One Under

First Broadcast: Fri 30 July 2010

'One under' is the term Tube drivers and emergency services often use as shorthand for a person under their train.

Lucy Bennett's First Cut film considers the impact of suicide on the underground.

For many commuters their experience of a 'one under' is minimal and from a distance, connected only to the station or their journey. However, for those with direct experience of it, this crucial moment can have a huge impact on their lives.

In this First Cut film, drivers give first-hand accounts of their experiences with suicide, in poignant and moving interviews, describing the initial shock through to the permanent marks these tragic events can leave.

Liaison and British Transport Police Officers also paint a picture of the process of telling a next of kin, such as Debbie Wickens. Debbie had been married to her husband John for 11 years when one morning she received a text message. This message would be the last she ever heard from him, as that morning John took his own life.

Debbie reveals her painful journey towards recovery, giving intimate insight into how she now makes sense of the events leading up to and after her husband's death.

This powerful and sensitive documentary explores the traumatic nature of suicide on the tube, and the immediate and long-term effects on those left behind.

HELP AND SUPPORT:

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, there's information available at channel4.com/firstcut

  1. All Episodes

    1. Wed 20 Oct 2010

      'One under' is the term Tube drivers and emergency services often use as shorthand for a person under their train.

      • Subject matter some may find upsetting
      • This programme has episodes with subtitles available.

MORE:

  • Sticks and Stones

    Sticks & Stones

    1 Episode

    Adults with disabilities speak out about their experiences of hate crime similar to that suffered by Fiona Pilkington, who was driven to kill herself and her disabled daughter after a decade of abuse

  • Dan Brinand meets Janice Moore

    Transplanting Memories

    1 Episode

    This insightful documentary considers whether it is possible that, in receiving a transplanted organ, a patient could inherit some of their donor's memories and tastes as well

  • Paul and Laura

    Teen Undertaker

    1 Episode

    First Cut meets two teenagers each striving to balance an ordinary teenage life with their shared dream: to work as undertakers

  • The Accident and Emergency Trolley

    The Bed

    1 Episode

    Toby Paton's First Cut film, written and narrated by performance poet Luke Wright, tells the story of life in a busy hospital from the perspective of the Accident and Emergency trolley

  • Vinny and wife Vicky

    Missing: Race Against Time

    1 Episode

    Every year in Britain the police receive nearly a quarter of a million calls about missing people. This Cutting Edge film follows three families' desperate searches to find loved ones.

  • Lost Abroad - The Parents' Story

    Lost Abroad: The Parents' Story

    1 Episode

    Cutting Edge meets the parents who have lived the nightmare of waving their grown-up children off on the overseas adventure of a lifetime and never seeing them again

  • An old photo featuring children in the 1970s

    The Homecoming

    1 Episode

    In this Cutting Edge film, journalist Rachel Roberts goes in search of the people with whom she once shared a children's home, with only a photo and childhood memories to help her

  • Diamonds in an urn

    Ashes to Diamonds

    1 Episode

    Filmmaker David Brindley meets families across the country who have chosen some of the most surprising, adventurous and unusual ways to say goodbye to their departed's ashes

See all Documentaries