Rehab (BBC2) Wednesday is now officially gloom and doom night on BBC2, with dramas about child abuse and premature babies followed by a demanding drama about a bunch of drug addicts trying to get clean.

At two hours, this was a hard slog that demanded perseverance and a strong stomach. There was no doubting the sincerity and skill of the film-makers, but Rehab asked a lot of viewers depressed enough already by world events.

The cast worked with director Antonia Bird and writer Rona Munro on shaping the script over a series of improvisation workshops. The result was the type of film that merits words such as powerful, gritty, hard-hitting and authentic. Not, I suspect, that any words would have made a lot of the audience stick with it until the bitter end.

Gary Lewis's staff member told newcomer Adam (Daniel Mays) there were no locks on the doors at the rehabilitation centre. "That means the only person keeping you here is you," he said. "This will be the hardest thing you have ever done."

Staff supervised group therapy sessions where the objective was confrontation, probe, patch-up. "Tell them what you think," two facing groups of inmates were told. This was the cue for people to scream abuse and four-letter words at each other. There was an awful lot of shouting and swearing in Rehab, which may be realistic but became wearing and ultimately boring.

The use of a documentary movie-maker (Kate Hardie) shooting a film about the centre also seemed a bit too pat and convenient a way to introduce an outsider into this enclosed world.

Adam and several others "escaped" for a night of what passes for fun among rehab patients - more shouting and swearing with a spot of rough gay sex. These lads really know how to enjoy themselves.

As time, and my patience, wore on, we came to know what was troubling the drug-users. Not that it made me any more sympathetic to his situation on discovering that the troubled Adam had "kicked me own mum's head in".

The commitment of all concerned was not in doubt as the dedicated, no-holds-barred performances demonstrated. But, as entertainment, this was an enjoyable as a Bernard Manning laugh-in.

Published: 27/03/2003