groups for young people on the spectrum and have found ‘0’ There are more for parents than I have had hot dinners this year, but none for children and young people, so I have recently created a web forum for young people on the spectrum. The layout is such that the forum is split into 2 parts, 13+ and under 13’s.The 13’s plus section is viewable to all, but only members can post. These posts are then checked on a bi-daily basis and anything not suitable is removed. The under 13’s forum is slightly different due to child protection and COPPA guidelines. Children registering will have to get a parent to fill out a form to give them permission to have an active profile page. Only under 13’s will be able to post, but parents may contact the administration team(me)to obtain a special login, which allows them to view and report posts, but not reply to or start posts. In any instance the report function won’t be needed as all posts in this forum will be moderated prior to appearing on the wall.
Please would people visit the site and respond to my poll. Hey even better if your a young person on the spectrum, why not join? Myself and my team of moderators look forward to hearing from you.
info@ypsg.co.uk is currently not working please use grant@ypsg.co.uk in the meanwhile for contact.
This show is being showed on foxel, on the lifestyle channel in Australia. I’ve been watching this show with my 8 year old son who is friends with a girl at his school who is said to have asperges. My son and his friends refer to this girl as having ‘special needs’. Since watchingt hsi shwo i asked my son these questions and got the below responses.
‘What have you learnt from this show?’ – if kids have autism they can’t control themselves and it upsets them too!
‘What can you say about this show?’ – it’s interesting, it helps me understand autism and stagestruck.
‘What could you do to make other kids like them feel better?’ – Well, im not sure. I could always make them laugh, play with them, talk to them and most importantly, become friends with them.
I think this show has been a great learning resource for my son. Thanks to all the parents, children and workers involved in this series. It is so amazing.
Jen
Leave A Reply