Sid Owen stars in new film shining a light on eating disorders

A mother and daughter who have created a star-studded satirical film about living with an eating disorder have said they wanted to address misunderstandings around the subject while speaking to GB News.

A Day In With An Eating Disorder features former EastEnders legend Sid Owen, This Is England icon Paul Cooper, Strike actress Jessica Impiazzi, and Hollyoaks’ star Mikyla Dodd.

Speaking to GB News, actress Samantha Crilly, whose battle with an eating disorder was the inspiration behind the film, said: “We wanted to create something for the entertainment industry that wasn’t just another kind of dull documentary. Some of them are brilliant, they’re very informative, but you kind of leave a bit bewildered and a little bit kind of flat.

“I’m quite passionate about comedy, and we laughed a lot during our rock bottom times, and I think a lot of people do. If you can laugh in the face of adversity, you’re very much bulletproof.

“So we thought, I’ve got a passion for writing, and [Mum Lynn’s] obviously got an unbounded knowledge on the subject.

“So why don’t we recreate a film with a kind of satirical look on eating disorders? It’s a bit of a risk. It’s never been done before, but equally, it’s kind of threaded through with a lot of information and awareness about the subject. And also, we’ve made it very non triggering as well.

“I was diagnosed before [eating disorders] were really spoken about. So 20 years ago I was underweight and it went around the school that I had cancer, because no one had been informed and knew about eating disorders.

“I think it’s hard because mental health is so spoken right now; sometimes it almost becomes people’s identity, and it’s almost cool to have something when it’s quite disastrous.

“And I think sometimes that probably brings a stigma to it nowadays, is that it’s almost overused and used so easily.

“Because behind the scenes [of the film], everyone’s talking about their experiences, and we’ve obviously had caterers in and everyone said, ‘I had to leave the table, just because I was going over to overeat.’

“Everyone had some kind of link to the project, so everyone was talking about their struggles with it behind the scenes, but then obviously playing different characters that had different eating disorders. So it was quite close to everyone’s heart.

“I think it is a risk doing a satirical look with something as delicate as this. But I think if you almost put it out of the brackets of comedy, it kind of puts a stigma on it in a different way of not being able to touch it.”

Samantha’s mother Lynn, an author, is the producer of the film. She trained as a counsellor after her daughter began suffering with an eating disorder and OCD.

Talking about the film she said: “We spent a bit of time in the system, and I realised that it wasn’t working for us, so I took it on myself to learn as much as I could about the subject, and we worked with Sam at home, and our story has blossomed from there.“It is a tragedy. Mental ill health and eating disorders destroy the lives of not only the sufferers, but their families as well.

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“It’s amazing, really, that 20 years ago, our story was just beginning, and 20 years on, we’ve done what we’ve done, but I have to say that very little has changed in the system, and I think that’s what we’re passionate about.

“I work with families every day, and I see the destruction that eating disorders and other mental illnesses, not just to the sufferer, but the whole family.

“And I think that’s what really passions me, because obviously, 20 years ago, we were there, and I just feel that so much more needs to be done.

“And I think with eating disorders, there is still a lot of misunderstanding around the subject. And we were very lucky. And I will name names of the people like Mikyla [Dodd], Paul [Cooper], Ben Jardine, Bobby Davros Sid Owen’s in it and Susanna Page.“They’re passionate for their own reasons. They’re passionate about the subject, and they all gave up three days of their life to come and do it for nothing.

“We’ve still got a little bit of filming to do, but we’re hoping that it comes out during Mental Health Week.

“We did it all in three days so it was quite stressful, but I have to say thank you to everyone that took part, and they all came with good grace and new friendships were formed. It just was a real feel-good feeling as well, that we all came together to support it.

“People can watch it on my website, which is LynnCrilly.com or there’ll be updates on my Instagram @Lynn_Crilly.”