Singing for the Brain

The Alzheimer's Choir
A film about love, music and dementia

The final documentary in the BBC Two Wonderland series went out on Thursday 10 December 2009. The series has sought to uncover the people and places that often go unnoticed but can offer a glimpse of today's Britain. This sensitively shot documentary takes a look at the experience of living with dementia.

Ted's wife Hilda doesn't know who he is any more - she has lost the ability to recognise even those closest to her. Ted, a devoted husband of 50 years, calls her his 'lovely little stranger'. But there's one thing she has not forgotten - the tune to Que Sera, Sera.

Ted and Hilda are members of an Alzheimer's Society Singing for the Brain group in Bristol. The group includes a number of people with dementia and their carers who are working through their own very personal dementia journeys, which they have chosen to share through the course of the programme.

The documentary is an honest portrayal of the strain that Alzheimer's disease, or any of the other forms of dementia, can put a relationship under but also the enduring nature of love and the powerful role music can play in that. All the people featured in the documentary are brought together by music and the support and friendship offered by their visits to Alzheimer's Society's Singing for the Brain service.