Whilst the film 'Rainman' and Mark Haddon's book are both primarily works of fiction, this film is a dramatisation of a true story that, at the time of writing, is still going on.The fact that psychiatrists and social workers seemed flummoxed is the centre of this tragic tale. Without a proper diagnosis - a label - Lisa and her family receive little help. This is not about Asperger's. The medical teams decided it was not 'just' Asperger's, but they couldn't decide what it was and this condemned the family to the life they had and which the film tried to portray.Rebekah Staton was very good as Lisa. If she seemed detestable then that is the point. Difficult to love her, but still unconditionally loved by her mother in the only way she knew how. Difficult for her to show love, but she did in her own way by demonstrating an overpowering need for her mother to be around, to 'look after her' and not to 'spoil her day'.It's not an easy film to watch. Life is not easy sometimes. I thought it was well done. I don't like 'wobblevision' but its use when Lisa was being sectioned highlighted her panic, fear and confusion. The stark quality of the film was enhanced by the brave decision of the producers not to have incidental music, so well done to them! I don't think the point of the film was to help anyone associated with Asperger's. If there was a point in showing this story at all, maybe it was that we can't help those we can't label and that we should open our minds to understanding people when they are in distress, for whatever reason and however unpalatable.

Individually, Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn are usually worth watching. Put them together and as long as the script doesn't let them down, they should be tremendous. It doesn't and they are. This is a drama based on a true story. But it is the drama of despair, there's no feel-good factor or happy ending. This is the tale of a severely dysfunctional family that love each other, but are destroying each other. It's not quite about Asberger's syndrome, nor about mental illness, Lisa's condition remains undiagnosed. It's more about how a family with problems can fall through the cracks between the different agencies set up to care for just such a situation. Bill and Wendy have been coping with their daughter for years. But her demands drive them to attempting suicide. It's only then that the mental health and social services agencies realise that there's a problem. But the reason for Lisa's behaviour appears to be partly due to the way her parents are treating her. Rebekah Staton is definitely one to watch.

R.D. Laing in his books exposed the massive influence of dysfunctional families in creating schizophrenia. The same analysis could be done in this film of how the family creates Lisa's disorder...I only hope that Lisa can read Laing, as no-one in the film was really offering her this perspective and it could help. Yes, she has been hysterical and shown no care for her parents at times, but this bad behaviour looks like part of a cycle ... after all, her mother's equally desperate approach to life is when she suggests seriously that the way out is a suicide pact for the whole family. Deeply scary and so sad.Neither mother nor daughter is helping the other to live and it's hard to take sides as to where the fault lies, but I think - if they wanted to live - someone would have to help each of them to entangle the deathly games they are embroiled in. They are toxic for each other!

The film 'Rainman' and Mark Haddon's book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog - ' helped one empathise with people with Asperger's Syndrome, but this high profile TV film made Lisa, the 32-year old daughter of middle-aged parents (played by Timothy Spall, at his glummest, and Brenda Blethyn, at her most irksome) a manipulative monster. Her parents are driven to joint suicide attempts twice by her impossible demands, and at the second attempt her father successfully removes himself from the scene, leaving her mother to continue to collude with her insatiable child. As usual, psychiatry and social services are made to seem flummoxed (though it's refreshing when a Birmingham Social Worker finally confronts Lisa with reality). Rebekah Staton may well be brilliant as Lisa - I can't tell because I found her so detestable! How on earth could this film help anyone associated with this distressing disorder?