Cathy Come Home

I found watching Cathy Come Home to be an extremely positive experience. I had heard a lot of good things about the television drama and had also watched small exerts before watching the program in class. I found the drama to be very powerful, it’s documentary feel made me even more invested in the characters and concerned about their situation.

I found the small scenes at the start of the program to be very useful as it helped to show the characters relationships with one another and it established their lives before having children. I do think however that it might have been beneficial if more time was spent on each of these scenes, possibly resulting in these scenes flowing together rather than being slightly fragmented and difficult to watch.

I felt that the acting within Cathy Come Home was excellent, the lead actors produced both an honest and realistic performance. Whist watching the program I felt as though I really wanted to help Cathy and her family as I really empathized with them. The scenes where Cathy and her children were torn apart were really heartbreaking. I think that the strong emotions within the program and the fact that people were able to relate to/ have their eyes open to the situation that Cathy and her family are facing are some of the key factors of the success of the program.

I find it amazing that television has the power to change or educate peoples view on a subject. Cathy Come Home in particular had a ground-breaking effect on society, it lead to the formation of the charity Shelter and even had the power to change the law. Given the power that television has I think it is important that people use this to their full advantage, much like Cathy Come Home does.