New OU/BBC documentary ‘Better Off Dead?’ explores assisted dying in the UK

Posted on 14 May 2024 • TV and radio

*Content Advisory – this article contains references to assisted dying*

Actress and disability rights campaigner Liz Carr presents this powerful documentary on legalising assisted dying in the UK.

Airing on Tuesday 14^th May at 9pm on BBC ONE and iPlayer, ‘Better Off Dead?’ follows Liz on a thought-provoking journey as she debates why we shouldn’t change the law.

As a long-term campaigner on the issue, she is passionately against allowing assisted dying in the UK fearing that disabled lives will be at risk.

Travelling to Canada, Liz explores the repercussions of some of the most permissive assisted dying laws in the world. Here she is confronted with a law that can end the lives of not just the terminally ill, but people who are disabled, and those who are offered a medically assisted death as a ‘way out’ of social deprivation.

Back in the UK, Liz meets influential voices calling for a change in the law such as Labour peer Lord Falconer and Sunday Times columnist Melanie Reid. She also meets fellow campaigners fighting to retain the status quo; including disabled peer Baroness Jane Campbell, who had a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ order placed on her for a routine illness without consent.

In a society where disabled people aren’t always given the support they need, Liz asks: “Should we really be giving more power to end that group of people’s lives?”

 Erica Borgstrom, Professor of Medical Anthropology and one of the academic consultants on the programme, said:

“The topic of assisted dying can be quite complex to cover in a 60-minute programme. It was useful to be involved in order to provide feedback on terminology and how different perspectives were being portrayed. The programme has relevance to several OU modules and research areas.”

Dr Marc Cornock, Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Law,  who also consulted on the series, said:

“Euthanasia, assisted dying, assisted suicide, are written about as if the terms are interchangeable, and most often written from the perspective of those who want to end their life. It is interesting to see the opposite perspective”.

This programme was commissioned by Broadcast and Partnerships and is supported by the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, with particular relevance to R26 BA (Hons) Health and Social Care, R39 BSc (Hons) Nursing and Q32 BA (Hons) Social Work

• Commissioned by Dr Caroline Ogilvie, Director, Broadcast and Partnerships
• Academic Consultants:  Professor Erica Borgstrom and Dr Marc Cornock
• Media Fellow: Professor Erica Borgstrom
• Broadcast Project Manager: Clair Robinson
• Supporting Online Content: Chris Belson and Xinmiao Zhang 

Supporting Online content:

Visit our Broadcast & Partnerships site where you can explore how different countries view different forms of assisted dying with an interactive map.

Image copyright – Burning Bright Productions