It’s show time for Vicky McClure and the choir. Can they pull it off?
It’s show time for Vicky McClure and the choir. Can they pull it off?
In Our Dementia Choir this week, the two-part series concludes in heart-warming style.
The reality of living with dementia becomes even more apparent as the close-knit choir members enter the final weeks before their big performance and also undergo new scientific tests to assess the benefit of music on their brains.
The group also faces a fresh challenge as Vicky McClure and choirmaster Mark De-Lisser give the singers a poignant new song to learn – The Beatles’ In My Life.
Vicky has first-hand experience of dementia, through caring for her Nana Iris, who died in 2015.
As Vicky told TV Times: "Music was the one way I could communicate with my nana, as we had lost communication. But through song, even if it was just a nursery rhyme, we could all hum the same tune and it was blissful.
"People are realising the power music has for those who are losing their memories.
"Nothing can cure dementia currently and it’s terribly sad, but it’s about trying to live well with the disease. "
"I wanted the choir to be something people would get joy out of."
Thanks to her experience with her nana and through her role with the Alzheimer’s Society, Vicky has seen the powerful effect that music and singing can have on dementia patients and those who love and care for them.
Mark, meanwhile, is concerned that some of the choir are lacking in confidence and might struggle on the big night.
But when they take to the stage at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham for their special show, the choir's joy at singing together is utterly tangible, as is Vicky’s pride at what they have achieved.
Warning: you will be in floods of tears by the end!
Please note this programme airs at 8.30pm in Wales.
TV Times rating: *****
