When screenwriter Matthew Barry first learned about the 1994 clinical trial for Viagra at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital, his initial reaction was: “This is The Full Monty with Viagra.” His next thought? “This has to be made into a drama, and how has nobody done it before? Let’s move quickly, because someone [else] will do this.”
You can understand his surprise that the true story behind Men Up, Barry’s BBC One film based on the trial, was still there for the taking. It’s one of those heartwarming, couldn’t-make-it-up tales that the British entertainment industry does so well, the kind where you might be laughing one moment, then weeping the next, about a group of everymen doing something a bit, well, snigger-inducing, only to find that it changes their lives irrevocably. “I think British storytellers are very good at starting from a human place that people relate to – and to do that in a story about a drug that gives you an erection is quite unique,” says Aneurin Barnard, who plays Dr Dylan Pearce, the (fictional) medic overseeing the trial.
