Recovery

I was blubbing like an idiot during the last ten minutes of this exceptional piece of television. I have to say that the idea of sitting down to view 90 minutes of what was bound to be pretty depressing material on a Sunday, was not a welcome one. The thought of yet another, over worthy, BAFTA winning possibility did not enthuse me......However the end result knocked me for 6. This is some of the best television I have seen in ages. For years I was under the impression that all originality had left the BBC's drama department. Our Friends in the North was the last production that truly blew me away and that was 10 years ago. However faith is restored and honour is satisfied. David Tenant was incredible! So many actors I can think of would have really gone to town on a part like this, but never once did I see Mr Tenant as an actor or as the Doctor, all I saw was Alan Hamilton. I haven't had my heart wrenched this much since Daniel Craigs performance as Geordie Peacock all those years ago. Sarah Parish was also incredible and I really hope this role brings her better roles in the future. All of the cast were great but special mention must go to the director who really placed us inside Alans head. The toaster scene, in particular, made me feel quite queasy.

Alan (David Tennant) and Tricia Hamilton (Sarah Parish) are married with two sons. He's a manager of a property company. He gets hit by a truck and suffers brain damage. He wakes up from a coma with memory loss and unstable behaviors. The family struggles to cope and Tricia has little help. He can't keep his job and they are broke.

David Tennant does a good performance of a brain-damaged man. Sarah Parish has a nice turn when she breaks down. The story doesn't really have much drama. It's one incident after another. It doesn't build as much as it's a drip, drip, drip of Alan's outbursts. It doesn't make for a great dramatic movie but it's compelling for people dealing with similar situations.

This movie had a fantastic message and cast, they didn't make it sappy or had 2 dimensional characters. They were real people, feeling real things. Coping with a life changing accident or illness doesn't make them only a victim, they are still people.

Just because the family expresses discomfort and refuse to be saintly doesn't mean they are not loving or trying.

Not easy watch but what a watch.

I absolutely loved David Tennant, Sarah Parish & Harry Treadway

I absolutely loved that Sarah's character, didn't want to be carer or mother and stubbornly wanted her partner back.

Because most of the time that's what we slip too don't we.

But seriously absolutely fantastic movie.

This is one of those films that you can't stop thinking about days after watching. It doesn't seem like much right after you've finished it, but it keeps nagging at you. The subject matter is handled extremely well- it's blunt, but not degrading, sympathetic, but not unrealistic. It's a shame that this was a tv movie; I think it would have gained some attention if it had been released in theaters. All of the actors were brilliant. Recovery feels very, very real, and I highly recommend checking it out.

David Tennant and Sarah Parish's brilliant acting had me in tears as many of the scenes were so familiar to me. My husband suffered a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage in 1977 and required a major operation which involved lifting his brain and plugging the leak. Like Tricia I was naive enough to expect that he would return to being his former self. After over 25 years of loving and caring for him he abandoned me without warning to go and live with a woman he hardly knew. He then petitioned for and I am now going through a divorce. I do hope the programme helped people to understand what it is like to cope with brain injury.