Ten has finally unveiled Taboo and we need to talk about it.
Taboo has broken audience records in its country of origin, Belgium. The premise is as confronting as it is simple. The very funny Harley Breen spends five days and nights with members of a disadvantaged group in society and uses the experience to perform a stand-up routine about them – with the subjects sitting in the front row.
Dee, a mother of a two-year-old, needs full time care. At 36, she has Type 3 spinal muscular atrophy, leaving her with full feeling in her body, but virtually no strength. Dee cannot walk and can barely lift her arms.
The day before his 25th birthday, Jason went to have some fun at the local trampoline park. He broke his back and is a complete paraplegic, with no feeling or movement from the waist down. The now-29-year-old, is angry at the way society treats people with a disability.
Sam is 25. She had two accidents in 45 minutes. The first falling asleep at the wheel and flipping her car on the way home from work. The second, in the ambulance on the way to hospital. Sam now has hemiplegia; the right side of her body is paralysed from the collarbone down.
Six years ago, Khoa, 35, was a passenger in a fatal single car accident and lost both legs. Now on robotic prosthetic legs, he runs a gym, can drive a car and brims with positivity.
Taboo was a highly informative pilot that included the participants into the routine as we laughed with them, not at them Harly was a natural at getting them to open up about the day to day struggles they face and taking that on board.
The opportunity this series has to shine a light on the struggles people face is why it needs to be a series that is picked up for next year.
