Riverscross: the soap with a difference

On the Writers' Guild website, Darren Rapier explains how he has set up a drama project in an adolescent psychiatric unit built around the development of a new long running series, Riverscross.

The beauty of the Riverscross project is its flexibility, something it needs in order to run successfully in the environment in which we are working. Students can work at their own level, either as a group, in small groups or individually. We have often switched the way we are working to achieve our aim; making it more or less academic, more or less practical, or more or less drama/TV specific. The multi-disciplined nature of continuing drama also means there is always another angle or another avenue to pursue if any student or students are finding it difficult or uninteresting.

TV director Bruce Webb gives a masterclass to Riverscross students (Photo: Tony Coult)