A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Release Date:
May 25, 2010
Original Title:
Mental: A History of the Madhouse
Genres:
Documentary
Production Companies:
BBC
Blakeway Associates
Production Countries:
United Kingdom
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 59
Documentary which tells the fascinating and poignant story of the closure of Britain's mental asylums. In the post-war period, 150,000 people were hidden away in 120 of these vast Victorian institutions all across the country. Today, most mental patients, or service users as they are now called, live out in the community and the asylums have all but disappeared. Through powerful testimonies from patients, nurses and doctors, the film explores this seismic revolution and what it tells us about society's changing attitudes to mental illness over the last sixty years.
Art Direction:
Bill Thomas
Cinematography:
Colin Skinner
Joe Taylor
Director:
Chris Boulding
Editor:
Ian Meller
Producer:
Adam Jessel
Production Design:
Richard Touch
Writer:
Chris Boulding
Peter Scott
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