C4 documentary asks the question... as Mark O'Sullivan makes a sitcom about his sexual abuse

Channel 4 is to air a sitcom comedian Mark O’Sullivan made about his sexual abuse.

It will be accompanied by a a ‘bold and moving documentary’ about why he chose to deal with his abuse in this way and asking whether comedy can be used to confront such trauma.  

Fellow comedians Cariad Lloyd and Ellie Taylor  join Home creator Rufus Jones and actor Sam Underwood star in the 1980s-style studio-audience sitcom that O’Sullivan created about what he went through as a child.

And for the accompanying documentary, My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom, O’Sullivan – who previously created the ITV teen drama Tell Me Everything – delves into his past and talks to people who help him understand his  experiences.  

He also examines what happened when, as an adult, he revealed the abuse to his family, the subsequent court case and the ways that being a survivor of abuse continue to shape his life and mental health. 

O’Sullivan previously co-created the Lee And Dean comedy about two builders with his  best friend, Miles Chapman, and in the documentary they both weigh up the role humour can have in dealing with trauma.

Broadcaster Iain Lee, a fellow abuse survivor who as become a counsellor, also challenges O’Sullivan about what he’s doing and why. 

O’Sullivan said: ‘Making something positive out of the trauma I went through as a child really feels like the best - the only - way for me to deal with it.

‘Being given the opportunity to drag what happened to me out into daylight, where it’s not nearly as powerful and destructive as it was when hidden, has helped me so much. I really hope it helps others, and allows more people to talk about something which, understandably, we often don’t want to confront. 

‘This has been a hard but incredibly worthwhile journey, and I’m so grateful to Channel 4 for the opportunity, and to Joe [Evans] and Neil [Crombie] at Swan Films for their compassion, sensitivity, and vision.’

Evans – who produced and directed the documentary – responded: ‘It’s been an incredible privilege to work with Mark O’Sullivan on a project in which he’s laid his soul bare, and found a strikingly original way – both through his comedy, and his extraordinary testimony in the documentary – to express the complex impact that childhood sexual abuse has had on him.’

The documentary will air on Channel 4, with the full sitcom which O’Sullivan wrote and directed available to view on Channel4.com. Comic Holly Walsh was script editor.

Channel 4’s head of specialist factual programming Shaminder Nahal, commissioned the film

She said: ‘I’d like to give huge thanks to Mark O’Sullivan and Swan Films for making such a beautiful, heart-rending and innovative film about such difficult and personal subject matter.

‘I’m convinced it will help so many people, and it makes us all think about these unbelievably complex issues in new, searching and surprising ways.'

Of her involvement, Cariad Lloyd added: 'Mark writing and confronting his trauma through comedy has been at times, heart-breaking, but mostly a life affirming process, to see creativity allow a new narrative to be written.’

No broadcast date has yet been confirmed.

Published: 16 May 2024