Published on 12, July, 2020
I read Elle Mcnicoll’s book, ‘A Kind Of Spark’ about 18 months ago. It follows two autistic sisters, the younger one was diagnosed early after her older sister was diagnosed after school leaving age. I loved the audiobook and have listened to some of Elle’s other books, all have neurodiverse characters, Elle is autistic herself, anyway the BBC have been working with Elle and A Kind of Spark is coming to BBC iplayer at the end of the month, it will then go to mainstream tv. The two autistic characters are both played by autistic actors. It’s a brilliant story and another step towards autism being shown in a positive way.
This is the trailer Elle released today.
twitter.com/.../1639337716528578585
There were a few scenes that bought my own memories flooding back. And I only found out about myself a few months ago! Amazing work by them.
Glad you enjoyed the first series, it’s the first programme I’ve watched and really felt represented, it bought back parts of my childhood that I had forgotten about.
Series 2 is as good, there is a prequel book out now called Keedie. Addie her younger sister was diagnosed at an early age, Keedie wasn’t diagnosed until her teens and had all the struggles of not knowing why she was different. The actress who plays her twin neurotypical sister Nina is actually autistic herself.
I might give it a go. It can be tough to hold up a mirror to yourself. That's why I don't really consume ASD culture. I suppose I'd be more happy watching a fantasia where an Autistic is happy ,rather than watching my own life on screen.
I've seen some old posts resurrected recently, but this is deliberate.
I binged the 1st series, and I thought it was excellent.
The cast are neurodivergent, and the crew are neurodivergent. It is very positive but still shows the difficulties.
Yes, it is a show made primarily for teenagers, but there are no other shows or films made with such a cast and crew. I pretty much shed a tear in almost every episode.
It also gave me a revelation. I've said that I've not experienced burnout until late in life - but this show raised the possibility that when episodes in my younger days were put down to being post viral, in retrospect I am wondering if they were actually burnout. (The show doesn't suggest this, it's just that I've only read about burnout, and only in the last few months - but this being visual bought memories flooding back of me telling my mum that I could just not get off the floor and wondering what the hell was wrong with me.)
I will be watching series 2 very soon!
I've been following the series but haven't seen the article - thanks for sharing a link to make it easy access.
The writer Elle is in the last episode, she is an extra in the group of people when the vote is taken for the memorial. In the book Miss Murphy is even more horrible.
Quite a few Autistic people I have met say it is a disability. I would definitely say I am disabled. I can understand people wanting to be free of social value judgements with such terms though if that is a concern. I have already seen clips from the series. Looks interesting.
I’ve just binge watched the whole series across a few days with my Mum. Such an amazing show! It gives such a good representation, and highlights the horrible attitudes we can face, so well!
A must watch!
Glad you enjoyed it, I also binge watched it, I had to stop it in places and have a pace around the house. It was almost too well made. Elle has three more similar books out, I listened to them as audiobooks. I loved, “ show Us Who You Are?” It follows an autistic girl and a boy who has ADHD. It centres around a massive company who can make holograms of your loved ones, the next option is to remove parts of the holograms that are unpalatable such as disablement. I’ve got Elle’s new book on pre order, “Like A Curse”
As a result of reading this forum post, I ended up binge-watching all 10 episodes. I personally thought it was absolutely brilliant and very much hope another series will be commissioned.
Thanks for the recommendation! I watched the first episode on iPlayer, I quite liked it.
It is great that there is better, positive and relatable autistic representation on TV.
Thanks to Roy for bring everyone's attention to this programme.
There's an article about it here. I do wish the word 'disability' wasn't used in it but the article itself is interesting:
‘There’s no part we can’t do. That’s so empowering’: the CBBC drama revolutionising onscreen autism ~
www.theguardian.com/.../a-kind-of-spark-autistic-led-cbbc-show
Elle and the main cast were on BBC Breakfast this morning ( 28th) at 7.50, it is available on iplayer. Looks really interesting, the series is available on iplayer from Friday.
Ooh, this sounds interesting! Thanks for the heads up :)
That looks great, Roy, thanks for telling us. I don't know how I haven't heard of her before. I have a lot of audiobooks so I'll be sure to get some of hers.