Jane Merkin

Blind Ambition

Jamie O’Leary has terrible sight, and is now facing eye surgery that could potentially lead to sight loss. A television director for almost 20 years, Jamie has produced groundbreaking programmes that take a fresh look at disability, as well as making popular travelogue shows with some of the UK’s funniest talent, including Karl Pilkington, Romesh Ranganathan and Katherine Ryan. At this pivotal point in his life, O’Leary wants to explore how people cope with sight loss and how blind artists achieve their creative vision of a world they see from a unique perspective. So he has hooked up with blind observational comedian Jamie MacDonald to bring light and shade to facing the condition. Together, they’re on a blind-leading-the-nearly-blind mission to uncover and collaborate with the best blind creative talent.

The Not So Secret Life of the Manic Depressive: 10 Years On

Ten years ago, in an award-winning series, Stephen Fry first spoke about living with manic depression and began a national conversation about mental health. A decade later, we return to the subject to understand where he and thousands of others diagnosed with bipolar (as it is now called) are now.