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
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!
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.
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.