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Clip description
In this clip, Spike Milligan speaks frankly about his experience of depression and its impact on his life. His brother Desmond and his daughter Jane reflect on the use of medication to treat mental illness. Milligan explains the relationship between his writing and depression, describing his writing as something that he had to do and which tempered some of his emotional turbulence. He reads from his poem Hope, written about suicide.
Curator’s notes
Milligan’s bipolar disorder had a huge impact on his life, family and even his creative output. The line 'I see the red oil of life running from my wrists onto tomorrow’s headlines’ in his poem Hope vividly captures his dark emotional state, combined with an awareness of the extra pressures of fame. But amongst the seriousness and low points, Milligan’s sharp sense of humour shines through. The poem was written while he was at his parents’ house in Woy Woy and the clip ends with a characteristic quip by Milligan about Woy Woy as a great place to commit suicide. He once said of the town that it was the largest 'above-ground cemetery in the world’.
