On Monday 27th July 2009, BBC One showed the BAFTA Award winning series, The Street. This particular episode featured a young soldier, played by Jonas Armstrong, returning from Afghanistan with a facial disfigurement.

Jonas’ character, Nick, struggles to return to civilian life as he comes to terms with his disfigurement, the reactions he receives from the people around him and flashbacks from when he was injured in Afghanistan.

Deeply depressed, Nick turns to drink and drugs and his relationship suffers with his fiancé and family. However, a dramatic event leads to some unexpected consequences.

Changing Faces would like to hear your views. Click here to watch the episode and leave your comments below. 

If you have been personally affected by any of the issues in the programme, please get in touch with our Specialists who may be able to help you, on 0845 4500 275 or info@changingfaces.org.uk.

James Partridge, CEO and founder of Changing Faces, said: 

"Monday night’s episode of BBC’s drama serial The Street featured a young soldier returning from Afghanistan with a severe facial disfigurement. At 18, I too went through the trauma of a facial disfigurement as a result of a car fire – and there were many powerful reminders in the episode of the ordeal and how it played out in my life over the years after my accident.

The script cleverly demonstrated the psychological confusion that trauma and disfigurement can bring – the flashbacks, the guilt and failure, the many ‘if only…’s – and the excuses and rationalisations. And it captured the profound doubt and questioning about your future.

As with Jonas’s character, my self-image before my accident was strongly based on having ‘good looks’ with all the hopes and assumptions associated in today’s cultural stereotyping, such as happy relationships, success and social acceptance. The face that I saw in the mirror after my accident and saw reflected in the reactions of others suggested quite the reverse: I was now ‘damaged goods’ and inferior.

That internal struggle was matched and made more complicated by the everyday reactions of those around me, from both family and strangers. The drama captured this cleverly allowing the viewer to see the sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant everyday reactions of strangers – furtive glances, outright staring and in some cases, shock and horror – which can wear away at one’s self-esteem and can lead to self-imposed isolation, anxiety, depression in some cases, suicide.

Best of all, perhaps, the film showed the critical importance of the psychological and social support of family and friends in the rebuilding. Disfigurement is usually portrayed as a ‘problem’ on TV to be ‘solved’ by surgery or is based on archetypal stereotypes (associated with evil, reclusiveness or a shadowy existence). Recent research into Television Portrayals of Disfigurement and Audience Impact, released in March this year by Cardiff University confirmed this.

The drama showed that trauma and disfigurement impose huge psycho-social stresses on unsupported families: a father trying to put a brave face on it, a mother totally at sea, a sister resentful of the attention and allowances her brother is getting. Jonas’s character too flounders, unsupported, in a maelstrom of guilt, anger, loss and hatred of his looks, all fuelled increasingly by alcohol as he attempts to escape.

This episode however also powerfully demonstrated – by its total neglect of it – how vital it is for anyone going through trauma or acquiring a disfigurement (from whatever cause including at birth) and their families to receive specialist support and interventions from psychologically-trained professionals. This should be a routine part of health care and rehabilitation – especially, perhaps, but by no means only for soldiers returning from combat in Afghanistan.

The programme ends on a positive note as Jonas’ character rediscovers confidence relatively quickly. Real life adjustment to a disfigurement can take many years but is entirely possible. Quality support and an informed, less scared society can hasten it and make it more likely to happen – this film contributes to both."