She has acted in hit shows such as Silent Witness, Good Omens and The Witcher, but Liz Carr thinks her new television project eclipses them all in terms of importance.
Liz, an activist against assisted dying long before she was an actress, has made BBC documentary Better Off Dead? tackling the subject. She has been trying to get the idea off the ground since 2011 and said: “It scares me that it feels like the majority of people think assisted suicide is a really good idea.
“I don’t think we’re hearing about other viewpoints. There are a lot of people who have fears. Looking at where we’re going in society at the moment, recent comments about benefits and disabled people, is this really the right time to be offering death as a solution?”
Liz Carr starred in Silent Witness (BBC/Sally Mais)Liz, a wheelchair user since her teenage years, says many people have told her that if they were “like her’’ they’d rather be dead. All her disabled friends have had the same experience, she says. In the show, Liz asks: “If you saw someone on a bridge about to jump, would you stand by and let them do it? Would you support them in the name of choice and autonomy?
“No, you would probably intervene and suggest they get help. But if it was a disabled person, would your response be the same? Or do you see their decision to end their life as understandable, even inevitable? Many of us feel that assisted suicide creates a two-tier system – suicide prevention for some, suicide approval for others.”
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Liz says she is fearful of Keir Starmer becoming Prime Minister. The Labour leader has said MPs should have a free vote on the issue. Asked whether she had a message for him, she replies: “I would say, please watch the documentary. Please talk to those who have concerns, and don’t sideline us as being marginalised or religious.”
As part of the programme, Liz travels to Canada, where assisted suicide is legal. Its law originally only provided for terminally ill patients, but in 2021 it was expanded to include incurable conditions. Liz meets Amir Farsoud, who has a severe disability, and whose application for assisted suicide was approved, even though he claims he told doctors he was only applying for it because his benefits would no longer cover his housing costs and he feared homelessness.
Liz met Amir Farsoud who has a severe disabilityLiz also meets euthanasia doctor Ellen Wiebe, who has medically assisted in the deaths of more than 500 people. She tells Liz, 52, she could be a candidate for assisted suicide under Canadian law. She adds: “I love my job. This is the very best work I’ve ever done in these last seven years and people ask me why and I think, ‘Well doctors like grateful patients,’ and nobody is more grateful than my patients now.”
Among those taking an opposing view to Liz is Dame Esther Rantzen, 83, diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last year. She has been campaigning for legalised assisted dying, pointing out that pets are spared suffering at the end of life whereas people are not.
It’s an analogy that Liz disagrees with, claiming that many animals are put down to save money, something she fears would happen to humans. A petition recently debated in Parliament argued: “Terminally ill people who are mentally sound and near the end of their lives should not suffer unbearably against their will.
Canadian euthanasia doctor Ellen WiebeHowever, Liz fears that should assisted dying become legal, the law will widen, as has happened in Canada and elsewhere. Recommendations by a Canadian Parliamentary committee have included extending assisted dying to children over 12. That is chilling for Liz, who discovers from her mother’s diaries from the 1980s that she talked about wanting to die as a 12-year-old. She says: “Sometimes we need to be protected from ourselves.”
- Better Off Dead? airs on Tuesday May 14, 9pm, BBC One and iPlayer
For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
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