Scarlett Moffatt has shared her own personal connection to her new documentary ahead of its release. The former Gogglebox star was diagnosed with Bell's palsy after experiencing sudden onset tics at school.
She has admitted to being left feeling out of control of her body as she tried to 'suppress' her facial tics so that she didn't stand out and draw attention to herself. The 31-year-old is now exploring the syndrome and delving into her personal battle as part of new Channel 4 documentary, Britain’s Tourette’s Mystery: Scarlett Moffatt Investigates. It will see her travel around the country to uncover potential causes of the condition.
Scarlett, who first gained popularity on Channel 4’s Gogglebox before winning I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2016, developed sudden onset tics when she was a teenager. "I remember being a young teen and standing in front of the mirror for hours, just staring in the mirror and trying to get my face to go straight and trying to stop the tics," she said.
"It was just really scary. It’s scary as a teenager anyway, because your body’s changing, and you have all these hormones, but when you feel like you’re not in control of them, I just remember feeling like ‘God, is this ever gonna stop? Am I ever gonna be in control again?"
"So when I started seeing all of these articles about young girls getting sudden onset tics, and my algorithm on Tik Tok was loads of young girls with tics…I was like why is no one talking about this because it sounds like it’s a bit of a pandemic in itself. The big thing when I had tics was that I felt alone, I didn’t really know any other young girls with it so I just thought, at least if other parents and families and people can watch this, and realise that they’re not alone, then that can only be a good thing."
But she did admit the film about Tourette's was "probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever filmed". Speaking about making her own documentary, Scarlett said: "This is actually probably the hardest thing that I’ve ever filmed. Even though it’s only like an hour documentary, we were on for months and months, and then you can start with one question, and then meet someone, and then have 50 questions unanswered. So you feel like you’re constantly working at it."
She went on: "But I think for me, because I’m a people person, and I really like having a good rapport with people, it was hard making friends with people, feeling like they were someone that I could go for food with and have a chat, and then all of a sudden having to ask really challenging questions.
"But I realised that actually, it’s not about sort of digging, it’s about making sure that the viewer is understanding everything, and them being able to get their opinion across. So that was definitely difficult. But I watched so many Louis Theroux and Stacey Dooley documentaries. I kept watching it even on a night after I was filming because I love Louis Theroux, I mean, he’s amazing isn’t he? Even his rapping is amazing.
"And Stacey Dooley, I love her warmth, I love how she always sort of brings her emotions in, but I’m my own person. So I’ve tried to be myself, but try and like learn from them and take their bits."
One doctor Scarlett speaks to for the documentary tells her that, ordinarily, boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed with traditional Tourette’s.
However, he and his colleagues have seen an increase in young girls presenting with tic disorders, suggesting this may have been caused by loneliness, isolation and anxiety during the Covid lockdowns. And after speaking to those who experience tics, Scarlett answers questions that many people have about the disorder but don’t often feel they can ask.
Britain's Tourette's Mystery will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 10pm on Tuesday, July 19.
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