Hear the Silence

Hear the Silence
Written byTimothy Prager
Directed byTim Fywell
StarringHugh Bonneville
Juliet Stevenson
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Production
CinematographyIvan Strasburg
Running time90 minutes
Budget£1 million
Original release
NetworkFive
Release15 December 2003 (2003-12-15)
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Hear the Silence is a 2003 semi-fictional TV drama based around the discredited idea of a potential link between the MMR vaccine and autism.[1] By then, a contentious issue, the supposed connection originated in a paper by Andrew Wakefield published in 1998.[2] The film debuted on 15 December 2003 at 9 pm on the British network Five. Produced on a budget of £1 million, it stars Hugh Bonneville as Wakefield and Juliet Stevenson as Christine Shields, a fictional mother who discovers the possible MMR-autism link when her son is diagnosed as autistic.[3]

  1. ^ Aaronovitch, David (4 September 2020). "The Doctor Who Fooled the World by Brian Deer review — the father of anti-vaxxer lies". The Times. Retrieved 13 September 2020. (subscription required)
  2. ^ Goldacre, Ben (11 December 2003). "Never mind the facts". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  3. ^ Wells, Matt (23 May 2003). "Five plans autism drama". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2014.