Disability charity urges people to watch 'sinister' Channel 4 experiment tricking Brits into Nazi beliefs
Channel 4 have sparked controversy online with a new documentary The Experiment which sees if they can trick Brits into believing Nazi-era policy on disabled people through a fake care home with hidden cameras.
When The Experiment was announced the reaction was one unanimous shock at the concept, which packages the Nazi beliefs into a ‘progressive solution to the care problem’ to see people’s reaction.
The TV documentary has come under serious fire online however, with one viewer calling it ‘sinister’ and a prominent disability rights campaigner and author saying it was ‘utterly baffling’ and slamming the series.
The criticism of the doc now it is out is not unanimous however as prominent charity Disability Rights UK have called for people to watch the documentary and praised the daring concept, saying people should ‘definitely give this programme a watch’. They are not the only ones speaking out about the doc however.
The documentary has been called ‘sinister’ and has been accused of ‘gotcha-ing people into Nazi beliefs’
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The doc features a fictional residential facility SegriLife House which purports to be a ‘compassionate and practical solution’ but actually is implementing Nazi policy.
The show then features real people being shown around it to see if they can be tricked into believing it, but one viewer on X said it was 'sinister' and slammed Channel 4.
Disability rights campaigner and author Rachel Carlton-Dailey posted a scathing response to the doc on X, saying: “As the author of the only history book detailing over 100 years of disability rights in the UK, The Experiment was utterly baffling to watch.”
The author of disability history book Ramping Up Rights exclusively told LADbible she found the doc ‘horrific’, adding: “They’ve not done anything. I struggle to see what sort of change this show would make because I don't understand who this show is for.
“The sort of people who would who would have those opinions of disabled people wouldn't be watching a show like that at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday night you know.”
In her online thread she suggested that the people shown around the residential facility are ‘gotcha-ed into nodding along with Nazi beliefs’, telling LADbible: “It genuinely felt like they just pushed this narrative more and more and then the minute these people started nodding along and agreeing to it, you were showing clips of like Sophie Morgan and Matt Fraser cackling and being like ‘oh my god yes look at I can't believe she's saying that’, but you've led them to say that.”
Carlton-Dailey added that she wishes the documentary had shown them discussing the concept with the people shown on camera to try and interrogate why people hold these beliefs about disabled people. The author also urged anyone whose interest was piqued by the doc to get involved in local groups such as Crips Against Cuts, saying: “It would be really, really great if once you've done the learning and once you've sat back and thought ‘this isn't right’ that you did put your energy into supporting us.”
Some have come out in support of the series however, including prominent disability rights campaigners alongside Disability Rights UK.
Disability Rights UK said the series ‘did not pull its punches’ and praised the series
The disabled-led charity is one of the biggest of its kind in the UK and said of the series: “From the outset, it draws strong parallels between Nazi ideology, which saw Disabled people as unproductive, costly and burdensome, and the political policies and attitudes towards Disabled people in the UK today.”
The statement concludes by encouraging people to watch the series, and they are not alone in this.
Mik Scarlet, a TV presenter and expert on inclusion for disabled people, posted on X: “Watching The Experiment and seeing the impact on Mat hits home. As someone else who was born disabled, we probably wouldn't even be counted amongst the disabled people killed by the Nazis.
“We wouldn't have made it past being born. We'd have been medical refuse.”
The Experiment is available to stream on Channel 4 now.
LADbible have contacted Channel 4 for comment.
Topics: Channel 4, TV and Film, Documentaries, TV
Michael Slavin