Takin Over The Asylum (1994)

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Takin' Over The Asylum was first broadcast on BBC1 as a six-part series in September 1994. Written by Donna Franceschild, directed by David Blair and starring Ken Stott and David Tennant in award winning debut performances plus a cameo from Spike Milligan. Stott stars as Eddie McKenna, a double-glazing salesman who moonlights as a DJ for hospital radio in a Scottish mental asylum. He nurtures close friendships with the patients there including Francine (Katy Murphy) a self-harmer and Campbell (David Tennant) a manic depressive, with whom he shares a dream to make it onto the commercial radio scene. Campbell's inspired antics promise to bring the pair closer to their aim, but the pressures of life outside of the hospital begin to tell on Eddie. A vindictive colleague leads his small-minded boss to ban his activities and his eccentric grandmother returns suddenly to Lithuania leaving him penniless and alone. Eddie finds himself drawn to the troubled Francine, but when the radio is threatened with closure he turns to Campbell for comfort. As Campbell regains control over his life and courts success, Eddie’s goes into decline and he is finally forced to face his own illness - alcoholism.