Made on a shoestring, this short about a tough and successful disabled woman whose life is upturned by lockdown is a landmark moment in broadcasting. We talk to its makers
Jessica is tough and successful. She’s a young disabled woman who loves her work as a teacher and has just had a “rush job” of a hen night, one last hurrah before the country enters lockdown. But as Covid shuts down the world, we see how precarious Jessica’s fulfilled life is. Due to funding cuts, she loses her specially adapted Motability car, and thus her ability to get to work. Then the council withdraws her social care, leaving her to struggle on alone.
This is Hen Night, a short film written and directed by Vici Wreford-Sinnott, a leader of the disability arts movement. If the story sounds familiar to many disabled people, that’s because it was inspired by some of the accounts in Crippled, Guardian writer Frances Ryan’s book about the demonisation of disabled people and the dismantling of the social safety net. Astonishingly, when Hen Night reaches our TV screens this week, it will be the first ever disabled, women-led piece of UK broadcasting.