'Out of the box' Alexander topping (Guardian article)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/oct/24/media.television

Dealing with mental illness in television drama can also be problematic. In 1993, a Coronation Street storyline saw Carmel, a young Irish nanny, develop an erotic obsession with nurse Martin Platt - an unlikely scenario for anyone who remembers the character. The "psycho nanny" storyline had all the classic soap opera ingredients of high suspense and drama, with audiences terrified to watch a "disturbed" and manipulative woman threaten the security of a "normal" (white heterosexual) family.

From the outset, Carmel was conceived as someone with a mental health condition, albeit a rare one. But Henderson says: "The production team did not even consider themselves as having a professional commitment to a mental health story." In fact, as a writer revealed, the character had been "fleshed out" on the basis of a single article published in Vanity Fair.

However, EastEnders was highly praised by mental health charities for its portrayal of Joe Wicks, a young man suffering from schizophrenia, whose character was based on advice from the National Schizophrenia Fellowship. "When soaps are 'doing' mental illness they are careful and can produce respected, responsible storylines," Henderson says. "But if that is not the focus of the story, then the terms used in soaps - that someone is 'mental' or a 'nut' - can feed into people's preconceptions about mental illness."
"This prejorative language might reflect everyday talk, but it is unlikely to be seen or allowed with other more socially approved illnesses," Henderson says.