Review: Watch Me Disappear, Channel Four

2:31pm Tuesday 26th August 2008

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TUCKED away on Channel Four last night was a little gem of a programme which was both profoundly moving and made you question the nature of society at the same time.

Watch Me Disappear examined how it was possible in this day and age for someone to die completely alone.

It may sound like a morbid topic for a TV programme but it was handled with such skill and compassion that it really got under your skin.

Of the two people featured, Sandra Drummond’s body lay undiscovered for a year before the poor gas man made a grisly discovery.

Film-maker Lucy Cohen managed to track down friends of Sandra’s from her childhood who remembered a bright girl who was proud of her appearance.

By finding that link, it made her lonely death all the more poignant.

The second case study was, in a different way, even more upsetting. A potentially brilliant overseas student simply ran out of money and died alone — his final shopping receipt (including four cans of mushy peas on special offer) was a tragic legacy.

In an age of mass communication and global travel, you’d think it would be impossible for someone to die alone and yet 200 funerals a month go unattended.

Makes you think doesn’t it?