Tourettes - I Swear I Can't Help It, Thursday, BBC1, 9pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00ksj56/Tourettes_I_Swear_I_Cant_Help_It/

Since he was 15 in 1988, the BBC have been following the ups and downs of John Davidson from Galashiels and condition that has plagued his life - Tourette's.

Tourette's is a neurological dysfunction that is responsible for involuntary ticks: jerks and spasms, and very often shouting - especially swear words.

Not for one minute would I poke fun at John - his school life was ruined by the condition as little was known about it then and he lost out on fun and friends which is certainly no laughing matter - but as he said himself, if people were asked to name the funniest disease, Tourette's would be it.

In this update we check in on the now 37-year-old John and fellow sufferer, Greg Storey, 15, who is compared John at the same age, to gage how awareness of the condition has changed since 1988.

Now there are various shows that make most of us giggle, but I haven't laughed quite as hard for some time until I watched a particular scene in this programme, but not at the people concerned - with them...

John has worked as a caretaker at a community centre for many years. He has set up a Scottish group for Tourette's which meet for various weekends in which sufferers get together and hopefully learn something new.

One of said weekends, started with a relaxation session. Everyone was sat in a circle whilst one of the group was guiding the closed-eyed sufferers, including John, through a lovely field...the sun was shining, the grass was sweet and green. "Look at the grass, " she said, "How long is it? " to which John shouts: "I'm up to ma knees in ****ing cowpat!"

Not quite the relaxation we were looking for...But the thing about Tourette's is that these statements actually go through minds - mine at least. The difference is, most of us can resist shouting them. Well, sometimes.

Next on the agenda was a meeting with a local benefits expert from the Citizens Advice Bureau, Heather Smith.

Joining the group was John's mate Chopper - who only developed Tourette's at 33 - who has similar 'ticks' to John.

John put a keyring in his mouth to try and stop any outbursts triggered by Chopper.

Heather starts by saying that she Googled the condition and the very narrow information it gave.
She gallantly carried on her speech as Chopper shouted:

"**** off nosey!"

which spurred on John to shout:

"Chopper dyes his p*bes ginger!"

To which Chopper replies: "Your dog's got t**ts!"

That made John say: "p**s!"

By which time poor Heather, trying hard to carry on, blurted 'incap***ity benefit', instead of 'incapacity benefit' which makes everyone in the group burst out laughing and made John exclaim: "You've got Tourette's by proxy now!"

BontB, at this point, was crying with laughter.

What brave people these are to make the most out of their lives with this disease and I wish them all the very best.

But my, they are ******** funny.