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BBC Three

Don't Call Me Crazy

Andrew Dedman

Richard Macer

Don't Call Me Crazy: Episode 3

Reality

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Episode 3

BBC Three - Don't Call Me Crazy, Episode 3

Two boys arrive on the ward who are both experiencing voices in their heads.

Series set in a mental health unit for teenagers. Two boys arrive on the ward who are both experiencing voices in their heads which make them feel angry, violent and even suicidal.

The McGuinness Unit in Manchester is one of the largest teenage mental health inpatient units in the country - and a place of last resort for many adolescents with eating disorders or psychosis, who self-harm or are suicidal. While some of the young patients agree to stay voluntarily undergoing treatment here, others have been detained against their wishes, sectioned under the Mental Health Act.  Filmed over the course of a year and with unparalleled access, this series follows teenage girls and boys at the unit as they battle to turn their lives around.  

There are usually fewer boys than girls at the McGuinness Unit because, as one of the nurses explains, boys tend to be less forthcoming about their emotional problems. But in the final episode we meet two boys who have arrived on the ward who are both experiencing voices in their heads which make them feel angry, violent and even suicidal.  

Sixteen-year-old George is a promising young rugby player who has won a scholarship to a prestigious sporting school, but his desire to succeed in this competitive world has led to a breakdown.  

Seventeen-year-old Matty knows that he can't stay at the unit once he turns 18, and the staff need to find a place for him in an adult psychiatric unit. But the voices in his head are saying he should commit suicide on his 18th birthday and that day is only weeks away.

Beth has now been on the unit for over four months as she struggles with her eating disorder. We follow her as she continues to make good progress and is taken off her section. The final weeks before discharge are full of as many setbacks as steps forward, but the big day is approaching when Beth might at last get her life back.

A multi-platform service for 16-34s, featuring comedy, entertainment and factual content.

The BBC’s multi-platform service for 16 to 34s, innovating with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intellectual factual content.

A year in the lives of inpatients at a teenage mental health unit.

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