Throughout recent years, we as a society value the importance of mental health more each day, from talking about it across social media platforms and recognising the mental health concerns amongst friends to sharing stories across news and now documentaries. So with the topic continuing to be emphasised, what are the documentaries that provide us with an insight into it?
Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency
Recently, radio and DJ presenter Roman Kemp shared his mental health story where he sadly lost one of his beloved best friends from Capital FM, Producer Joe Lyons. Explaining how it affected him, Roman explores mental health within men and tries to figure out why many take their own lives.
It is an eye-opener to see how you never know who is hurting on the inside. Inside the BBC Three documentary, Roman Kemp conveys how it is vital to check up on people and ask twice whether your friends and family are okay, to help make a difference in someone’s life. You can watch this on BBC iPlayer now.
Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death
After a year since she sadly passed away, on 17th March, Channel 4 aired a documentary based on the life and death of presenter Caroline Flack.
The touching documentary explored Caroline’s experiences that led to why she ended her life, sharing how the pressure of fame and social media affected Caroline.
Helping provide an insight into the TV presenter’s life was Caroline’s mum, Christine, and Caroline’s twin sister, Jody. They corrected the false representations about Caroline and expressed the truth about how there was no bad in her; she was always a beautiful person inside and out, always loving and caring. Also, paying tribute to Caroline was Olly Murs and Dermot O’Leary explaining how she didn’t deserve receiving these negative comments from social media. She was a bright character who loved what she did in presenting.
The Channel 4 documentary conveys how we need to show kindness because sometimes we don’t know what is going on behind closed doors.
Kate Garraway: Finding Derek
This week on ITV, the ‘Kate Garraway: Finding Derek’ documentary was released where it shared broadcaster’s Kate Garraway’s husband’s, Derek, experience in battling Covid 19 since last March.
The documentary reveals how her husband’s battle has affected the life and mental health of their family. It gives us a perspective on what it is like for families going through a tough time due to lockdown and Covid-19, but it shows no matter what is happening, people still find hope to keep them going, which is what we see in Kate and Derek’s moving story.
Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil
‘Dancing with the Devil’ is about the life and career of US singer, Demi Lovato, exploring the events that lead up to her having a drug overdose in 2018.
During the Youtube documentary series, Demi opens up in a candid interview delving deeper into issues she faced, from drug addiction to her sexual assault; she bravely unfolds her story to society and hopefully influences people to open up when dealing with struggles.
Framing Britney Spears
Aired on 16th February on Now TV, the documentary ‘Framing Britney Spears’ examines the singer’s rise to fame and how it impacted her; it presents how she struggled with mental health and personal life matters during her career, but still, Britney kept going.
Many documentaries that inform people about mental health shows how sometimes it is hard to open up and teaches us how we consistently need to talk about it to encourage people to open up to someone. Why not watch these documentaries now or let us know on Twitter what mental health documentaries you know?