Moving on to TBR's Gus who I'm ashamed to say I completely forgot about until I was sure I
had forgotten someone.
Gus is a deep thinker, over analysing everything. This makes him highly intelligent, he is a keen piano player even playing for the local youth orchestra. In order for Gus to be his happiest everything has to have its place & to be in it. With his frequently updated lists of everything ranging from his achievements to things, he does not understand along with his jam-packed diaries make things easier to uncover when troubles arise.
This is apparent in the episode "Firestarter" where after a fire is started in the DG attic Gus ropes in Tracy to uncover its origins. This is where his. ability to deeply comprehend events & schedule them within a timetable becomes an enormous help in piecing together the truth to discover that new care worker Denise is the culprit. In the process of not getting found out has placed the blame upon Harry & Kitty two children in his care.
There are a few other episodes that really highlight Gus & Frank, along with the impacts of Asperger's syndrome & cerebral palsy. One of these being "Refugees". In this episode, they both discover ways to use their own challenges to bring to light a mystery surrounding a pair of young refugee boys.
Gus is able to use his brilliant strategic skills to figure out not only where they have come from, distinguishing their entire journey from their hometown and bringing to light why they fled it. Frank is able to use his love for football to engage with the boys allowing them to feel more at ease.
Another episode I feel I need to mention is "the visitors" this is set an episode before, previously mentioned episode "Firestarter". In this episode, a couple of kids along with their care worker Denise arrives at the DG after a fire breaks out in his care home. One of the children Kitty like Gus seems to have sensory issues & presumably also some form of autism. Only their care worker Denise who has come with her from Burnywood has little or no idea of how to react or treat Kitty or for that matter Gus.
He completely overreacts to her outbursts causing more stress & upset for everyone involved. I found his character a really complex one because I know from dealing with myself in these situations that having the right support among other things such as reactions are so important. Any more added stress makes the whole situation so much worse.
There are also many people who don't know how to react, so instead get frustrated. I think portraying characters like Denise is extremely crucial. People can learn what not to do, get a better understanding of the situations and how to learn from them.
Throughout Gus's time on the show, we get many scenes of him struggling with sensory overdrive. As someone who struggles with sensory issues and has for a few years, I've realized that it's not something shown on T.V much if at all.
Many people suffer from sensory overdrive for many reasons, reactions to things vary from person to person but if you can see it coming, you can learn how to help make the situation easier for the person dealing with sensory issues.
I know I have already spoken a lot but Gus but another episode that really allows Gus to shine is
The dumping ground opener episode "Home Alone" where despite being a resident herself, Faith is acting head care worker. Nothing is as it should be with a noise battle breaking out between Rick & Frank & fights between the other residents. Gus struggles to cope as he plummets into sensory overdrive. Leaving him to pull the pin from an old hand grenade found in the DG garden.
Luckily the residents manage to divert the grenade into the cellar, but in order to dispose of it, the army has to cause a little explosion first.
I found It intreating to see how no one seemed to pick up on Gus's issues throughout this episode other than Johnny who does his best to fix the problem,
Everyone does begin to realise that is going on and by the end of "home alone," we see all of the residents coming together in order to help Gus keep everything in order. So he feels calm and at ease.
Gus's dumping ground journey comes to a close when in the episode " What would Gus want" when he is fostered by a couple named Ronnie and Dawn. One of which also seems to have some form of autism, meaning that it will be easier for him to settle down with them as he knows someone already understands.
It is also an exceptionally good episode at displaying Gus's thoughts, emotions, together with his fears.
Highlighting how everyone else in the house feels about Gus's strange habits, reactions and outbursts. It also proves that like I've said before if predisposed to disability or illness it makes you more understanding of it. Which is clear to see at the end of this episode when everyone helps to arrange Gus's belongings in a way that will be easy for him to interpret when he arrives at his new home.
By this point in the show after failing his GCSES Frank turns to cafe work where he meets a psychic who claims to have connections to his Grandad. This develops into more upset for Frank as he soon realizes he once again has been conned by someone he trusted. Realising this he then puts his brain into action. Beginning to think about his future rather than his past.
But being eighteen means leaving Asdeen Ridge to live in his own flat.
Series two episode five "finding Frank" is where it becomes apparent that he is having trouble with life outside care. And has once again been caught up in a scam, this time including a gang of fraudsters who live within his block of flats.
After scouring the streets Frank's friends soon discover he has lost all his money, befriended a refuge named Kazima who lives with him in squat housed under a bridge.
Determined to win back all his savings Frank agrees to play his old housemates at cards. The prize being handed down pocket watch. Which once again he has to re~claim after selling in order to pay off his debts.
The fraudsters win meaning the watch is then handed over, but a plan is soon devised that ensures they get a taste of their own medicine.
pretending to have a valuable ring, the friends play the fraudsters at cards winning back Frank's belongings including pocket watch and stolen money.
In order to help with Frank's future ambitions, Mike arranges work experience for both him & Faith. But it backfires after a confrontation with best friend Liam, who has completed ignored him after moving in with his brother.
Later on, Liam confides that the only reason he did not keep in touch was that he was embarrassed that his singing career had not taken off. Frank then later has Liam's brother walk in on Liam playing his track "Tail Lights" a song he has written as an apology for selling a news story to the paper.
Eventually gaining a degree in business studies Frank moves in with Liam also becoming his manager. But still keeps in touch with his friends from asdeen Ridge.
In series three he helps Kazima hide from immigration when she fears she will be sent back to Somalia. A knock at the door causes Kazima to run, although a worried Carmen & Mike convince Frank to take then to their old homeless spots in search of missing Kazima. Who is later granted asylum. Allowing her to stay in the country.
A few years later Frank is called upon to help save the DG when their neighbour is planning to knock it down. He does this by pretending to work for the council's archaeology department setting up a scam to trick the developers into believing that the DG plot lies underneath ancient ruins.
When this plan fails he helps Tyler look into the planning application, coming to the conclusion that their neighbour Mr.Umbelbee is not only selling Ashdeen Ridge to a developer. But is also selling his own home, In order to gain a luxury five-bedroom executive mansion. Confronting Mr Umbelbee leads to him
admitting his plans along with framing Alex for a theft. He is then backed into a corner to do the right thing before footage of him admitting his arrangements is uploaded to social media for the world to see.
Victory is celebrated with early Christmas festivities.
Frank is also a key player in tracking down Mike when he goes missing on his wedding day and is featured in 2015's dumping ground dish up.
I hope you all enjoyed my findings on disability in Tracy Beaker Returns.
This was really fun to do, I have really enjoyed watching back all the episodes and being able to reminisce about all my old memories throughout the time the show was on the air.
I have also written about some early dumping ground episodes as well as other Frank episodes as doing it this way was easier and also allows it to be kept in some form of order rather than spreading it out all over the place.
If anyone is interested in the episodes I watched included:
Series 1:
☆Home Alone
☆Anarchy in the dg
☆Secrets
☆Sisters
☆Good luck boy
☆By the book
Series 2:
☆Refugees
☆Money
☆Grandad
Series 3:
☆The visitors
☆Firestarter
The dumping ground:
Series 1:
☆what would Gus want?
☆the truth is out there
Series 2:
☆Finding Frank
☆Face the music
Series 3:
☆Refugee
Series 5:
☆ What lies beneath
Series 6:
☆Missing presumed Single
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