November 17th 2000 - 17:30 GMT
adders.org wish to extend congratulations once again to Tiger Aspect Productions for their drama "Kid in the Corner". See our previous news story on the drama by clicking here. This time congratulations are for winning the Award for Best TV Drama at the Mental Health Media Awards, sponsored by The Guardian. Kid in the Corner beat off competition from 'Walking on the Moon', 'Always and Everyone' and 'Coronation Street'. The awards were announced at a ceremony on 25th October 2000. On hand to receive the award were Producer Kate Anthony and Director Bille Eltringham. Roger Graef, director of Mental Health Media, who handed them the award praised the emotional impact of the piece.
TV productions can be viewed by many as being rather cynical and are sometimes accused of sensationalising sensitive issues. However Kid in the Corner was a wonderful portrayal of a family with a child with ADHD. It very sensitively covered all the effects the condition of the child had on the family and followed through the diagnostic procedure and eventual treatment plans put into place to help both the child and the family. The superb and sensitivity of the main characters was brilliant and Eric Byrne who played Danny was wonderful.
The fact that an organisation such as Mental Health Media gave this award is fantastic credit to all those involved.
We spoke to Kate Anthony of Tiger Aspect and producer of Kid in the Corner and she told us that they were over the moon at receiving the award.
Kate told us that as part of her acceptance speech at the ceremony she had wanted to thank a number of people, in particular she spoke of Bille Eltringham the Director who worked very closely with Eric and gave him lots of help and support. Also of Becky De Souza the script editor, she said that the award was a tribute to Becky's enormous effort and time in researching ADHD and talking to many families. (We can personally say that Becky was extremely interested and encouraging when she spoke to us and that she was very sensitive in her approach. Becky was very keen to get things right so that she could portray things as they are for so many of us.) Kate also spoke highly of writer Tony Marchant, who was able to draw on his own experiences of parenting a child with a similar condition and was able to put in a lot of the emotional feelings of a parent of a special child. Kate also wanted to thank all of the parents and professionals who were willing to talk about their experiences so openly to the team and for trusting them with their feelings.
Kate went on to tell us that as Tiger Aspects and the production team began to go through all the research and stories they had been told they became fascinated by the subject and felt that the time was right to go forward with the telling of the story of Danny and his family, The team felt very committed to the project and were astounded by the feedback they had received, they had no idea how much feedback they would get and were amazed by the number of positive and moving comments they had. She went on to tell us that 'the team were grateful to Channel 4 for commissioning the project and for showing the drama as they did. Programmes like Kid in the Corner, which tackle sensitive issues are needed and Channel 4 were brave in their approach as few dramas like this have been promoted in the past and more are needed in the future to help highlight some of these types of issues. So long may this continue.'
Kate also told us that Kid in the Corner had also won 3 Golden Nymph Awards at the Monte Carlo Television Festival Awards: -
Best Screen Play went to Tony Marchant
Best Director went to Bille Eltringham
Best Actor went to Douglas Henshall for his role as Alex (Dad)
Kid in the Corner was also nominated for a BAFTA, this was eventually won by the drama 'Warriors'.
Eric Byrne was nominated for the best newcomer at the Royal TV Society Awards, this was won by Jamie Oliver.
Our congratulations go to Eric for his nomination and we hope to see more of him on our screens in the future.
Kate finished by saying that the power of TV Drama was great in getting a subject across to the public and that the awards encourage producers to get things right and to do things properly and in a sensitive manor.
Our congratulations once again to all those involved.
for adders.org