Why I worked as a social work consultant on TV’s new drama, Joan
Social workers often complain about the way we are portrayed in TV dramas.
It’s not all bad and there are some good examples. Jackie, in the recent BBC drama Lost Boys and Fairies about a gay couple adopting, for example, came over very well.
But we know our profession is a complex one and getting it right in drama can be a challenge for scriptwriters. Too often they resort to lazy stereotypes of naïve do-gooders or heartless professionals removing children from traumatised families, neither of which is accurate.
BASW has, in the past, challenged some of these inaccurate and unfair portrayals of social workers once they have hit the screens. But far more productive is when we as a profession are invited to help get it right from the outset of the scriptwriting process.
Thankfully, this does happen. BASW is sometimes asked to provide advice on storylines in TV dramas. This shows production companies aiming to get it right which we should applaud.
As chair of the Social Work History Network I was recently asked by BASW to respond to two requests from the producers of high-profile dramas involving social workers.
For some time now, I have enjoyed being a script consultant to Call the Midwife. The programme had reached the late 1960s in the last series, coming to 1970 in the next series.
Social work has figured increasingly in storylines and the production team was keen to understand how social services structures operated around that time and to get it right.
The challenge is always to find a way to make stories credible in their historic context while recognising the limitations of the storylines, time allocation and roles (and actors) available.
For example, the title used by the social worker was an issue. It seemed important for the character Cyril Robinson played by Zephryn Taitte to be seen as a ‘social worker’, which would resonate with today’s audience. But he would have been a ‘child care officer’, ‘welfare officer’ or even ‘man from the welfare’ in the 1960s.
Call the Midwife was recognised earlier this year in the BASW Social Work Journalism Awards for its portrayal of Cyril, who played a leading role in recent episodes.
Most recently, I have consulted on Joan, currently screening on ITV.
Central to the series is a fostering storyline. In the first episode, Joan goes to social services to ask for her daughter to be received into care because of her home circumstances and the threat of violence. This continues as a significant storyline throughout the series.
We had several discussions about how such a situation would be handled in a bid to make it as true to reality as possible.
Being a script consultant has been an interesting and unexpected new career development. I enjoy the challenge of finding ways of making storylines and dialogue sufficiently accurate within the constraints of the production process. I know the end result is sometimes a compromise, but I hope sufficiently accurate not to be jarring!
It is clearly important for TV dramas to take advice so that they represent social work fairly. Negative portrayals stick in the public mind and have real life consequences for us when visiting families or arguing for more resources. Crucial to the credibility of the consultant is the ability to balance the requirements of a dramatic narrative alongside realistic professional practice.
Perhaps one day we will get a series based on a social work team, with consultant input from the outset – or even a social worker as scriptwriter. But never expect a fully ‘accurate’ portrayal of practice. There are many police dramas, but most police officers will say that they are never realistic. Dramas are not real life!
The important thing is that our profession is seen and heard. TV drama, when it is fair and accurate, is an excellent medium for showing the viewing public what we do and why it is essential.