From Silent Witness to The Witcher, Liz Carr has become something of a hallmark for excellent television over the years. 

Now, though, she’s set to tackle a very different project via her new documentary Better Off Dead?, in which she makes the case against assisted dying in the UK.

As reported by the BBC, Scotland is set to debate an assisted dying bill this autumn, and Labour leader Keir Starmer has said that he would back a UK-wide change to the law – something that Carr herself has vehemently opposed for more than a decade.

Indeed, on the announcement of the documentary, Carr said: “Too many disabled people will have had the experience of someone, often a complete stranger, telling them: ‘If I was like you, I’d rather be dead.’

“Putting such low value on our lives has been reported in medical settings when disabled and older people have ‘do not resuscitate’ orders placed on their medical notes without their consent. This documentary is about challenging the assumptions behind these actions and shining a light on the many grey areas in this often one-sided debate.”

Carr continued: “I’m pro-choice, an atheist, a rights campaigner and assisted suicide scares me. I want everyone to have a good death, and through this documentary, I hope to show why I’m unconvinced that any type of ‘assisted dying’ is the answer to this.”

The film will see Carr tackle the debate head-on, travelling to Canada to uncover the repercussions of “a law that can end the lives of not just the terminally ill, but people who are disabled, and those who are offered a medically assisted death as a ‘way out’ of social deprivation”.

She will also meet with those who support the assisted dying bill here in the UK, including Labour peer Lord Falconer and Sunday Times columnist Melanie Reid. Carr, of course, will spend time, too, with disabled actors, artists and activists opposed to legalisation, such as disabled peer Baroness Jane Campbell, who had a ‘do not resuscitate’ order placed on her for a routine illness without consent.

Speaking to Disability News Service about the project, Carr says that legalising assisted suicide would be even more dangerous at a time when “we are absolutely removing our welfare state, and we are dismantling our incredible NHS”.

“I don’t even think the other side will make the connection over how terrifying that feels to disabled people yet again. We know disabled people have killed themselves because of DWP reforms in the past, [and] that’s what terrifies me: the kind of thing happening in Canada where people for socio-economic reasons are choosing to end their lives through euthanasia.”

Better Off Dead?, BBC One and iPlayer, will air on Tuesday 14 May at 9pm.

Images: BBC