This powerful documentary from fly-on-the-wall pioneer Paul Watson follows four alcohol abusers over the course of a year. Vanda, 43, has been drinking since the age of 12. Twenty-nine-year-old Mark consumes two bottles of vodka per day. Nigel, 49, has been dry for ten years, but the damage he has inflicted on his liver is irreversible. Troubled Toni, 26, merely laughs at warnings that continued drinking will mean death.

The film charts the traumas faced by the alcoholics as they bounce between Gillingham Medway Maritime Hospital and their homes, and highlights the emotional impact their struggle has had on those around them. The fact that two of participants died during filming is grim testimony to the illness of alcoholism. (2006)