The Stranger on the Bridge, Channel 4 - TV review: Jonny Benjamin looked for the stranger who saved his life but found so much more
It feels like we're finally getting somewhere with reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness
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Your support makes all the difference.On January 14th, 2008 Jonny Benjamin stood on Waterloo Bridge, intending to jump into the icy water and end his life. He lived to tell the tale (and tell it well, in last night's documentary The Stranger on the Bridge) thanks to a mystery man known as "Mike". That day, when others walked by, a stranger approached Jonny and persuaded him things would get better. Now, six years on, Benjamin wanted to find him and say thank you.
The story of this search may already have been familiar after last year's widely publicised Finding Mike campaign. It was also the kind of feel-good story that programmes like Long Lost Family and The Gift bring us on a weekly basis. Benjamin's documentary was important, as well as moving, not because of the happy reunion we knew was coming, but because of the other human connections he made along the way.
Some of these were short but sweet. In 2014, As Benjamin handed out fliers on Waterloo Bridge, several people stopped to share their own struggles with mental illness or simply say encouraging things like, "You made the right decision" and "We're all on the same team". Then, within a few days of his breakfast show interviews, 38 potential Mikes had come forward. Some were opportunists or fantasists, of course, but many had simply had a similar experience. It turned out there were a lot more Mikes out there than Jonny had previously imagined.
He met one of them, a Dr Mike Samy, who remembered talking a jumper down at around the same time. After they'd exchanged recollections, it became obvious that this Mike was not the Mike, but a friendship was forged all the same. "Even if I don't get the chance to find the person I'm looking for and thank him personally, at least I've thanked you," said Benjamin. Later, he was able to comfort a woman who'd lost her twin brother to suicide by giving some insight into his own confused thinking back in 2008.
Watching a documentary like this, it feels like we're really, finally, getting somewhere with reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness, and the openness of Benjamin – and Mike (aka Neil) – has done so much to help.
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