18 replies to this topic

[Helen Aver]

Hello,

I am currently working on a production called The Haunting of Toby Jugg for the BBC, which will feature the lead actor as a WW2 veteran confined to a wheelchair after a spinal injury. The director is keen for me to find somebody with a similar injury who would be prepared to have a meeting with the actor, and hopefully help him gain some insights into living as a paraplegic. If you know of somebody (ideally London-based)who would be prepared to meet with our actor, I would appreciate it if you could put me in touch with them- we cannot offer a fee at this stage, but we would of course pay their expenses for the meeting. Alternatively, If you know of an association I could contact who might be able to help me, perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me their contact details?

I would appreciate any help you can give me!

[Helen Aver]

Helen Aver, on May 4 2006, 05:33 PM, said:

Hello,

I am currently working on a production called The Haunting of Toby Jugg for the BBC, which will feature the lead actor as a WW2 veteran confined to a wheelchair after a spinal injury. The director is keen for me to find somebody with a similar injury who would be prepared to have a meeting with the actor, and hopefully help him gain some insights into living as a paraplegic. If you know of somebody (ideally London-based)who would be prepared to meet with our actor, I would appreciate it if you could put me in touch with them- we cannot offer a fee at this stage, but we would of course pay their expenses for the meeting. Alternatively, If you know of an association I could contact who might be able to help me, perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me their contact details?

I would appreciate any help you can give me!

Oh, that's London England, by the way.....

[kanga2433]

And why not, may I ask, a disabled actor?

[mrhoopermd]

Yeah! Why not?

[Helen Aver]

kanga2433, on May 4 2006, 06:34 PM, said:

And why not, may I ask, a disabled actor?

Good question. I'm not anything to do with casting, by the way! They wanted a "name" for the lead, I should think- which unfairly discriminates against most people in the world, but means that they will get a bigger audience when it is shown.

[Helen Aver]

Helen Aver, on May 5 2006, 11:17 AM, said:

kanga2433, on May 4 2006, 06:34 PM, said:

And why not, may I ask, a disabled actor?

Good question. I'm not anything to do with casting, by the way! They wanted a "name" for the lead, I should think- which unfairly discriminates against most people in the world, but means that they will get a bigger audience when it is shown.

Oh, and he's supposed to have been injured about 10 months previously.

[kanga2433]

but one less as I would not watch it.

[Helen Aver]

kanga2433, on May 5 2006, 11:32 AM, said:

but one less as I would not watch it.

Like, fair enough! But, you know, it's not my call. I was just trying to find a person or a support group the actor could meet up with.

[Gary Anderson]

Helen, disabled actor or non-disabled actor - if he is convincing he will do a good job.

Try the spinal injuries trust. The man who runs that is actually disabled himself and he might be able to help you. Alternatively, you could try "hawking" the spinal units in England close to you and ask the consultant in charge if he can be of some assistance to you.

My Mum is a Holby City addict and there is a guy on that who has cerebral palsy and can walk but chooses for the drama to use an electric wheelchair.

Good luck

[Helen Aver]

Gary Anderson, on May 5 2006, 12:43 PM, said:

Helen, disabled actor or non-disabled actor - if he is convincing he will do a good job.

Try the spinal injuries trust. The man who runs that is actually disabled himself and he might be able to help you. Alternatively, you could try "hawking" the spinal units in England close to you and ask the consultant in charge if he can be of some assistance to you.

My Mum is a Holby City addict and there is a guy on that who has cerebral palsy and can walk but chooses for the drama to use an electric wheelchair.

Good luck

Thanks Gary- I'll try the Spinal Injuries Trust now.

[Helen Aver]

Argh! I am having no luck at all. Does anyone on here know of a London-based support group who actually meet in the flesh?

[royter]

Helen Aver, on May 5 2006, 02:51 PM, said:

Argh! I am having no luck at all. Does anyone on here know of a London-based support group who actually meet in the flesh?

what is it you actually need to find out is it the physical side or mental side of the injuries i am a male para been in chair over 20 years now and would be willing to help if i can but i am based in the north west but contact me i am willing to give you as much advice as poss

[xMaddiex]

Gary Anderson, on May 5 2006, 11:43 AM, said:

Helen, disabled actor or non-disabled actor - if he is convincing he will do a good job.

Try the spinal injuries trust. The man who runs that is actually disabled himself and he might be able to help you. Alternatively, you could try "hawking" the spinal units in England close to you and ask the consultant in charge if he can be of some assistance to you.

My Mum is a Holby City addict and there is a guy on that who has cerebral palsy and can walk but chooses for the drama to use an electric wheelchair.

Good luck

yeah, that guy from holby city is a fantastic actor! (yes, thats how i spend my tuesday nights ) the characters called dean but the actors called paul i think, well you both work for the BBC so he might be a good choice, but then again he doesnt have an SCI...

[mttb14]

Hi,

Isn't Holby City on a Wednesday night?

I agree he is a really good actor, nice to see a program promoting disabled people working. Considering the new disability equality law where all businesses MUST be disabled friendly, and should at least offer disabled people the chance of work, not many TV shows actually do employ or pretend to employ disabled people.

It would probably help the ignortant members of society to see that disabled people are the same as them, but with a disability.

Helen, maybe it is something you could put to the powers that be, on the BBC.

I watched a chef called Michael Cain on the Great British Menu the other day, he was in a car crash and he lost his arm. He has taught himself to do everything left handed and he has Mitchelline Stars to his credit. It was good to watch, he had one hell of a challenge ahead of him and he has conquered it, thus proving if you really want to you can find a way around most things.

Maria

[russ1]

Are we really supposed to believe that there's no paraplegics employed by the bbc who could help. Maybe the bbc's human resources department would be a good place to start.

Alternatively as you're a commercial organisation looking to gain a commercial advantage from using a disabled person as a resource then perhaps you could let us know what recompense / expenses package you're proposing for the disabled person who you wish to use to assist your production and then I might be in a position to either help myself or put one of my many paraplegic friends in the London area in touch with you.

I bet all those medical advisors working with holby city to make sure that the medical details are realistic don't do it for free so why should a disabled person be expected to provide similar information to enable a production to appear realistic for free?

[Apparelyzed]

Try contacting the BBC journalist called Frank Gardner.

He was left paralysed last year after being shot by Al-Qaeda terrorists in Riyadh, while covering a story about terrorism in Saudi Arabia.

More info here: http://www.apparelyz...p?showtopic=345

Regards

Simon.

[Bob Clark]

Not to brag but I was once the stand-in for the main actor playing the lead role in Shakespeare's "Hamlet". Unfortunately and as fate had it, a few of my friends accidently laid the main actor up in the hospital for a few days. What a pity that was. So I, through a collision of circumstances, played the role of Hamlet.

Quote

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

I was likened to a young Richard Burton. It was rumored that I possessed the same theatrical instincts of the aforementioned Sir. The director merely needed to indicate his desire, and scarcely even that, as I mesmerized my audience with such a command of the character of Hamlet that they were left nothing short of speechless and spellbound. All the reviews were so very positive, leaving many of the usual verbosely bellicose reviewers wordless, their sharpened pencils left motionless as they themselves still revelled in the brilliant light of my grand performance.

Since I'm not one taken to braggadocio, suffice it to say that even after all the naked years post my yet unsurpassed performance, chatter still abounds of the sheer brilliance of my portrayal of Hamlet. And many, as to this day, still believe it hasn't been equalled much less eclipsed. The words Bravo, Bravo, Bravo still ring in the air as the boundless bouquets of flowers which were thrown upon the stage have long since dried and shriveled and blew like ashes by the winds of their destiny.

I was later beseeched by my loving and devout following and many directors of reknown to play the role of Romeo in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". However, my emotional state forbade me from accepting this role. I just couldn't put myself through the deep love, then sudden loss, of my beloved Juliet. So I was fearful that I myself might need to commit the ultimate act of love and follow my sweet Juliet to the depths of death as we in near synchronism shuffled off our mortal coils to reunite ourselves. Where we could rekindle the sparks of our true deep love, one for the other, where the light through God's yonder window would break anew.

Quote

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. . . .
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars
As daylight doth a lamp; her eye in heaven
Would through the airy region stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.

But if the money is right I might reconsider. Call my agent at 555-555-1234. Travel arrangements can be made.

[Helen Aver]

russ1, on May 8 2006, 10:09 AM, said:

Are we really supposed to believe that there's no paraplegics employed by the bbc who could help. Maybe the bbc's human resources department would be a good place to start.

Alternatively as you're a commercial organisation looking to gain a commercial advantage from using a disabled person as a resource then perhaps you could let us know what recompense / expenses package you're proposing for the disabled person who you wish to use to assist your production and then I might be in a position to either help myself or put one of my many paraplegic friends in the London area in touch with you.

I bet all those medical advisors working with holby city to make sure that the medical details are realistic don't do it for free so why should a disabled person be expected to provide similar information to enable a production to appear realistic for free?

The BBC human resources dept is a good idea- thank you. I called the local Social Services, and they seem to think they can set me up with someone. I would argue that the BBC is a commercial company looking to gain a commercial advantage from an interview with someone. Nobody would gain financially from this interview- it is just a request made by the director, I think to try and make sure the portrayal of the character is accurate as regards the disability.

[Helen Aver]

Apparelyzed, on May 8 2006, 10:37 AM, said:

Try contacting the BBC journalist called Frank Gardner.

He was left paralysed last year after being shot by Al-Qaeda terrorists in Riyadh, while covering a story about terrorism in Saudi Arabia.

More info here: http://www.apparelyz...p?showtopic=345

Regards

Simon.

That is totally perfect! thanks for that! the timing is about right, and his experience not unlike the characters.....