Poppy Shakespeare , based on the best-selling novel by Clare Allan, is a funny, original and moving drama taking a candid look at life from the perspective of a patient on the psychiatric ward of a north London day hospital. Naomie Harris stars as Poppy, a new and worryingly sane patient who arrives at a psychiatric ward insisting that she is not mentally ill.

Poppy Shakespeare is told through the eyes of ‘N’ (Anna Maxwell Martin), a 13-year veteran of the hospital and self-confessed “dribbler”, who severed links with the outside world many years ago. An unlikely friendship blossoms between the pair. To qualify for release they must first prove that Poppy isn’t mad, but soon find themselves in a catch-22 situation: to prove she is sane she must pretend to be mad.

Monday 31 March 2008
9:00pm, Channel 4