The documentary film starring Helena Bonham Carter which is based on the Jackson family (Jacqui, Luke etc...)
Is on Tuesday 13th December
9:00pm - 10:30pm on BBC 2
Also "My Family & Autism" is repeated straight after at 10:35pm on BBC FOUR
Helena Bonham Carter is to star as Maggi, a mother with seven children - three 'normal' daughters and four sons who are each, in one form or another, autistic - in BBC TWO's uplifting drama Magnificent 7.
The production is inspired by real life supermum Jacqui Jackson and her extraordinary children, who were featured in BBC TWO's documentary, My Family and Autism, shown in 2003. Jacqui Jackson has worked as a consultant on the production.
Written by Sandy Welch (North and South), Magnificent 7 is a warm, poignant and enriching story which looks at the struggles, tears, laughter and moments of magic that this surprising household experience over the course of a year.
Helena Bonham Carter said: "I found the script funny, touching and humane. Hopefully, this film will help people to understand what it is like to be autistic, and moreover, celebrate rather than marginalise what it is to be 'different'."
Curtis is supersensitive and allergic to everything, including Christmas and the colour red. David - with ADHD - is a mini-whirlwind, creative and destructive in equal measures. Christopher has Asperger's syndrome and with it a problem with anything that doesn't say exactly what it means. Richard hates surprises and being jolly.
Producer Deborah Jones said: "We are delighted that Helena is to portray Maggi, whose determination to do the best for all her family and her loving and chaotic world is truly uplifting.
"Inspired by the real life Jacqui Jackson, Magnificent 7 will give viewers a truthful insight into her life and those of her extraordinary children. As a drama, this will be an urban fairytale - funny, heartbreaking and inspirational."
Roly Keating, Controller of BBC TWO, said: "Helena Bonham Carter is a stunning signing for this strongly authored single drama inspired by Jacqui Jackson's incredible story of triumph over adversity.
"She will bring poignancy and spirit to this modern day tale of family life."
It is directed by Kenny Glenaan (Yasmin, The Cops) and executive producers are Laura Mackie and Richard Stokes.
I wonder if we shall all have to live with this, as we live with Rainman and The Curious Incident &c
Stella
Luke has said that he felt his mum, Jacqui, had aspie traits (he posted that on the old AFF forum) and having met her in real life, she certainly seems to.
Considering her family as a whole, shes a strong example of the genetic origins of autism.
Well,
What did everyone think about it.
For me, I really enjoyed it, it was funny, sad and had a heart felt message to it. I especially liked Maggis speech at the sports day event very patriotic and gives a better message for what Autism really is.
I liked how they focused on that when that guest at the christmas party said "Artistic" instead of Autistic not knowing what that was that commonly happens at lot with the general public.
I'll call it "Brigdget Jones' Diary now with New Added Autism Plus."
Stella
I took the television off the top of the wardrobe, connected it up and everything, then watched the Drama on BBC2, then went over to BBC4 to watch the actual Documentary, followed by a film about Autism.
I preferred the Documentary in many ways mostly because it involved the real people, rather than the dramatic and cariacatured portrayal in the Drama on BBC2. The behaviour of the people in the Documentary was less noticeable and conspicuous (and therefore more believable, less 'stereotyped' and cariacaured), than the 'playing for a
effect' that was shown in the Magnificent 7 portrayal of the family.
It seems a shame that the BBC couldn't put the Documentary on after the Drama, so that more people would get the opportunity to see the people and how they really behave, rather than the manipulative drama that created a somewhat erroneous perception of the people the program was supposed to be about.
Even with those criticisms, I think it was a good thing for the BBC to attempt to intelligently portray autism for a mass market who may only have heard the term 'autism' in connection with MMR Vaccinations, and therefore formed a one-sided view about it.
I only saw the last half an hour as I forgot it was on.
I was amazed at how the voice of Jacqui's character was so similar to hers. I even thought it might have been her voice dubbed over.
I couldn't tell which character was which apart from her. I have seen their documentary before, and couldn't tell any of them, so that was quite confusing.
It seemed to be romatically based, which is quite strange, but at least it wasn't directly negative about autism, and showed acceptance and love within the family.
The four autistic boys who made a true Christmas fairy tale
IAN BELL
The Herald
December 14 2005
Magnificent 7, BBC2, 9.00pm
Heart-warming can be a tricky concept for a heartless TV reviewer. The difference between honest sentiment and emotional manipulation is sometimes hard to spot. Should film-makers combine Christmas and childhood disability, nevertheless, all the alarms are likely to go off. Those Tiny Tim moments would put iron in anyone's soul.
Suggest, though, that tears are being jerked by a story that happens to be true and perceptions are altered. It is one thing to have a scriptwriter who has ceased to care about the difference between pathos and bathos, quite another to be reminded that sometimes life does deal a lousy hand.
As last night's BBC Four repeat of the 2003 documentary My Family and Autism reminded us, Magnificent 7 was not entirely a sentimental fantasy. Jacqui Jackson, a lone mother, raised three girls and four boys. The stalwart girls are "normal"; the boys cover "the autistic spectrum". Their problems arrived, at birth, by the regiment.
So how heart-warming did Helena Bonham Carter, as the fictional "Maggi", have to be? Magnificent 7 showed a year in the re-imagined life of Jacqui. It didn't explain autism – experts struggle with that – but it dramatised the lack of real understanding, and the tendency to label the "disabled". Then it threw in a Christmas story. The ice in my aorta thawed a little.
For one thing, Bonham Carter was brilliantly understated, with a Blackpool accent that may have baffled a few London critics but sounded inch-perfect to me. For another – and I don't say this every week – the child actors were excellent. True,
the film invented a love interest for Maggi during the course of a tough year-in-the-life, but that scarcely mattered. Bonham Carter's playing was a study in practical heroism.
How do you cope with Asperger's Syndrome, an attention deficit disorder, multiple allergies, hyper-sensitivity to colour, dietary restrictions and a kid who has "a problem with surprises"? Search me. Maggi/Jacqui just got on with it and the resulting drama was sometimes funny, often poignant, yet invested with the strange sense of a fairy tale playing itself out as a mother learned how to allow her children to grow, whatever the problems.
It was a film, I suppose, about unconditional love and about definitions of normal. As Maggi told a tutting crowd after hyper-active Davey had all but wrecked the school sports fete: her kids might not have been able to meet the accepted standards, but not one of them would do intentional harm to anyone. So how many other parents could in honesty say the same?
Twelve-year-old Christopher, with Asperger's, brought home the Christmas goose after going astray at the shopping mall. "How will he get home?" Maggi had wanted to know. "He doesn't know the language. He hasn't got the currency." Get home he did. There was more than a touch of "the meaning of Christmas" about it all, but this old flint-heart didn't begrudge that. A lovely little film.
Source: The Herald
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/52447.html
" the film invented a love interest for Maggi "
How strange, I wonder why he was russian too?
Maybe he was meant to make us think of asylum seekers, someone alienated from mainstream society, so he could understand the children's situation - but I'm just guessing here.... :smile: :roll:
Stella
How strange, I wonder why he was russian too?
Eastern european not neccesarily russian to me, he speaks with same accent as one of my flat mates from hungary which was quite amusing as he is abit of a ladies man himself
I got the impression that the caretaker saw some of himself in Christopher, and may have had AS himself. Mind you, having grown up in a different culture can probably cause many social misunderstandings, just like AS.
The USA based lists I belong to have been doing a lot of speculation on this show. Will it be available there either on TV or DVD?
Jerry Newport
I've already heard rumours about a DVD release going into production because of all the positive feedback so far the rumours that are around that the DVD will have a making of feature, audio commentary from director, writer, Helena Bonham Carter and a seprate commentary from Jacqui Jackson herself.
and as a bonus (only a rumour) the "My Family and Autism" documentary will be an extra on the DVD.
Just remember these are rumours and may not be true