When I Get Older BBC1 9pm - 10pmHere’s a programme that forces us to pay attention to harsh realities about the elderly. “All of us are complicit in giving elderly people s*** lives,” Tony Robinson points out bluntly at the start. So he and three other famous pensioners spend a few days living with old folk who are struggling. Lesley Joseph has the toughest assignment, staying with 74-year-old Pat who has to care full-time for her paralysed husband. Meanwhile, Gloria Hunniford tries to sort out an impoverished widow’s finances and Robinson cheers up a hale 89-year-old floored by bereavement.
It is tough to watch and downright gloomy at times, but there’s uplift by the end and the kind of emotional wallop such series are engineered to deliver beautifully. “When I did this thing, I thought the one thing I’m not going to do is bloody choke up,” says John Simpson. But he does. There’s a second instalment tomorrow, in which the celebrities sample life in care homes.
1/2. The first of a two-part documentary in which four famous pensioners leave behind their comfortable lives and move in with elderly people less fortunate than themselves to experience some of the difficulties faced by senior citizens in the UK today. War correspondent John Simpson is confronted with the reality of loneliness when he spends time with isolated OAP Peggy and actress Lesley Joseph befriends Pat and Malcolm, who face a daily struggle to cope with the latter's ill health after a stroke four years ago. Broadcaster Gloria Hunniford meets grandmother Ivy, who is living on the breadline, while actor and presenter Tony Robinson helps widower Philip come to terms with his wife's death.
Part of the When I'm 65 season. Continues tomorrow. Contributor John Simpson
Contributor Gloria Hunniford
Contributor Lesley Joseph
Contributor Tony Robinson
Narrator Philip Glenister
Radiotimes
'Trying to survive on £3 a day is impossible': Gloria Hunniford on how TV challenge changed her forever
The TV presenter was horrified to discover the reality of day-to-day life for the two million pensioners living in poverty in Britain
Guest: Gloria was humbled by Ivy's existence Guest: Gloria was humbled by Ivy's existence
Mirror
