In the interior of a Royal British Legion club in west London, cameramen are sweating under the lighting rigs. In front of the cameras, a crisis is unfolding. A pregnant woman storms into the bar to find her boyfriend with his arms around another woman. "What's wrong with you?" she screams as he shrugs and turns away.
It's familiar fodder for fans of TV drama, but the dialogue being filmed is communicated not through the actors' voices but through their hands. And the actors, director and half the crew are all deaf.
Switch portrays the lives and loves of a fictional deaf community in London. It was launched in 2001 as part of See Hear, the BBC's magazine programme for deaf and hard of hearing people, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week.
Terry Riley, the editor of See Hear, joined the programme nearly 20 years ago. He describes See Hear as the "heartbeat" of the UK's British Sign Language (BSL) community and says the existence of Switch is an indication of how far the programme has evolved since it first went on air in 1981.
Inward looking
"If you'd said to me when I joined See Hear that one day you'd have a deaf drama shown on the BBC, completely in sign language and starring deaf actors, I would have laughed," Riley says. "But, over 25 years, See Hear has changed immeasurably, and in many ways we've pulled the deaf community - which can be blinkered and inward looking - along with us.
"The early shows had public service broadcasting written all over them. They didn't even use deaf presenters. Fast forward and we have Switch, which I think really represents just how far we've come in a short space of time."
See Hear, described by Riley as "a mini-TV channel", is broadcast at midday on Saturdays on BBC2 for 38 weeks a year and covers a wide spectrum of issues, from entertainment, art and politics to sport. There is a strong emphasis on current affairs, with each weekly show focusing on one global or national issue affecting the deaf community.
Its standing and reputation within the deaf community has gained it access where other camera crews have failed. After the 7/7 bombings last year, See Hear was allowed to film inside a mosque in Leeds, which had denied access to the Panorama team. Earlier this year, the team travelled to the Middle East to discover how the war was affecting deaf communities in Lebanon and Israel, and broadcast a live debate between an Israeli man and a Lebanese man, who described their mutual deafness as transcending political or religious divisions.
"I don't think many people recognise that we can bring a unique perspective, and that the deaf community is one that largely pays no attention to the social, political or racial barriers that are established elsewhere," says Riley.
He points to the growing number of non-deaf See Hear viewers as an indication of the growing popularity and credibility of the programme. While the UK has 75,000 BSL users, viewing figures for the programme regularly top the 600,000 mark. "At the same time, we're very aware that this is air time for deaf people, so we'll take an approach that says, 'OK this happened, but this happened to a deaf person first and foremost,'" Riley says. "As a deaf man, I know how important it is to have this space, something that is mine, and where the concerns and issues I face in my life are addressed."
One of the most significant contributions See Hear has made to the UK's deaf community is its focus on kickstarting discussions on more controversial issues. Recent programmes have documented the treatment of deaf people under the Nazis, exposed discrimination within the deaf community, and investigated a pyramid selling scheme that was dividing families and deaf clubs across the country.
"Deaf communities tend to be incredibly tight-knit," Riley says. "Personal information can be disseminated at an alarming speed, so there is a culture of keeping things close to your chest, which can lead to important issues for our community remaining buried. It's our responsibility to dig them out."
Switch, currently screened as a stand-alone drama and not as part of the See Hear programme, has also featured controversial storylines around subjects other than deafness, such as child abuse and workplace bullying.
David Horbury, who has been writing the scripts and producing Switch since it came on air in 2001, is not deaf, but is convinced that the programme has been instrumental in creating some of the first visible positive role-models for BSL users. "Switch has had one of the biggest impacts on the deaf community in recent years," he says. "We've now had up to 50 deaf actors working on the show. They'd never have that opportunity otherwise, and I hope it gives other young deaf people the belief that they can achieve things they think are out of their reach."
Fifi Garfield, the actress who plays Fran in Switch, agrees. She says having a drama where deaf people are the stars, where it's their lives and not their deafness that is the focus, has been an "incredible boost" to young deaf and hard of hearing people. "It's hard to describe to hearing people how it feels to have so little representation in the media," she explains. "Yes, there might be a scene with a deaf person in Casualty, but they would be there as a deaf person, not as a character in their own right. Basically, we're always presented as a problem or as a victim."
Garfield is aware that her career options are limited. "Outside of Switch there's very little work for me," she says. "I would love there to be a time when I could get a part in a mainstream TV programme as a fully-fledged character. At the moment, I just can't see it happening."
Funding for See Hear is guaranteed, but there are currently no plans to commission Switch in 2007. The one-hour Christmas special now being filmed could be the drama's finale.
Louis Neethling, Switch's director and the only deaf director working at the BBC, describes this as a "tragedy for the deaf community". He, along with Horbury, is taking redundancy from the BBC at the end of this year. Although he says his track record means there's no reason why he shouldn't be directing mainstream TV dramas, doors that are open to hearing directors are closed to him.
Defined by deafness
"Producers don't understand that if I have an interpreter with me then my deafness has no impact on my work," he says. "I've invited so many producers to come down to Switch just for five minutes to see for themselves how I work. Not one has come. I'm still defined by my deafness, rather than my ability or experience."
Riley says that while Switch may have been sidelined, See Hear will continue to move from strength to strength. There are 9 million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK, with the figure growing year on year, and he envisages See Hear carrying the torch for all of them. "We're now the only dedicated channel for deaf people in the country," he says. "If we keep speaking in our own language and in our own way, we've got a voice that I want more and more people to pay attention to."
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