I have just expressed my concerns on twitter about the portrayal of bipolar on Hollyoaks and this is their response :

'We are planning to review these episodes and will contact the programme makers with our thoughts. Take care, Hannah from Mind'

Shows that a lot of people must have raised concerns with them.

Absolutely. I have read posts from people suffering from the condition who have been really affected by the show making Cindy a figure of fun. It was the same with the rape. The show said it did research but lost interest in a correct portrayal in furthering plots.

That's good. Mental health should never be treated as a joke. I wonder if anyone with bi polar watching this has felt suicidal? There could have been a much better storyline than have a woman chasing her daughter's boyfriend like that. The storyline is just designed to be embarrassing and titillating at the same time which isn't at all funny.

Right as someone with bipolar all I've to say is this. It's a soap not a documentary. If anyone bases their beliefs off what they've seen on a soap they're a flipping numpty. As such I really don't give a hoot what HOs is doing, only that it's a rather dull story line.

Just compare the portrayal of Cindy's bipolar in HO to Stacey's bipolar in EastEnders.

One of them won mental health awards and remains one of the most memorable storylines, the other has treated mental illness as a joke.

I'm sure we don't need to specify which is which.

I'm glad it was terrible having Cindy prancing through the village in a wedding dress with fairytale type music in the background.

The problem is, soaps go to great lengths to claim their portrayal of medical conditions and issues is realistic, and unless viewers are familiar with the condition or issue, they will probably base their beliefs on what they see on TV. It's hard enough for people with mental health issues as it is, without this kind of nonsense.

Hollyoaks has quite a lot of young fans and they probably will base their beliefs from the show. If Hollyoaks are going to tackle a mental health storyline then they should do it properly.

I think you're doing some of the youngsters a bit if a disservice there lol. As for soaps claiming they do a lot if research into these things and all that (another posters comment, hard to double quote on iPhone) that's because people demand everything be so serious all the bloody time. We've a mental illness, not a sense of humour deficiency. You do know a lot of comedians a with this condition make far worse jokes/story's/what ever about it. Hollyoaks is a soap, it should t be treated with anymore "seriousness" than in the night garden.

Cindy is an actual fruit loop #hollyoaks #weddingdress 👰🏼😂 #stillonholdtovirgin 😡

cindy running the streets in the wedding dress,she's hilarious 😂😂 #Hollyoaks

Cindy running through the village in a wedding dress Ahahhahaha #cringe #crazy @Hollyoaks #SixWeeksOfSummer

Aww, poor Cindy 😩 but running around in a wedding dress looking for Jason 😂😂😂

Cindy running round the village in a wedding dress is the best thing I've seen all year 😂😂😂 #Hollyoaks

Just a few examples from twitter, as to why these episodes need reviewing. The whole entire production team should be ashamed.

While i agree it is a show at the end of the day, but soaps do cover storylines that I am sure most of us can relate to or have been through. Plus they allow people who are unaware of certain things to become more aware. But if they are doing it in a poor manner, people have every right to complain. While I haven't seen any of the episodes myself, I can rely and believe on people's comments that the portrayal of mental health is very poor. Especially I am also bipolar and I would hate for people to get the wrong idea of mental health.

I have to disagree with this. HO is a soap that claims to be addressing social issues for teens and young adults. There have been many teen soaps who have made the social issue storyline their bread and butter. HO at this point really isn't doing those types of storylines. They have the odd episode now and again that's ok but is just an ott soap right now. They want the media attention for doing these types of serious issues so they should be judged by how well they are done.

Well said.

Cindy's storyline pretty much sums up Hollyoaks' state at the moment. Even Blackburn could do a better job than Berkwood.

I'm honestly not. You should see what some of them put on Instagram and Twitter about the show.

This ^^ the entire team should be ashamed that they've made it out to be such a comedic thing when it isn't.

However, there are people that also think that if you have Bipolar then you must act like Jean from EastEnders shouting 'Sausage Surprise!' so people do base their opinions on things they don't know much about from soaps, hence why soaps need to portray issue SL's sensitively.

I think one of the best bipolar storylines alongside Stacey's in EE was Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside. His manic episodes were very well done, the last one he had was when he walked through the Mersey Tunnel. Granted by this point not many people watched the show but it was still very well done IMO.

I don't watch Hollyoaks but my brother has bi-polar.
It should be portrayed accurately regardless of whether it is a soap or not!

Soaps don't need to reflect real life really when it comes go stuff like getting a job or moving house country etc it even returning from the dead . However when it comes to social issues such as mental health, rape, sexuality etc they should so everything in their power to reflect reality.

There's a difference between being able to laugh at yourself and being made the joke. It's disappointing to read that someone with bipolar doesn't think it should be portrayed in a more realistic manner. But, I accept that's how you feel, so fair enough.

I think your underestimating just how influential soaps and similar things can be. People believe what they read in the tabloids b/c they feed into people's subconscious feelings on an issue, and the same is with social issues on soaps. Some viewers may have outdated misconceptions about bipolar (or not understand it), and watching a portrayal like Cindy's story could feed into those misconceptions. Cindy just looks freaking crazy who needs to be put in a straitjacket, and that's not the kind of impression that viewers should be left with. It reinforces the idea that people with mental health issues should be avoided and shoved into the psych ward.

It's Hollyoaks. What do you expect?

It's great that you can differentiate between reality and fiction. Not everybody can, for people who do have mental health issues its a safe assumption that not all of them are capable of rational thought. Plus, there are idiots out there who will think if a soap is making a mockery of mental health issues its alright for them to do so too.

I haven't seen the episodes so cannot comment on the content, but it's good that they will be reviewed by Mind. maybe that will give the production team help to portray storylines like this effectively.,

Exactly this.

People that complain aren't being killjoy or not capable of recognising the difference between fact and fiction and know allowance has to be made for dramatic license.

But if they are going to play fast and loose with the facts they shouldn't be claiming to consult with whatever charity represents the issue they are depicting, have consulted with medics or be putting up advice lines at the end which all imply what they are showing is accurate.

From my experience of depression (bog standard clinical) and other people with depression (clinical and bi-polar) I don't think anybody is po-faced about it. They are aware that they do 'funny' things sometimes when in the throes of an episode, especially manic so i don't have a huge issue with them representing this but they need to show the other, incredibly serious, dangerous and destructive side too.

Really well said!! Well done!!!

I've got it on Channel 4 now - they should be ashamed of themselves. Time this show was put to bed.

I agree about the sense of humour, have just said similar on my last post. An accurate portrayal probably will include some 'funny' moments. But it is about balance, showing all of it including the very serious side which they did better last year. Yes, there were comic moments with her hallucinating about Rhys but it was also shown to be very dangerous and upsetting for her and included her living in a Squat for weeks during a depressive episode.

Joe wicks in EE years ago who had another disorder which for the life of me i can't remember the name of now was one example of it being done well. There were, without a doubt comical moments, him wrapping himself up in tin foil and accusing Grant of being The Devil of Xmas dinner were both intentionally darkly amusing but the much more serious, difficult elements for him and his family were also shown.

Balance as i say.

Kirkwood should be ashamed of himself.