A DRUG DRAMA? COME OFF IT...

The residents of an Oxfordshire rehab centre inspired a tough new TV
film about beating addiction. But is it true to their lives? Kirsty de
Garis asked them

There have been plenty of film and television dramas about drug
addiction, but few have tackled the journey of withdrawal with the
honesty of Rehab. The inspiration for this new BBC film, broadcast
this Wednesday, came from director Antonia Bird's friendship with a
former addict. He recovered at the Ley Community, a residential
facility in Oxfordshire, where the film's writer, Rona Munro, spent
time talking to residents about their experiences. In the film Adam
(Daniel Mays) is a heroin addict who has just been released from
prison. He arrives at a residential rehab centre, and with the help of
staff and fellow residents attempts to get sober. Through flashbacks,
the residents' often violent pasts are revisited. 'I want the public
to try to understand the problems better, and be more sympathetic to
those who run into trouble with drugs,' says Bird. Rehab is an
uncompromising drama, but how realistic is it? We asked five Ley
Community residents to watch it and see if they got it right...

Ian, 23, unemployed

Seeing the main character come straight here from prison really opened
up an emotional reaction in me. It reminded me of the way things were
for me in the beginning. There's a lot of good stuff in the film but
what I didn't agree with was the way characters don't control their
anger. I imagine it's hard to fit the level of discipline and routine
that we experience into a film like that because it's drama and has to
be entertaining. But the way drug abusers' lives were before they come
here is such a contrast to what it quickly becomes. When I arrived 14
months ago, I thought it was just one house with 60 people, and I just
wanted to leave. But I decided to give it four weeks and I was
overwhelmed by the welcome I received. In the past 14 months, I've
been through a lot of emotions, and at the end of my time here, I have
to go back to the real world. It makes me anxious but I feel like I am
capable of it.

Mike, 23, former student

I didn't personally relate to the problems that others had been
through that were shown in the film. A lot of the people here have
experienced enormous problems personally, and with their families, but
I came from a supportive family. My family are professionals, and I
felt an overwhelming pressure to achieve, and felt like a failure.
There were enormous expectations of me and I couldn't live up to them.
I think more attention could have been given to the range of people
you'll get in a place like this. There's a guy here from Eton, for
example. I was quite well-educated. I went to university. Though
that's where I really messed up; that's when I slipped into drugs. My
life was good before I started taking drugs, it wasn't chaotic, but it
became a mess when I started taking them. I think the film covered the
chaos well, but didn't show enough follow-through. I thought it left a
lot of unanswered questions, and I'd have liked to see where the
characters lives went.

Jane, 46, former Ley Community resident, now assistant programme
director

I thought the fact that people go into rehab with tough personal
issues to confront was depicted really well but I don't think it gave
enough attention to the structure and organisation. A safe community
is our priority. We have to keep it that way in order for people to go
through these painful issues. I did the programme myself in 1990, and
know how well it works and that the results are long-lasting, and I
also know that the structure of the community life has a great deal to
do with that success.

If a film like Rehab was screened every week, then maybe people would
gain a greater understanding of what it is all about. I would like the
public to know that it's not that crazy here. I started working here
eight years ago. We're very concerned about public opinion, and I
think it's really good that awareness is increased, but it is
concerning that the more everyday parts aren't put in. I suppose it
wouldn't be a drama with the routine included. People come here
without any structure in their lives, and here they have somewhere to
be and something to do all the time. It's crucial. If we didn't have
that, I'm sure we wouldn't retain as many residents as we do.

Bob, 45, graphic designer

The main reason we are all here is to change, and I didn't think that
change was adequately shown in the film. There was a good impression
of people dealing with their personal issues, and the difficulties
faced in going through those problems, but there wasn't much about how
successful rehabs can be, particularly this one. I've been here 10 and
a half months, and this is such a safe environment. I've never
witnessed any violent incident here, and the chances of that happening
when someone was having a visit with a child [which happens in the
film] are virtually nil. Because of the structure in place, no matter
how violent a resident has been, he or she will learn to control that,
and the presence of a small child would only reinforce that control.

On a positive note, I think the film shows that rehab is not easy. I
work with the Ley project in a local prison, and people there have
said to me they don't know if they'd be capable of going through this,
it sounds so tough. A few people who've come here from prison have
wanted to leave because it's so difficult, but just about every time
we've been able to persuade them otherwise.

Liam, 26, mechanic

My only concern is that people who watch the film would think that
it's chaos in rehab, and nothing could be further from the truth. Life
is chaos without the structure we experience here. But then you could
film every day in a place like this for a year, and not do justice to
the dynamic. The film was great on the support side of things, it
really showed the care that's given, that we have to learn to receive.
A lot of the residents come from violent pasts, whether dishing it out
or receiving it, and that behaviour is targeted in this programme.

But this isn't a film I'd like people to see. I've been on the
receiving end of people's judgments about junkies, that anyone who
takes drugs is a danger, and somehow dirty. There are so many
different kinds of drug abusers. There are those who never commit a
crime to feed their habit. They might be supported by somebody else,
or on the Giro. The film doesn't show that. I think it's damaging to
think that everyone who uses drugs robs other people and uses violence
to do so. That makes it more difficult for the public to accept that
rehab changes a person completely. It's too easy and simplistic to
pigeonhole people like that, and think it's okay to shut users off
from help.

Having spent time in a community like this, what I find amazing is
seeing characters emerge that have been suppressed by drugs for years.
I always think filming Big Brother here would be really
entertaining!

Some names have been changed. Rehab is on BBC2 on Wednesday at 9pm.