Our Dementia Choir
To try and help those faced with the condition, actor Vicky McClure returns to her hometown of Nottingham and recruits people with dementia to form a choir. She believes that music has a unique power to heal and soothe suffering. But she doesn’t just want these people to sing in private. She arranges a concert to show off the choir’s talents. But can the choir cope with the pressure?
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Our Dementia Choir on BBC Select
Series 1
Episode 1: The Search
Vicky starts her search for choir members, meeting people with various types of dementia.
Vicky starts her search for choir members, meeting people with different types of dementia. Former teacher Chris has frontotemporal dementia which leads to increasingly disinhibited behavior. The youngest choir member is 31-year-old Dan,who was diagnosed with a rare form of genetic Alzheimer’s. He seizes the opportunity to take part in an experiment that could help find a cure in the future.
Episode 2: The Show
Vicky announces plans for the choir to perform in public. But can they pull it off?
As the study to see whether singing in the choir has any measurable physiological effect comes to an end, Vicky announces a plan to perform in front of 2,000 people. However, it’s not long before the challenges faced daily by the choir threatens to derail the en tire project as members struggle to learn the new songs. With Vicky and choir master driving them forward, can they wow the crowd?
Series 2: Our Dementia Choir Sings Again
It’s been four years since Vicky formed her choir of people diagnosed with dementia which proved the power of music to change lives. But as she discovers when she catches up with old members, nothing has really changed. There is a lack of support and help available for most people living with the condition. To raise awareness of these problems, Vicky turns to her choir for help.
Episode 1: The Single
Vicky and the choir make a historic visit to the legendary Abbey Road recording studios.
Four years after forming a choir to help people diagnosed with dementia, Vicky McClure gets the band back together. To help raise awareness of the problems faced by those with the condition, she plans to record and release a single. In the process, Vicky and the singers walk in the footsteps of The Beatles when they become the first dementia choir to record at the legendary Abbey Road Studios.
Episode 2: The Festival
Vicky sets the choir a huge challenge as she books them a date at a music festival.
Vicky sets the choir their biggest challenge to date, singing live on stage with pop superstar Tom Grennan in front of 20,000 people at a rock festival. She’s desperate to engage a younger audience in her fight to create awareness around huge issues and spread the message further than ever before. But how will the dementia choir deal with the pressure of thousands of screaming fans?
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