Man with young onset Parkinson’s helps TV drama accurately portray condition

Have you seen any of the new ITV drama The Suspect? It tells the story of Doctor Joe O'Loughlin, a clinical psychologist who is living with young onset Parkinson's (also known as early onset Parkinson’s).

Poldark’s Aidan Turner is playing the part of Joe. In order for him to find out more about the condition and accurately portray it, we put him in touch with Drew Hallam, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2018, aged 35.

Drew and Aidan met last summer for an initial chat before meeting on set later in the year. They are still in touch to this day and you can read more about how they have worked together and struck up a great friendship in this Mirror article.

Aidan learned a lot from the experience. He says:

"We talked about the side effects of the medication, how he deals with the physical side of things. When it’s better, when it’s worse, under stress or duress. Every day is a different challenge, he said. With some better than others. To speak with somebody so open and truthful about his experience was very beneficial. I’m grateful to Drew for that.

"We wanted to keep the tremor subtle because Joe has been recently diagnosed, but enough for it to read on camera. Getting it right was important. Parkinson’s affects different people in different ways. We don’t often see a leading character who has Parkinson’s. So, it was interesting to tackle that."

Drew has enjoyed being involved with the production and is delighted to see a character with Parkinson’s in a primetime TV show. Watch him talk about the experience in the film below.