News in the Guardian in UK regarding Hear The Silence

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News in the Guardian in UK regarding Hear The Silence

I'd say 1.2 million viewers in a country this size is pretty signficiant.

Its 1.2 million that will have something to think about

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv_and_radio/story/0,3604,1107932,00.html

Trust me, I'm a doctor

Gareth McLean

Tuesday December 16, 2003

The Guardian

Hear the Silence (Five) began with what amounted to a disclaimer. It was,

as these things often are, " a dramatised account " of a very real issue with

" merged or created characters " employed for effect. And what an effect. As

a drama, Hear the Silence was gripping, thrilling, and very, very scary.

(As Marquess, the executive producer of The Bill, rightly noted

recently, few situations make better drama than children in jeopardy). If

Hear the Silence was your only source of information on the safety, or not,

of the MMR jab and its possible - or possibly probable, or perhaps

non-existent - link to autism, you would likely have bundled your child up

in dock leaves and performed some sort of protection spell upon it under a

full moon rather than risk a trip to the GP for a triple immunisation.

In the maelstrom of publicity that has preceded its transmission,

allegation and counter-claim have swirled around the drama as interested

parties have sought to have their say. A doctor involved in producing the

now-infamous Lancet paper that sparked the whole brouhaha accused

programmemakers of using artistic licence irresponsibly. The drama's

producer maintained the film was " emotionally biased " but not factually

biased. As emotion trumps fact every time, this might seem a disingenuous

distinction. It's always about emphasis.

The emphasis here was on the parents but, you might say, why not? The

suffering of Shields (t son) was palpable and painful.

The travails of Dr Wakefield (Hugh Bonneville) were credible and not

unsurprising. The paternalistic and patronising attitudes of the medical

profession seemed all too real. The influence of drug companies within the

NHS and upon government policy felt worryingly true. The failings in the

current system of licencing drugs gaped wide.

Hear the Silence's power lay in its believability, one which no amount of

out-of-hand dismissal will dispel. It spoke of a breakdown in trust between

citizen and state that is almost utter. While it may not be of X-Files-ish

proportions, it is not entirely unrelated. If, before the Alder Hey scandal

exploded, a drama had been made about the harvesting of organs from babies'

bodies, it would have been deemed obscene and outrageous. After countless

cover-up and cock-up, we don't trust government to look after us any more.

We probably should never have assumed it would anyway. Prager's

script may have reduced this down to exchanges such as " Are you a doctor? "

" No, I'm a mother " , but it is an all-too-real suspicion against which there

is no vaccination, no magic bullet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1107698,00.html

Mothers alarmed after TV MMR drama

Tuesday December 16, 2003

The Guardian

Last night's television drama about the controversial theory linking the

measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism has made parents even

more worried.

The Guardian invited two London mothers to review the Channel Five play

after medical experts called it " irresponsible, reckless and entirely

unbalanced " .

One, Ebanks, 43, whose two-year-old daughter has just had the first

round of injections, said it left her more concerned.

" I just think it has opened a whole can of worms around the debate which is

probably not going to help anyone, " she said.

" Elesha is two and although this programme has made me think more about the

consequences, I'm still going to give her the booster injections when she's

old enough, because in the end this was a drama not science, and I don't

think there is enough real evidence to back up what was said. "

She thought the programme could have a dangerous impact on parents already

worried about the triple jab.

" A lot of people don't have the jabs now, and I think that number will grow

following this programme, and that could mean a more serious outbreak of

measles in the future.

" There needs to be more research into the possible affects of MMR, but

maybe it was not a great idea to make a drama about such a controversial

subject, because it's difficult for the audience to know what was true and

what wasn't. "

The play, Hearing the Silence, told the story of a woman's fight to link

her son's autism to the triple jab, against the backdrop of

Wakefield's research at the Royal Free Medical School in London in the 1990s.

Dr Wakefield was the first doctor to voice suspicion about a possible link

between MMR and autism. But world wide research has failed to prove a

relationship, and the overwhelming majority of experts now say the MMR jab

is safe.

In an open letter, 11 child health professionals accused the docu-drama of

increasing the anxiety of parents whose children were due to be given the

jab. The experts, including Alan Craft, president of the Royal College of

Paediatrics and Child Health, and Haslam, chairman of the Royal

College of GPs, said it presented " an entirely unbalanced picture " of Dr

Wakefield's work.

They added: " Hear the Silence distorts the truth in what can only be

described as an irresponsible and reckless way. Throughout the programme,

the words 'there is a link between MMR and autism' are stated by parents

and Wakefield as fact. "

But Debbie Bruce, 39, whose three-year-old daughter Kara is due to have her

MMR booster, said the programme was " totally responsible " and had raised

important issues.

" If it keeps the debate going I think it has to be seen as a good thing. So

many people are worried about the possible links it is important that they

are not just dismissed.

" I've been putting off taking Kara in because I'm getting increasingly

worried about the health risks and this programme certainly did not make me

want to rush to the doctors to get the jabs.

" It's down to the medical profession to address these concerns and not

sweep them under the carpet. "

She said the programme was a moving portrait of a mother's struggle to do

what was right.

" It must be really frightening to be in that position when you feel no-one

is listening. I think parents are in the best position to notice changes in

their children's health and they should be listened to.

" I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Kara's next lot of injections. I'm

waiting as long as I can because I sort of think that it might help if

she's older. But I suppose that is part of the problem. We're all in the

dark about what is really going on. "

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http://media.guardian.co.uk/overnights/story/0,7965,1108087,00.html

MMR row fails to stir audiences

Deans

Tuesday December 16, 2003

Hear the Silence: watched by only 1.2m viewers

Despite all the controversy surrounding Channel Five's MMR drama Hear the

Silence, the show starring t son attracted little more than a

million viewers last night.

Hear the Silence has been criticised by a number of scientists and doctors

who claimed it showed only one side of the MMR debate by backing the

argument linking the inoculation against measles, mumps and rubella to autism.

However, those who called for Five to drop the drama may be slightly

reassured that the amount of column inches Hear the Silence garnered in the

press did not translate into a big audience.

The drama starred son as a mother who believed the MMR jab was

responsible for her son's autism and Hugh Bonneville as Dr

Wakefield, one of the main advocates of the MMR-autism link theory.

The Five drama was watched by 1.2 million viewers and attracted a 6%

audience share between 9pm and 11.05pm, according to unofficial overnights.

Five regularly attracts audiences of 2 million upwards for its 9pm movies,

so the ratings for the MMR drama will come as a disappointment.

Hear the Silence lost out to programming on all four terrestrial channels,

including Channel 4's extreme science series, BodyShock, which continued to

pull in viewers with a documentary about feral children.

Wild Child, about children who have been brought up by animals, attracted

4.8 million viewers and a 20% audience share from 9pm, almost matching the

5 million audience for last week's documentary about a boy who gave birth

to his twin.

ITV1's sex therapy drama, Between the Sheets, continued to lead the pack in

the 9pm Monday slot, with 6.2 million viewers and a 26% audience share.

BBC1's Merseybeat had to settle for second place again, with 5.1 million

viewers.

After Hear the Silence, Five's MMR debate show attracted 600,000 viewers

and a 6% audience share between 11.05pm and 12.05pm.

MMR: the Debate proved less popular than shows on all the other terrestrial

networks, apart from BBC4 on BBC2, which was showing a documentary about

the Church of England.

Matt Lucas and Walliams' sketch show Little Britain is fast becoming

BBC3's most successful export to BBC2.

Last night Little Britain was watched by 2.8 million viewers between 10pm

and 10.30pm - making it the top rating show in BBC2's Comedy Night zone for

the third week running.

Little Britain also got the better of Channel 4's V Graham Norton, which

sees the eponymous comedian in Los Angeles for the final week of his

nightly show.

V Graham Norton, which will be replaced by a weekly show in the new year

presented by Norton from New York before he jumps ship to the BBC,

attracted 2 million viewers.

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