| Takin' Over the Asylum | |
|---|---|
Ken Stott as Eddie McKenna |
|
| Format | Drama |
| Created by | Donna Franceschild |
| Directed by | David Blair |
| Starring | Ken Stott David Tennant |
| Composer(s) | Junior Campbell |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | BBC Scotland |
| Editor(s) | Ian Farr |
| Running time | 50mins |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC Two |
| Original airing | 27 September 1994 |
Takin' Over the Asylum is a six part BBC Scotland television drama about a hospital radio station in a Glasgow psychiatric hospital. It was written by Donna Franceschild, produced by Chris Parr and directed by David Blair.
The station is developed by alcoholic double glazing salesperson Eddie McKenna (Ken Stott), who is an aspiring disc jockey at St. Jude's Hospital, named after the patron saint of lost causes. He meets a range of people with various mental illnesses:
The show uses many Beatles songs both in its soundtrack and episode titles. The name of the hospital, for example, is echoed by the Beatles' "Hey Jude". The show is also notable for its sound editing with popular music tracks seamlessly blended between soundtrack theme and live foreground action.
The series BBC DVD was released on 9 June 2008 and the show was re-run on BBC4 beginning August 2008 with two episodes shown back-to-back over three consecutive Saturday evenings. Due to music copyright issues, Junior Campbell who wrote the incidental music, was also commissioned to record cover versions of most of the original hits included in the series soundtrack. These were dubbed on the original worldwide television transmissions (excluding UK) and also on the series BBC DVD.
Each of the episodes is named after a popular song.
The show won the 1995 BAFTA award for Best Serial and Best Editing, RTS Award for Best Writer, Mental Health in the Media Award and the Scottish BAFTA for Best Serial and for Best Writer.