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.
