Our documentary with Mark O'Sullivan, My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom and our accompanying sitcom, My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom (The Actual Sitcom) have garnered incredible reviews from all of the major newspapers and TV critics.
Here are a selection:
"Astonishingly powerful...exquisitely made." ***** Five stars, Gabriel Tate, The Times
"My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom was revelatory for viewers as well as its creator. By allowing us to witness his journey, O'Sullivan generously modelled the kind of processing that people normally keep private, often at great personal cost...Confronting, funny and raw, O'Sullivan's documentary - and resulting sitcom - was a twisted triumph." ***** Five Stars, Emily Watkins, i Paper
"It’s unique in that it’s a programme that seems to be continually reassuring us that this isn’t going to be ungoverned or overly-exposing for its subject. Choosing to make it with Swan Films was an undeniably good move....I loved the way they present Mark to the viewers. It feels generous, lacking the artifice of television. Watching, all you feel is the overwhelming need to protect young Mark and to hear and witness older Mark." ***** Five stars, Julia Raeside
"This extraordinary film - which other broadcaster would have commissioned it? - documents the background to and making of the sitcom and O'Sullivan's unflinching analysis of why he is making it...O'Sullivan takes the expected questions and concerns head on...and yes, it is darkly funny in places. It is also deeply uncomfortable, confronting and never less than searingly honest and valid, both artistically and ethically." **** The Telegraph
"As the documentary plays out, we watch the sitcom take shape around further heartbreaking revelations from O’Sullivan and commentary from his wife. She has her own clear, loving perception of where the deep damage to her husband’s mental and emotional life lies. We see that humour is not so much optional as vital; maybe it is hardwired into us...You have to laugh, especially at the final line. And cry, afterwards." **** Guardian
"It’s disturbing, sure, but it’s supposed to be. Along with the documentary, it gives valuable insights into predators, how emotional scar tissue lasts a lifetime, and how comedy can combat darkness." **** Observer
"O'Sullivan has done womething really memorable here, breaking down a taboo using humour. At the time and for many years after the experience he didn't speak about it (and when he did some didn't believe him), but he became quiet and withdrawn, and not because he was a sulky teenager. The abuse cast a shadow over his entire life. Perhaps he wanted to make himself laugh to stop himself from crying." Bruce Dessau, Beyond the Joke
"Channel 4 presented both the sitcom and a documentary about its development and production. It was, as it should have been, constantly disturbing: should I really be finding this funny? This was groundbreaking and courageous TV, provoking wider speculation." The Church Times