‘It helped me through dark moments’: the male comedians turning their trauma into TV

Mark O’Sullivan in My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom, which addresses abuse he suffered when he was 12. Photograph: Channel 4/Jack Barnes

Comedian Mark O’Sullivan was sexually assaulted by a member of his extended family when he was 12 years old. In his 30s, he reported the abuse to the police and, following a court case, the perpetrator was convicted and jailed.

Now 47, O’Sullivan is addressing this painful part of his past through his comedy. A documentary My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom, will be screened on Channel 4, with the accompanying sitcom streaming online.