From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The A Word | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Drama |
| Created by | Keren Margalit |
| Based on | Yellow Peppers by Keren Margalit |
| Developed by | Peter Bowker |
| Written by | Peter Bowker |
| Directed by |
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| Starring |
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| Composer | Rob Lane |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 18 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Production locations |
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| Editor | Jamie Pearson |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Picture format | 16:9 1080i |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original release | 22 March 2016 – 9 June 2020 |
| Related | |
| Yellow Peppers |
The A Word is a BBC television drama series, based on the Israeli series Yellow Peppers. The series follows a young boy and how his family cope with the revelation that he has autism spectrum disorder. Following filming in the Lake District from October 2015, a six-part series began airing on 22 March 2016. On 26 May 2016, the BBC announced that a second series of The A Word had been commissioned.[1] It premiered in the UK on 7 November 2017. The third series began airing on 5 May 2020.[2]
Synopsis[edit]
Five-year-old Joe Hughes displays clear signs of communication problems and consistently isolates himself by listening to pop music through large blue and black headphones. He has encyclopaedic knowledge of the songs he listens to and accurately sings along with the lyrics. His parents, Alison and Paul, seem oblivious to the disorder and wonder why Joe is ostracised by other children of the same age. However, it is later discovered by Joe’s grandfather, Maurice, that Alison and Paul have been taking him to hospital for his communication problems. Other family members know there is a problem, however, their attempts to intervene are met with obstruction from Joe’s parents. After originally believing Joe had hearing problems, their Ear, Nose and Throat consultant refers Joe to a specialist who diagnoses him as autistic.
The story then follows how the dysfunctional family, including Rebecca (who feels invisible), Eddie and Nicola (who are coping with their own relationship problems) and tactless grandad Maurice cope with Joe’s situation and their own apparent social disorders.
Cast[edit]
| Actor | Character | Role | Episode |
|---|---|---|---|
| Max Vento | Joe Hughes | a child on the autism spectrum | 1– |
| Lee Ingleby | Paul Hughes | Joe’s father | 1– |
| Morven Christie | Alison Hughes | Joe’s mother | 1– |
| Molly Wright | Rebecca Hughes | Joe’s half-sister | 1– |
| Greg McHugh | Eddie Scott | Alison’s brother | 1– |
| Vinette Robinson | Nicola Daniels | Eddie’s wife | 1–12 |
| Christopher Eccleston | Maurice Scott | Joe’s grandfather, Alison’s and Eddie’s father | 1– |
| Pooky Quesnel | Louise Wilson | Maurice’s music teacher and lover | 1– |
| Leon Harrop | Ralph Wilson | Louise’s son | 1– |
| Matt Greenwood | Tom Clarke | Rebecca’s best friend | 2– |
| Thomas Gregory | Luke Taylor | Rebecca’s boyfriend | 2–6 |
| Daniel Cerqueira | Dr Graves | Family doctor | 1– |
| George Bukhari | Terry Norris | Worker at Paul and Alison’s cafe | 1– |
| Adam Wittek | David Nowak | Worker at the Scott’s brewery | 1– |
| Tommie Grabiec | Pavel Kaminski | Worker at the Scott’s brewery | 1– |
| Abby Ford | Sally | Worker at the Scott’s brewery | 4 |
| Julia Krynke | Maya Petrenko | Joe’s babysitter | 2–5 |
| Lisa Millett | Maggie White | Joe’s speech therapist | 3 |
| Ralf Little | Stuart | Rebecca’s biological father | 5–6, 11, 14 |
| Jude Akuwudike | Vincent Daniels | Nicola’s father | 7– |
| Clare Holman | Grace Daniels | Nicola’s mother | 7– |
| Aaron Pierre | James Thorne | Rebecca’s boyfriend | 7–8 |
| Julie Hesmondhalgh | Heather | Joe’s teacher | 13– |
| Lucy Gaskell | Sophie Berwick | Worker at Paul’s Gastropub | 7–11 |
| Travis Smith | Mark Berwick | Sophie’s autistic teenage son | 7– |
| Sarah Gordy | Katie Thorne | Ralph’s wife | 13– |
| Nigel Betts | Steve Thorne | Katie’s father | 13– |
| Sherry Baines | Clare Thorne | Katie’s mother | 13– |
Production[edit]
Bowker drew on his own experiences and observations as a teacher and with his family to write The A Word.[3] Autism advocate Deborah Brownson served as an advisor on the production.[4]
Filming took place from October 2015 at locations in the Lake District, including Keswick, Broughton-in-Furness, Coniston, Thirlmere Reservoir, and at The Space Project studios in Manchester.[5][6][7]
On 24 May 2019, it was announced by the BBC, and then subsequently via press and social media publications, that a third series was in production. Returning cast members included Christopher Eccleston, Morven Christie, Lee Ingleby, Max Vento, Molly Wright, Greg McHugh, Pooky Quesnel, Matt Greenwood and Leon Harrop. Joining the cast as newcomers were Julie Hesmondhalgh, Sarah Gordy and David Gyasi.[8]
Episodes[edit]
Series overview[edit]
Series 1 (2016)[edit]
Series 2 (2017)[edit]
Series 3 (2020)[edit]
Broadcast and reception[edit]
BBC One began airing the first six-part series in a Tuesday 9pm slot, replacing Happy Valley, on 22 March 2016. SundanceTV acquired rights for broadcasting the show in America, and it premiered there on 13 July 2016.[10] A second series began in the UK on 7 November 2017 remaining in its Tuesday 9pm slot. A third series was filmed in May 2019 and the entire series was released on BBC iPlayer on 5 May 2020. On the same day it also began broadcasting in its usual weekly slot on BBC One.[8][11] BBC First airs the series in Australia. Disney+ picked up the programme for all three series across all of Europe, except the UK.[12]
Overnight figures revealed the first episode was watched by 4.7 million viewers and had a 23% share of the audience.[13] BARB later reported a consolidated figure of 5.91 million.[9] Reaction to the first episode was mostly positive among viewers. Many people have praised the show on social media, partly for the quality of the acting but also for the way it dealt with the subject of autism.[14]
Home media[edit]
Series 1 was released on DVD in September 2016, and series 2 in December 2017. The third series was released on DVD in July 2020.[citation needed]
Spin-off series[edit]
In August 2020 it was announced that a spin-off series Ralph & Katie, following the married life of the protagonists, had been commissioned by the BBC.[15] The six-part series, which included a writing team made up predominantly of people with disabilities,[16] was broadcast in October and November 2022, with all episodes available as a boxset on BBC iPlayer.[17] The series will also be available on Disney+ in some regions.
References[edit]
- ^ «BBC Drama announces three new commissions for BBC One and BBC Two». BBC Media Centre (Press release). 26 May 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Tatum, Kris (24 May 2019). «Filming starts on series three of BBC’s The A Word in Cumbria». Times & Star. Workington, Cumbria. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Ritman, Alex (22 March 2016). «Autism Drama Writer Talks BBC, Sundance’s ‘The A Word’«. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Burns, Judith (29 December 2017). «MBE for author of ‘instruction manual’ for autism». BBC. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ «Filming begins on The A Word, new six-part drama for BBC One». BBC Media Centre (Press release). 26 October 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ «The A Word filming in Keswick». Time & Star. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Clarke, Tom (26 October 2015). «‘THE A WORD’ GOES INTO PRODUCTION AT SPACE STUDIOS MANCHESTER». The Space Project. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ a b «Filming commences on The A Word series three». BBC Media Centre (Press release). 24 May 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ a b c d «Weekly top 30 programmes on TV sets (July 1998 – Sept 2018)». Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (8 January 2016). «SundanceTV Acquires BBC, Keshet Autism Drama ‘The A-Word’«. Variety. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Kalia, Ammar (5 May 2020). «TV tonight: the third series of The A Word gets under way». The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Middleton, Richard (17 October 2022). «Disney+ strikes ‘Ralph & Katie’ & ‘The A Word’ deal across Europe». TBI Vision.
- ^ Johnson, Niall (23 March 2016). «BBC One’s autistic family drama The A Word opens with 4.7m». Mediatel. Retrieved 23 March 2016.[dead link]
- ^ Debnath, Neela (23 March 2016). «The A Word: Viewers praise Christopher Eccleston drama tackling autism». Daily Express. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ «BBC One announces Ralph And Katie, a spin-off of Peter Bowker’s hit drama The A Word». BBC Media Centre (Press release). 24 August 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ Hogan, Michael (9 October 2022). «Interview | Jordan Hogg: ‘In 15 years, I’ve never come across another disabled director’«. The Observer. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
- ^ «Ralph & Katie». BBC iPlayer. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
External links[edit]
- The A Word at BBC Online
- The A Word at IMDb
- The A Word at epguides.com
The A Word is a BBC One drama series that first aired in 2016.
External links
Wikipedia has an article about:
The A Word
- The A Word on BBC Programmes
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It’s surprising how few dramas there are about the autistic spectrum. Dustin Hoffman’s turn in Rain Man (1988) misleadingly suggested that all sufferers are also geniuses. On British television Kid in the Corner (2001) was inspired by Tony Marchant’s experience as the parent of a child with Asperger’s (although the boy in the drama had ADHD).
There hasn’t been much since then that specifically alludes to the A word, despite the rise in diagnoses and the word’s slide into general – often ignorant and pejorative – usage. Writing on theartsdesk, Saskia Baron was by no means the only arts journalist to tell of her own experience of autism in the family. So there’s a lot of responsibility resting on The A Word, the first major drama in years to show the rest of us what it’s like to have your child diagnosed with the eponymous condition. It’s a measure of how nervously the subject is broached that, rather than follow Marchant’s lead, Peter Bowker’s script is a free adaptation of a syndicated Israeli drama.
We first meet Joe (a lovely natural performance from Max Vento) wandering through a barren valley in the Lake District, contentedly singing along to pop music he knows by heart. He’s gone walkabout, and is evidently known for it: two blokes in a van drop him off home. It struck an odd note that his parents Paul and Alison (Lee Ingleby and Morven Christie, pictured below) seemed entirely unanxious about his disappearance, but then The A Word is set in an empty corner of England where everything else feels safe – perhaps too safe. 
Joe’s behaviour is obsessive – he needs to open doors twice – and he does a lot of staring into space and not responding to questions. His favourite songs seem hand-picked to offer a running commentary on his alienation – “Another Planet”, “Don’t You Want Me?”, “World Shut Your Mouth”. His parents, loving and optimistic, put it down to harmless individualism, but questions start to be asked by other members of the family after Joe fails to participate in his own fifth birthday party. But they shut their ears. The opinion of sister-in-law Nicola (Vinette Robinson), who is a nurse, is vengefully overlooked because she has recently committed adultery; Joe’s plain-speaking grandfather Maurice (Christopher Eccleston) is angrily dismissed as a meddler. In a beautifully crafted sequence, Paul and Alison find the scales falling from their eyes and their denial deconstructed when Joe goes for an assessment with a psychologist.
The A Word is by no means all about Joe. Because autism happens to ordinary families, this is in every other respect a regular drama, with all the usual fixtures and fittings – squabbles, sex talk and much explanatory banter. The background feels a little too hecticly overegged: Alison’s brother Eddie (Greg McHugh) and his wife Nicola moving back north with all their dramatically useful baggage; the widowed grandfather propositioned by his sex-starved singing teacher (Pooky Quesnel); the community where everyone knows everyone else’s business, even the subtitled comedy Poles.
As an important and well-acted drama about an intensely serious subject, The A Word works much better in honest, sorrowful mode than when clowning about as a routine drama. The laughs are there for a reason – to make the point that it’s not all doom and gloom, and to keep the viewer from running away – but feel like clutter obstructing a moving view.
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Thanks to the success of novels such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Rosie Project, autism is not only talked about more – it is celebrated. But parents can be racked with worry when they first hear that their child is on the autistic spectrum.
Dedicated parents Alison and Paul Hughes have to face up to that fear in new BBC1 drama The A Word, when it emerges their five-year-old son, Joe (Max Vento), has problems with emotional responses and communication. He may enjoy listening to Human League and other bands far beyond the tastes of most primary school children, but when his parents brought out his birthday cake, he lay unresponsive on the floor.
The opening scene looked promising. As Joe sang his heart out to Arctic Monkeys in the front of a lorry winding through the Lake District, I was excited for a drama – perhaps a touch on the indie side – about a boy overcoming the odds. But episode one focused too much on the boring lives of the adults rather than giving an eye-opening insight into life with autism.
Perhaps the adult world wouldn’t have seemed so dull if the characters were more likeable. Instead, mum Alison (played by Morven Christie, currently seen on ITV’s Grantchester) was a pent-up control freak, and her sister-in-law, Nicola, seemed far too haughty to survive one day up North. The men were marginally more likeable, except when lad dad Paul kept calling his five-year-old son “mate”.
The A Word will no doubt resonate with parents across the country trying to do the best for their children, while struggling to juggle work with various family crises. The soundtrack is a good’un and the scenes of Cumbria are beautiful. If only the script had fewer clunky sex scenes and more told from Joe’s perspective.
- 25 August 2020
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TVSeriesFinale
A spin-off of The A Word has been ordered by BBC, which will air on BBC One in the UK. The spin-off will focus on a couple as they deal with the challenges of being newlyweds while living with Down’s Syndrome.
Deadline revealed more about the plot of Ralph and Katie, which may air on (which runs The A Word) if it arrives in the US:
“The series follows Ralph, played by Leon Harrop, and Katie, played Sarah Gordy, as they embark on the biggest adventure of their lives, having just had the wedding of the year. Each 30-minute episode features a different story focusing on the domestic challenges faced by the newlyweds – challenges faced by all newlyweds, but with the added fact that they have Down’s Syndrome.”
Peter Bowker also said more about the
See full article at TVSeriesFinale
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BBC One
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Sarah Gordy
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