Latest news with #LoveMyFace
Irish Independent
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Today's top TV and streaming choices: Ambulance, Priscilla and Bullet Train Explosion
Ambulance BBC One, 9pm The fly-on-the-wall documentary series returns for a six-part run, which begins by following the work of paramedics who specialise in mental health emergencies across south London. Documentary focusing on the decisions made by US President Donald Trump since he returned to the White House in January, including the stock market plunges caused by his import tariffs. Love My Face A school assistant with a facial birthmark hopes to gain the confidence to leave home without make-up, a 22-year-old discusses her issues involving her neck, and a mother reveals how losing her hair impacted on her sense of self. Priscilla BBC Four, 10pm Stylish biopic charting the relationship between Elvis Presley and his wife Priscilla Beaulieu, from their first meeting when she was still a teenager, through their marriage and eventual divorce in 1973. Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny star, while Sofia Coppola writes and directs. Battle Camp Netflix, streaming now When you think about it, there are more reality TV stars headbanging about needing something to do now more than ever — mostly thanks to Netflix. Fret not, for the good people behind the platform have devised yet another show for them to partake in. In Battle Camp, Netflix's biggest stars from its reality and docu-series line-up face the ultimate test of physical and mental endurance. With all of them at the mercy of a giant spinning wheel that decides their fate, these famous(ish) faces must try to avoid it by mastering high-octane challenges, enduring punishing trials, and winning over their campmates, who each hold the power of the vote. The one who masters all three earns the title of ultimate Netflix reality champion and a $250,000 prize. Think I'm a Celebrity by way of Big Brother, with familiar faces from The Mole and Squid Game: The Challenge. Bullet Train Explosion Netflix, streaming now Featuring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and hyperrealistic graphics, Shinji Higuchi's reimagining (like Speed but on a Tokyo train) delivers dramatic suspense in spades. A Tragedy Foretold: Flight 3054, which explores the aftermath of the 2007 Congonhas Airport tragedy, is also streaming now. Carlos Alcaraz: My Way Netflix, streaming now The 2024 season showcases Carlos Alcaraz, both on and off the court, as he transforms the world of sports. Race for the Crown Netflix, streaming now Watch the champers flow as this rollicking documentary series tails (apologies) jockeys, trainers, and owners as they chase titles and triumph in the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing. Secrets of The Penguins Disney+, streaming now In three innovative episodes, cinematographer Bertie Gregory uses cutting-edge technology and scientific collaboration to depict the unique qualities of penguins: perseverance, inventiveness and camaraderie. Also available on Netflix is Pangolin: Kulu's Journey, from the Academy Award-winning director of My Octopus Teacher. iHostage Netflix, streaming now Inspired by the 2022 hostage crisis at Amsterdam's Apple Store and directed by Bobby Boermans, this dramatic reinactment is seen through the lens of the attacker, the hostages, and the first responders. Leverage: Redemption Prime Video, streaming now Once again, the Leverage Crew are back to support the underdog! This season, they tackle a power broker making money off stolen water, a despotic small-town mayor, and a pool hustler engaging in international extortion. The Not Very Grand Tour Prime Video, streaming now Reflecting on their time spent racing muscle cars in Detroit, Richard Hammond and James May (no Clarkson) pay tribute to the internal combustion engine — from the confines of a studio spliced with retrospective snippets. Also landing is animated offering #1 Happy Family USA. The most deadly act of domestic terrorism in US history, the 1995 bombing of a federal facility in Oklahoma City (in which 168 people, including 19 children, were killed), is revisited in this stark documentary from the makers of Waco: American Apocalypse.
BBC News
18-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Bell's palsy: 'I once cried every day but now I love my face'
"I spent a good five years crying in that mirror... I cried every day looking back at myself, traumatised."Aged 18, Gary Parsons had the world at his feet. But when he woke up one morning to find half of his face did not move, he felt his world fall spent years coming to terms with a condition called Bell's palsy, which he has never fully recovered a lengthy tussle with his own self-esteem and confidence, Gary is set to appear on Channel 4 show Love My Face - offering treatment and support for people with facial differences. Gary, who opted to have smile surgery - an operation designed to restore symmetry or create a smile movement - while on the show, said: "I've learned to love myself now and I realised that we smile from the inside." The 41-year-old, from Belper in Derbyshire, said he was a confident young man with an "entrepreneurial spirit", building computers and selling them to his teachers. He was attending college and was looking forward to what his life had in store for that changed one morning when he woke up to paralysis on one side of his face. He initially thought it would return to normal after a few minutes, but panic started to set in when it didn't. What is Bell's palsy? Bell's palsy is temporary weakness or lack of movement that usually affects one side of the face. Treatment with steroids can help and most people get better within six also include:Drooping eyelid or corner of your mouthDrooling A dry mouthLoss of tasteA dry or watering eyePeople are urged to call 999 if: They cannot lift up both arms and keep them thereThey have difficulty speaking such as speech being be slurred or garbledEither could be the sign of a NHS According to experts, 71% of people with Bell's palsy fully recover within three to six months, but Gary never did."For 24 years, I've had to deal with my face not fully working," Gary said."I was at the age where I was spreading my wings, getting the bus to college, halfway through a business course and I genuinely thought my dreams and my life were over. "I thought I wouldn't do what I've been able to do... I didn't leave the house unless it was for medical appointments for months on end." He added his medical appointments only focused on his physical changes with no real support for how it affected him was encouraged to return to work at his job at Dixons by his mother, whom he describes as his "rock", but opted to work in the warehouse as he "couldn't be in front of people".He also recalled a story when he was on a night out and someone asked a friend of his what was wrong with his face."That comment put me back 10 years... that comment, intentional or not, really impacted me," he said. "Not smiling was my way of wearing a mask, my armour." 'I hated myself' Gary said the journey to accept his facial features had taken years."I've worked on myself a lot, on my confidence and self-esteem in that time," he said."For 20 years, I stopped looking in the mirror, I stopped smiling, which is really sad because If I did, people would look at me a bit confused. "I spent a good five years crying in the mirror... from the age of 18 to 23, I cried every day looking back at myself traumatised, trying to deal with the person on the other side of it."I wasn't in love with myself, I hated myself because my identity had changed overnight."Gary met a woman online - who had a rare skin condition she developed when she was 18 - on an app called app is an audio programme known for its focus on live, intimate discussions similar to a podcast. "I said to myself, enough is enough now... I need to talk about this openly," he said. Gary went on to tell his story and posted a video online - and says the response he received was overwhelming. "At 8am the next morning, I was in bed in tears because of all the love, the amazing comments that I had from friends and family and I decided to stop being silent and use my voice for good," he a production company and Channel 4 saw his story and invited him on the show, which he described as an "amazing experience"."I genuinely didn't think they would pick me, I didn't think I was worthy enough because I felt Love My Face was about somebody who had gone through so much more," he said."I love my face now... I've learned to love myself now and I realised that we smile from the inside."
Telegraph
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Love My Face, review: a skin-deep approach to a potentially fascinating subject
You don't have to trawl too far down the channels to be confronted by all kinds of medical shock docs asking us to gawp at how the human body can play cruel tricks on us. Doctor Down Below and People Like Pus: Zit ER (yes, really) are two of my personal favourites. So I was braced for a hard watch with Love My Face (Channel 4), which promised a look at the work of the surgeons at a Yorkshire clinic dedicated to treating patients whose self-esteem had hit rock bottom because of the way they looked. The brainchild of writer and motivational speaker Jono Lancaster, whose own appearance has been impacted by Treacher Collins Syndrome, the clinic is aimed at those who can't afford sky-high surgical procedure fees. Now I'm not sure what this says about me as a person, but the first trio of cases featured in the series struck me as, well, not too extreme in the medical shock doc scheme of things. Beautician Mia's alopecia had rocked her confidence, builder Terry's burns had left him feeling like he'd lost who he was, while another, Mia, a trans barista, felt judged on the basis of having a masculine jawline. They all needed help, certainly, but it felt we were on an entry-level scheme of what the clinic could offer. Which, it has to be said, is as much about offering psychological support as it is about hooking up patients with the appropriate surgeon. Lancaster, an inspirational figure, is a poster boy for positivity in light of adversity, refusing to hide from the world and helping others follow his lead by getting potential patients to open up about what's really going on behind their looks. Though it was scarcely a surprise, when our three case-studies opted for the surgical route Love My Face took great delight in running us through the full menu of medical procedures on offer. If only it had shown the same rigour when it came to giving us some hard facts on how the clinic had come about and how it actually operated. You know, stuff that wasn't all about filling its airtime with tear-jerking back stories. More about the surgeons would not have gone amiss. Some background on the people that the clinic treats and how they came to be featured on the programme would also have shown some journalistic nous. Instead it was all fluff and few facts, the story undercut by a soft-centred reality show approach – a little bit The Dog House (jolly receptionist with cute dog, chats on the sofa) and a little bit Garden Rescue (here comes the big reveal) – that did its subject a disservice. Admirable and well-intentioned as Jono Lancaster's clinic undoubtedly is, Love My Face feels like a skin-deep approach to a potentially fascinating mission.
The Guardian
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Love My Face review – this presenter is an absolute gift to television
There are two ways to view Love My Face, Channel 4's latest venture into one of its best-loved terrains – the place where medicine and society meet. The first is as a testament to man's inhumanity to man, based on the accounts of lives made miserable by bullying and exploitation of the slightest visible difference sported by an individual. The second is as a shining example of the human spirit's ability to endure adversity and forge a new, better life out of suffering. Over the four hour-long episodes you may find yourself pinging back and forth many times between the two. The format is familiar. At a specialised treatment facility, a group of people are brought together who have varying degrees of facial differences – ranging, for example, from a conventionally handsome young man with a keloid scar growing just noticeably on the back of his earlobe, to a man who was set on fire by his mentally ill uncle and suffered burns over nearly half his body, including his face and scalp. A team of doctors awaits to provide them with their medical options. And presenter Jono Lancaster, who has Treacher Collins syndrome, which means the bones of his face did not develop in the usual way before birth, offers emotional support and ways of thinking about their conditions and situations that may enable them to come to terms with them better – and perhaps avoid physical intervention. Lancaster is a gift to television generally, and this programme in particular. A natural communicator, he is also that rare breed who has clearly lived through much, analysed it thoroughly and internalised what worked for him in such a way that he can share it with others in direct, ordinary and therefore deeply affecting terms, instead of sounding like a therapised robot. He speaks with a wonderful combination of authority and compassion. You can see even the most traumatised patients falling under his spell and beginning to heal almost in real time. And there is real trauma here. Most notably, perhaps, in Kerry's story. She longs to get rid of a stubborn double chin that persists despite her losing several stone after a lifetime of being overweight. Her size was one of her abusive father's favourite subjects of attack, which left her no respite from the other comments she received at school and in public. 'That's how I felt before I was allowed to become anybody,' she says. She is now slim and, it is implied, has been in therapy before. But her chin, she explains on the verge of tears, 'is what's left of my dad. I've tried so hard to get rid of his voice.' Now she wants the physical reminder gone too. Love My Face is (ironically) a superficial production. Whatever the actual extent of Jono's discussions with each participant, we are shown very little of it (but enough, as I say, to appreciate his talent for connecting and supporting each one according to their needs). More time is spent with the medics and their proffered plans – all of which are taken up by their subjects, most of whom have been denied further treatment on the NHS because it is 'only' cosmetic – and on the obligatory reveals after the necessary weeks or months of care. For any deeper meanings or lessons to be learned, the viewer must do his or her own running. It is fascinating, for example, to note the impact on the participants of a characteristic acquired during adolescence, such as Mia's alopecia, and the repeated mentions of becoming self-conscious only as they were tormented at secondary school. It's a painful reminder of how very little you need to deviate from the norm at that time to be marked – by yourself and by those around you – for life. We hear that Hattie was called a 'minger' and 'ugly' for her 'Concorde' nose, and has 'always been shut down … I feel like I shouldn't be here.' Kayleigh talks of her 'shame' about the port wine stain birthmark that covers part of her face, and says she hasn't left the house without makeup since she was first old enough to apply it. You can also wonder at the gulf between people's perceptions of themselves and the reality. There are a couple of times in the series when it is hard to see what is troubling a participant – with even fellow guests struggling – until it is pointed out. It is unclear whether anyone's perspective shifts when they are in the company of people whose differences are far more marked. This also makes you question how much of Jono's magic would be required to undo the harm social intolerance has caused the participants (who, for the most part, are not physically circumscribed in any way by their conditions) so that they can go without the medical interventions on offer. The programme itself, however, is content to end with the big visual reveals and words of gratitude to Jono for helping them find some peace with their experiences. Good enough, I suppose. Love My Face is on Channel 4
