PRODUCTIONS - LOSING IT

Synopsis

Phil McNaughton (Martin Clunes) is a copywriter who worries that, at forty-three, he is considered past it at the hip ad agency where he works. In addition, Phil is a compulsive hypochondriac, so his wife doesn't take him all that seriously when he thinks he's found a lump "down there" - she's heard it all before. But Phil's worst fears are confirmed when he is diagnosed with testicular cancer. Worrying about his own mortality at the same time as undergoing an exhausting course of radiotherapy, he is determined that no one at work should think he has lost it, and his family have to bear the brunt of his increasingly irascible behaviour.

Addressing big questions about life and death, LOSING IT is both sensitive and direct in its approach. Drawing on his own experience of testicular cancer, writer Paul Mendelson (My Family, May to December, So Haunt Me) has taken a serious subject and turned it into a drama full of honesty, warmth and humour.

Running Time: 90 min

Cast

Interviews

Martin Clunes Interview

"One of the reasons I wanted to take the part was because the story shows that family life does go on even after a cancer diagnosis; adolescent girls don't stop being adolescent girls, and worried wives don't stop worrying.

Another reason was because I don't remember seeing testicular cancer in a television drama. Somebody watching it will have had the diagnosis that day. This drama shows that people who get cancer don't all die. Lots of people think they do.

I do hope this programme will make people more aware of this particular type of cancer."

Martin plays advertising copywriter Phil MacNaughton who is worried about being an older man in a young man's world.

"Phil is quite a worrier all round. He worries about his job and he's a hypochondriac. Then he is diagnosed with cancer, and he's scared. He has a problem sharing his fear with his family because he is protecting them in a way. He thinks it is only happening to him, when of course it's having a huge impact on them.

The humour doesn't stop though. They are quite a humourful family in the normal course of events, and it carries on even after the cancer diagnosis.

This drama is not maudlin or gloomy. It is filled with hope and light."

Martin says he is full of admiration for the way cancer patients cope with their illness.

"I can't imagine what it must be like to be diagnosed with cancer, but I've had to. It must be really awful. Cancer is such an emotive word. The good thing is that this cancer is one they are getting better at treating, and there are huge success rates.

I do admire the way cancer patients cope. It is such a lonely business. When you are having treatment, you are on your own, and it can be so isolating."

Paul Mendelson Interview

Losing It, which is based on Paul Mendelson's experiences of having cancer when he was running the creative department of an advertising agency in 1989.

"I like tackling fairly serious themes in a comedic way," says Paul who created the comedy hits May to December, My Hero and So Haunt Me.

If you make something terribly dark and heavy people are often turned off. There's a way of doing things which makes them very accessible to a wider audience, but still has an integrity and truth about it.

A lot of the experience I had was funny in a strange way. When I came back to work after my operation everybody knew what I had had. People are upset for you when they know you've had a serious illness.

So I bought a bag of walnuts, and placed one on the desk of every single member of the agency, including the director, as a 'present from my holiday'. They realised if I could joke about the situation, they could too."

Losing It was originally written as a play for Radio Four, entitled I Can't Be Ill, I'm a Hypochondriac. Paul created a new script for television.

"It was the first time I had written about my own cancer, and it was very cathartic for me.

This is not meant to be a drama about whether a man will live or die. It is not about one person's cancer, but how it affects those around him.

If you are ill you are so busy trying to look after yourself because you are in pain, and you are so scared that you tend to be the centre of attention. Meanwhile the people around you are having a terrible time pussy footing around you because you are ill. It's like a pressure cooker.

I remember my wife telling me some time after my operation that she had cried on the phone to her best friend. But she had never told me."

Paul says he hopes the drama will help to make people more aware of testicular cancer, and encourage men to check themselves more regularly.

"I am such a hypochondriac that when I noticed a lump I immediately thought the worst, and wanted to do something about it.

I think the reason the cancer spreads in some cases is because men notice a lump, but they are scared and they think it is something that will go away. That is when it can be dangerous and the treatment can be more drastic. It is because of the embarrassment that people don't go for checks. But that's what saves your life."

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