Mental: A History of the Madhouse

Documentary which tells the fascinating and poignant story of the closure of Britain's mental asylums. In the post-war period, 150,000 people were hidden away in 120 of these vast Victorian institutions all across the country. Today, most mental patients, or service users as they are now called, live out in the community and the asylums have all but disappeared. Through powerful testimonies from patients, nurses and doctors, the film explores this seismic revolution and what it tells us about society's changing attitudes to mental illness over the last sixty years.

Air date: May 17, 2010

Number of files: 1
Run time: 59 minutes
Video codec: xvid, 962 kbps, 624x352, PAL, 25 fps
Audio codec: mp3, 132 kbps, 48 kHz, stereo, vbr
Source: DVB (PAL, 16x9)