"I Swear": the BAFTA success dissected at Film Group

This heart-warming 2025 British film about a real-life person (John Davidson) severely affected by Tourette’s Syndrome was selected by Joan, in the context of it having been nominated for five BAFTAs. Joan’s choice was highly prescient – the leading actor, a relative unknown called Robert Aramayo, from Hull, won the BAFTA for Best Actor four days later, beating the likes of Leonardo de Caprio and Timothée Chalamet.  “I Swear”, which was directed by Kirk Jones (Raising Ned, Nanny McPhie), and cost only £4M, also won the BAFTA for best casting. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the success of the film has been overshadowed by the broadcasting of a serious racial slur during the BAFTA ceremony as a result of a tic by the real John Davidson, who, as a producer on the film, was in the audience. The BBC could have, and should have, edited this out before the programme was shown (there was a two-hour delay). 

Joan explained that her interest in the film stemmed from having had a pupil with Tourette’s in the specialist school where she taught. This student had, as is common, been excluded from mainstream education. Despite the difficulties caused by Tourette’s, the student went on to gain 10 GCSEs. 

The syndrome, named after a French neurologist, is to an extent genetic, and presents in childhood or adolescence with uncontrollable physical and verbal tics, notably swearing and obscenities.  Although this is the manifestation of Tourette’s with which people are most familiar, thankfully it only affects a minority, and in fact as many as 1 in 100 children are thought to have some features of the syndrome.  Eighty-five per cent of sufferers also have ADHD or autism.  Symptoms may decline with age.

The real John Davidson was born and brought up in Galashiels, in the Scottish borders, and still lives there. In the film, his Tourette’s develops in his early teens, but is not diagnosed until a suicide attempt a few years later. He is shown as having a troubled time once the disability comes on – his parents split up, for which he blames himself, and he is taken in by his friend’s family. The mother, Dottie (a wonderful Maxine Peake), had been a mental health nurse, and is very tolerant and loving towards John. His difficulties are many and various. He is bullied at school, aggravated by receiving corporal punishment (the Scottish strap or tawse) from the headmaster. He is beaten up, and arrested more than once. Even once diagnosed, he receives little sympathy from those in his community, with neither the police nor the general public having any understanding of Tourette’s.

When a sympathetic caretaker at the local Community Centre (Tommy, beautifully portrayed by Peter Mullen, also BAFTA nominated as Best Supporting Actor) allows him to become his assistant, it soon becomes apparent that John is intelligent, funny, and highly committed to his job. A particularly poignant and humorous scene is when Tommy, acting as a character witness in John’s trial for assault (a physical tic lands a punch), tries to explain Tourette’s to the judge. John becomes so impressive at work that, when Tommy dies suddenly, a kindly council official offers him the caretaker’s job – a real breakthrough. With Dottie’s support, he goes from strength to strength, eventually becoming an educator about Tourette’s to other families, schools and the police. He is shown as receiving the MBE in 2019, an event possibly also marked by a few verbal tics. 

In real life, John Davidson continues to work at the community centre in Galashiels, and is an activist and educator about Tourette’s. A positive note has entered his life, as shown in the film, with development of neuropulse treatment at the University of Nottingham, which seems to benefit about a third of sufferers. This involves wearing a band on the forearm, over the median nerve, and will be available on the NHS from this July. 

Before the film was made, John had already been the subject of three documentaries about his life: “John’s Not Mad” in 1989 when he was 28; “The Boy Can’t Help It” in 2002; and “Tourette’s: I Swear I Can’t Help It” in 2009. All three are available on YouTube. There is also a 2025 book “I Swear” to accompany the film. 

The Film Group on the whole very much enjoyed “I Swear”, and found it inspirational, moving and funny. However, it was criticised as being too much like a documentary. The film contained both tragedy and humour. John’s promising talent as a football goalkeeper was to be watched by a scout from a professional team but his hands were too damaged by the headmaster’s strap for him to hold the ball. We agreed that this cruelty in the school was not unrealistic for the 1980s. The group had mixed sympathies for John’s parents, at least as portrayed in the film – some thought they showed insufficient understanding, while others could identify with their struggles. A key unanswered question is ‘why was John never taken to a doctor?’ His father is shown escaping nightly to the pub, and eventually leaves the family home. His mother (an unrecognisable Shirley Henderson, previously best known for playing both Bridget Jones’s weepy friend Jude, and Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter series) is portrayed as rather harsh and unsympathetic, and is also struggling to cope. She is always shown with dark hair and clothes, in contrast to Dottie, who is blonde and wears bright colours. In the film, John remains distant from his mother, and when he receives the MBE, it is his sister who goes with him. 

The humour often comes as a relief from the tension, though sometimes we felt we might be laughing at John rather than with him – a tricky position for the viewer. He was also likened to the character of the Fool in some of Shakespeare’s plays, ‘speaking truth to power’– verbalising transgressive feelings perhaps. However, Tourette’s sufferers are clear that there is no link between their utterances and any subconscious feelings. John is both articulate and intelligent, and in the film sometimes explains when some outburst is a tic and when he is actually swearing!

There are some flaws in the film – for example, both his best friend Murray and his sister simply disappear for most of the action. There is also a scene where he meets a young woman who also has Tourette’s, in which they repeatedly exchange swearing and sexual obscenities – this was thought to be an ‘over the top’ representation. The film ends with John travelling back from Nottingham, and, as an instant result from his treatment, having the confidence to strike up a conversation with a young woman on the train – we thought this was rather contrived. There is also a scene towards the end where he visits his mother – an awkward encounter. We discussed the fact that the film omits any mention of the documentaries featuring John, which would have been major events for him, but would have complicated the plot and perhaps detracted from the drama. 

We ended with an interesting discussion about the cultural use of language. Where do children learn to swear, and how do people develop different ‘languages’ for different situations, e.g., swearing is acceptable in certain workplaces and pubs, but not in the classroom. In all, it proved to be a thought-provoking and uplifting evening.

The next meeting will be in Wednesday, 4^th March, when we will discuss the film “Passing”, presented by Jane.