A Short Stay in Switzerland PT 4

Julie Walters has become a kind of brand - the best kind.
Give her a role with any substance and you know she'll
deliver a Bafta-worthy performance and leave the audience
damp-eyed. And so it proves here, in the moving true story
of Bath doctor Anne Turner. Having watched her husband
suffer a slow, undignified death, she was diagnosed with a
similar neurological condition. "Rotten bad luck," her character muses. Walters plays Turner as the best kind of

frank, feisty, upper-middle-class mum. "Let battle
commence," she cries as she sets about taking on the
illness she knows is incurable, but she soon decides she
should be allowed to take her own life with dignity, even if
UK law doesn't allow "assisted dying". It's a decision her
three grown-up children struggle to cope with. Sadly, their
characters are short-changed by Frank McGuinness's
script; far better is Harriet Walter as a Christian friend with
whom Turner has a searing confrontation over a last game
of chess. It's one of several shattering scenes in a drama
that forces us to think hard about some big questions.

bbc
Sunday 25 January
9:00pm - 10:30pm
BBC1

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Julie Walters
• BBC
• drama
• Lyndsey Marshal
• Frank McGuinness
• assisted Suicide
• Dr Anne Turner
• Patrick Malahide

[Rayquaza]

Ooooh cool, I just realised that Mrs. Savery is Ms. Venning from "Ahead of the Class" ;-). I thought "Oh I know this woman, from where do I know her? Ahead of the class?" checkcheckcheck "Oooh, yeah, Ms. Venning!" ^^

[EyeSowwyMama]

Maybe she needs lifealert

[chezziebabes95]

@annieandthomas i think its her not being able to swallow anymore

[annieandthomas]

why does she make that choking sound