Being the change
Kyla Harris writes and stars in a very personal sitcom that she also hopes will help transform the TV industry
BBC
- Isabelle Aron
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Among the first few scenes in the new BBC2 sitcom We Might Regret This, protagonist Freya is seen being walked in on while she’s having sex. Later we see her urinating in an alleyway and using drugs in a toilet. This is a sitcom about a young, chaotic woman; but a woman who just happens to be disabled.
“I’ve been a messy person in my life, and I think that’s relatable, whether you’re disabled or not,” says the show’s star Kyla Harris, who plays Freya and who also co-created the show with her friend, Lee Getty. “I want to bring nuance to stories about disabled people.” Freya is a 30-
something Canadian artist who’s moved to the UK to live with her 50-something boyfriend Abe (Darren Boyd). She needs 24/7 care, but after becoming unhappy with her current live-in personal assistant (or PA), Freya asks her friend Jo (Elena Saurel) to take on the role instead.
The show is inspired by Harris and Getty’s real-life experiences. They met 20 years ago in film school, and like Freya, Harris is disabled and has PAs. Getty once served as her PA. That said, Harris emphasises that it’s not all based on real events. “It’s an amalgamation of what we’ve been through together. We’ve had incredibly surreal experiences when it comes to care and problem-solving, and we’d often just laugh. I’ve definitely peed in an alley before, but not in the exact way that it happens in the series. We’d be in those situations, and we’d be like: ‘This is ridiculous. Nobody’s talking about this.’ That’s why we wanted to bring it to the screen.”
Like her screen counterpart, Harris is Canadian and an artist (one of her artworks – a chandelier made from catheters – even turns up in the show). She moved to the UK around 15 years ago and, before writing We Might Regret This, had worked as a receptionist at a bank and owned a gallery. “I’ve had a failed career journey up until this point. But everything has led me here, as clichéd as that sounds.”
Freya (Kyla Harris) takes her power chair on the road. BBC
The series takes a knowing look at how disabled people are sometimes treated, often satirising the “you’re so brave” attitude. In one episode, Freya is offered a modelling job. At the photoshoot, she’s told they’re celebrating all bodies in sport – but is ignored when she explains she can’t actually hold a golf club.
“We thought that having an ableist modelling agency that’s supposed to be inclusive would be ironic, with all the conversations around diversity. And I’ve had some ableist experiences in some of the modelling and auditioning I’ve done in the past,” says Harris.
Lighter moments are balanced with more serious ones. In episode three, Freya gets a power chair (a durable type of electric wheelchair) and has conflicting feelings about it, a storyline based on Harris’s own misgivings.
“I’d spent all this time thinking that somehow I’d be more disabled if I had a power chair because of society’s ableist narrative. I was internalising that, and then when I got one, it was like a vehicle of freedom.” Her favourite scene is at the end of that episode when Freya takes the chair out at night for a joyous journey on the road alongside a convoy of motorbikes. “Filming it was emotional,” she says.
I thought that somehow I’d be more disabled if I had a power chair because of society’s ableist narrative
It’s this mix of highs, lows and everything in between that Harris wanted to depict on screen. “We all experience hardships. We all experience joys. To me, being disabled is the most human experience you can have. It teaches you a lot about yourself and other people,” she says. But when it comes to representation of disability in TV and film more generally, there’s still progress to be made. “There have been so many conversations around diversity, but disability is often left out of that conversation,” she says.
Harris feels it’s important that disabled characters are not played by non-disabled people. “We call that ‘cripping up’ in the industry – it’s a similar idea to blackface. Hopefully, the idea of playing a disabled person if you’re not disabled will be outdated soon.”
While filming We Might Regret This, they also prioritised having a disabled cast and crew, and had a team of access coordinators who made sure everyone’s needs were met, which is something that Harris would like to see more of on sets. “We’re hoping to be part of that improvement – and that this show is an antidote to the tired narratives of tragedy and inspiration.”
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What does she hope viewers will take from the series? “I want people to feel like they can be their whole selves, that they don’t have to feel ashamed about their bodies. Everyone needs to eat and use the toilet. I don’t really believe in ‘normal’ – but I do believe in normalising different experiences so that we can just be ourselves.”
Authors
Isabelle Aron
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