Stairlift to Heaven
Channel 4, 30 March 9pm

A brave and honest portrait of what happens to the relationship between a father and son when the father can no longer live independently. Told with tenderness and humour Stairlift to Heaven follows the struggle as the generational power balance shifts and the parent becomes the child.

Lew is 90 and lives alone after his wife died. He is cared for by his reluctant only child Geoff, who at 65 expected more of his own retirement than looking after his father and his 20 demanding phone calls a day. He thinks Lew has dementia and wants to get him into a home.

But things may be more complex than they first appear. Lew was always the boss, both at work and at home, bullying and intimidating those around him and leaving him with few friends. He was extravagantly wealthy, but that has all gone and there is nothing left for Geoff to inherit, not even the house.

It is only in his old age that Geoff has finally been able to stand up to his father. Now that the 'boot is on the other foot', Geoff feels he is getting his fair revenge for years of oppression and neglect.

Is Geoff's impatience and irritation at caring for his father justified, and is Lew reaping what he sowed as a parent, or is Geoff overstepping the mark? And while Geoff wants his father to stay in an old people's home permanently, Lew has other ideas.

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