People Are Messy

People Are Messy tells the story of 18-year-old Jake, a spiky, opinionated A level student, and Vik also 18, a laid-back, cheerful apprentice electrician. Both have a rare blood disease, aplastic anaemia and their consultant is Adam, – bright, self-assured, driven – whose research has been turned down for funding because he didn’t sufficiently demonstrate involvement of patients and the public in his plans – a pre-requisite of Department of Health funding for medical research.

Adam then recruits his longterm patient Vik to be an adviser knowing Vik will be an easy-going ally, but when Vik then recruits combative Jake, Adam finds himself challenged. The two inevitably clash, with an exasperated Vik caught in the middle.

Meanwhile, Adam’s 15-year-old daughter Jen (thoughtful, with a wry sense of humour) is writing a song to perform at her school end of term concert. The song is dedicated to her mum, who died when Jen was just a few days old. Jen is going through a difficult time as her gran, who has helped bring her up alongside Adam, has gone off on around the world trip.

Adam, always working or in the lab, is not at home as often as Jen would wish and the quirky vlogs she receives from gran are not enough to give her the support she needs. Things come to a head when Adam is called away from the end of term concert just as Jen is about to perform her song