Just watched the first series, and agree with above review that the boy's family are pretty unlikeable, but that's what the show is about. - how their bad behaviour impacts on others. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people around that behave that way, so it's realistic. I enjoyed the show. Any fans of 80's Indie music will love the score.
Edit ... started watching S2 but it went downhill fast .Gave up at E3 ... just boring!
Four years on and I'm still unable to comprehend why this garbage fire of a production was renewed not once, but twice by the BBC. Sensationalism at its finest, The A Word purports to be about the exploits of young Joe, a five-year-old music lover who just so happens to be autistic. What it's actually about is the relationship troubles of the adults in his life, most of whom are intolerable in their ignorance towards others, and the impact that his big bad condition has on his family unit. Great. I definitely tuned into a show that marketed itself as an exploration of an autistic individual's outlook on the world to hear about his grandad's sexual endeavours, or how his mother is completely justified in wanting to 'change him back' and reconnect with the son that she has 'lost'.
That's not even getting into the racism, sexism, and homophobia on display throughout the entire programme; in the first episode alone, Alison, our alleged protagonist, refers to her black sister-in-law as a "wh*re" for having engaged in an affair, and in the fourth, her husband Paul remarks that if he had known the woman caring for Joe was letting him listen to rock and roll, he would have "had her deported sooner". That's right: the characters we're supposed to be rooting for are nothing but a bunch of entitled *ssh*les who are unable to cope with the idea that world doesn't reflect their own personal beliefs, even if those beliefs are incredibly harmful and toxic. In the third episode, when it's revealed that Alison literally bullied a speech therapist who is trying to get Joe the help he needs when they were both in secondary school, the show bends over backwards to excuse her actions as those of an insecure teenager, even having her crack a joke about how maybe her bullying her had a positive impact on her life since it led her towards becoming a therapist in the first place. Just...no.
Do yourselves a favour and don't waste your time or braincells on this sorry excuse for a show. Turns out the real "A Word" was 'ableism'...
Sry but what is this xD
An excellent show, though among the current abundance of autism spectrum shows, this is significantly less heartwarming, more heart wrenching in that typical gritty BBC style.
The second season is a bit more mellow in some ways so far, one actual LOL moment for me. Definitely worth a watch, if only to see Christopher Eccleston as a socially bumbling grandfather.
Shout by Angélica CostaBlockedParent2016-05-15T19:08:08Z
If you want to be sure of quality, watch ANY BBC show. This is no exception.