''Coming Down the Mountain'' is a 2007 British television film which was shown on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

, written by

Mark Haddon Mark Haddon (born 28 October 1962) is an English novelist, best known for ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Wr ...

(author of ''

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Its title refers to an observation by the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (created by Arthur Conan Doyle) in the 1892 short story ...

'') and directed by

Julie Anne Robinson Julie Anne Robinson is a British theatre, television, film director and producer based in the United States and United Kingdom. She is known for her work on ''The Catch (TV series), The Catch,'' which she developed and executive produced with Sh ...

. The television film was based on a radio play also written by Haddon.

Plot

David and Ben Philips are teenage brothers who live in London. Ben has

Down syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual dis ...

. David resents the protective attention his parents lavish on his younger brother and how much they rely on him to look after Ben. The family move from London to

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

so that Ben can attend a special school, meaning David has to leave his friends and girlfriend, Gail, behind. Ben makes friends and finds a girl friend. David has difficulty fitting into his new school, suffering at the hands of

bullies A bully is someone responsible for bullying, using aggression to intimidate or dominate others. Bully may also refer to: Animals * American Bully, a breed of dog * Bull Terrier or bully, a breed of dog * '' Gobiomorphus'' or bully, an Australia ...

. David discovers that Gail has moved on from him only five weeks after their break up, which leads him to

self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

. David decides to kill his brother. He takes Ben hitchhiking without telling his parents, and they camp in

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

. Climbing the mountain, David plans to murder Ben by pushing him off a high ridge. At the top, David changes his mind, but, following taunting by Ben, pushes him in a fit of rage. Ben survives the fall relatively uninjured, but goes to hospital. David

kidnaps In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/ asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the ...

him from hospital, but Ben stands up to him. He becomes the stronger character and, after an evening talking round the camp fire, David sees the real Ben for the first time and the brothers become reconciled. They both stand up to their parents' excessive molly coddling, so that both parents finally see Ben as a young adult, and family-life thus becomes far more relaxed and good-humoured. Ben explains that he has a girlfriend and wants to work on a farm. David writes to Alice - a girl he met while at Snowdonia - and the two bond.

Awards

Nominated for a BAFTA 2008 Winner of the RADAR People of the Year Human Rights Media AWARD 2008

Radio

In 2004, Haddon's original radio broadcast won Bronze for The Drama Award in the

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

.Sony Radio Academy Awards – Winners 2004
/ref>

Cast

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His List of roles and awards of Nicholas Hoult, body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in Independent film, independent p ...

as David Philips * Tommy Jessop as Ben Philips *

Emer Kenny Emer Gwynne Morganna Kenny (born 10 October 1989) is a British actress and screenwriter. Career Kenny made her professional debut in the 2007 BBC television drama ''Coming Down the Mountain'', and, in 2009, she made her film debut in Phil Clayd ...

as Gail *

Katie Griffiths Katie Griffiths (born 6 April 1989) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Chlo Grainger on the BBC school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'' (2006–2009, 2023). Career Griffiths joined Stage 84, the Yorkshire School of ...

as Alice *

Julia Ford Julia Ford (born 7 August 1963) is a British actress, voice actress and director. Early life She was born in Chester, Cheshire and grew up in Sutton Weaver. She attended Helsby County Grammar School. Career Her acting work includes theatre, ...

as Shelia Philips *

Neil Dudgeon Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

as John Philips * Charlie Clapham as Greg * Brendan Heaney as Gary Jeavons * Josh Cohen as Rob * Charlotte Grant as Abby * Emon Hussain as Sunil * Rajvinder Lali as Yasmin * Joe Sproulle as Henry * Jamie-Ray Hartshorne as Damon * Lewis Snow as Kevin * Samuel Gaukroger as Liam

References

External links

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

br>Official website
an
News article
*
Mark Haddon's blog about it
from his own website
Why Haddon wanted to make the film
from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' *

br>on his roleIssues raised about Down's Syndrome
*Interviews with Tommy Jessop i
Times Online
an
with Mencap

Reviews

TelegraphNew StatesmanGuardian UnlimitedDigiguide LibraryThe IndependentCraegmore Healthcarea2mediagroupTimes Online
{{Mark Haddon 2007 television films 2007 films BBC television dramas British television films Down syndrome in television