The BBC Cleans Up At The Mental Health Media Awards

Written by Helen Jones - Soaps Editor

Wednesday, 25 November 2009 16:21

The BBC swept the board at the 2009 Mind Mental Health Media Awards last night, at a star studded event hosted at BAFTA by comedian Shappi Khorsandi.

Newsnight, Alastair Campbell’s documentary Cracking Up (part of the BBC Headroom campaign), Radio 4’s You and Yours and the radio drama Do’s and Don’ts for the mentally interesting, all received awards from the judging panel which included BAFTA winning writer Jimmy McGovern.

EastEnders received the prestigious Making a Difference award for the long running soap’s ongoing commitment to mental health issues. The actresses Lacey Turner and Gillian Wright, who play mother and daughter Stacy Branning and Jean Slater, both diagnosed with bipolar disorder, collected the award.

The battle against discrimination, misunderstanding and the stigma of mental health is being fought in our favourite soaps, in popular radio and TV dramas and by actors, writers, journalists and broadcasters across the United Kingdom.

The quality of entries has been incredibly high this year and demonstrates that positive and authentic portrayals of mental health are compatible with the kind of original, creative and groundbreaking programming we have seen this evening. - Mind’s Chief Executive, Paul Farmer

Stars from across the media galaxy were out in force to celebrate the best portrayals and reporting of mental distress on TV and radio over the last year. Fiona Phillips, and Shaun Parkes were just some of the people on the shortlist as well as familiar faces from EastEnders, Hollyoaks and daytime soap Doctors.

There were wins all around the UK with long running Welsh language soap Pobol Y Cwm scooping the Soap Award for its portrayal of post-natal depression, the Raising Public Awareness award going to the Health Promotion Agency in Northern Ireland for its Don’t cover up your problems campaign targeted at young men to raise awareness of mental health and STV winning the Drama category for the series Cracked set in a residential rehab clinic.

The Channel 4/Quicksilver production, Insanity of war: Unreported world, won the award for Short Television Documentary; reporter Seyi Rhodes reported from Sierra Leone where thousands of people have been left severely traumatised from the brutal conflict ten years ago, but where there is only one psychiatrist.

Other celebrity supporters in attendance at the event, sponsored by Shift and Comic Relief, included Helen McCrory, Damian Lewis and Mind’s President Melvyn Bragg.

The full list of winners includes:

Full Length Television Documentary sponsored by Rethink
Cracking up (BBC Two/Liberty Bell Productions)
Former Downing Street Director of Communications Alastair Campbell reflects on the breakdown he experienced in 1986, and his subsequent recovery.

Short Television Documentary sponsored by Rethink
Insanity of war: Unreported world (Channel 4/Quicksilver)
Reporter Seyi Rhodes visits Sierra Leone, ten years after one of the most brutal conflicts in recent history. Thousands of people have been left severely traumatised, but the country is served by just one psychiatrist.

Television and Radio News sponsored by The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
Mental health in Parliament: Newsnight (BBC Two)
Caroline Hawley reports that one in five MPs has had a mental health problem but is fearful about the consequences of admitting it.

Young People’s Media sponsored by The Samaritans
Troubled minds (Teachers TV/Mosaic Films)
Four short animated films narrated by young people who have experienced a range of mental health problems.

TV Drama
Cracked (STV/STV Productions)
A series set in a residential rehab clinic in the Scottish countryside, following the ups and downs of both clients and therapists.

Soaps and Continual TV Drama
Pobol Y Cwm (S4C/BBC Cymru)
The long running Welsh language daily soap depicts postnatal depression through the story of a single mother.

Factual Radio
Mind your own business? You and Yours (BBC Radio 4)
A phone in on the dilemma for job applicants on whether to reveal a history of mental problems.

Radio Drama
Do’s and don’ts for the mentally interesting (BBC Radio 4)
An uplifting factual drama based on 23-year old Seaneen Molloy's acclaimed blog about learning to live - and love - with bipolar disorder.

Raising Public Awareness
Don’t cover up your problems (Public Health Agency for Northern Ireland / The Leith Agency)
A campaign targeting young men to raise awareness of mental health and encourage a positive attitude to seeking help for self and others.

Speaking Out
Tom Perry, Alastair Rolfe and Mark Payge contributors to the documentary Chosen who courageously spoke out about their experience of being abused as children at an English preparatory school.