Stacey Dooley’s latest documentary, Down the K Hole, lands as part of a new batch of three from the presenter. One explores the death in barracks of 19-year-old Jaysley Beck and asks how well the army protects its female soldiers from sexual assault and harassment; another investigates the phenomenon of women who are killed by falling and how often domestic abuse may have been involved.
Down the K Hole follows the stories of a handful of ketamine addicts in recovery, representatives of what we are told is a 20% increase in UK admissions involving use of the drug since 2023. Dooley spends four months embedded in Acorn Recovery Projects, a rehab centre in Stockport. It is not really made clear what “embedded” means. She appears to turn up in the mornings, rather than live there full-time. And there isn’t a great sense in the interviews with addicts and their families that she is any closer to them than she would be under normal circumstances. Nor, during her reflections after every interaction – usually leaning against a wall in the nearest corridor and sighing – does she come up with any greater insights than she usually does. Dooley’s speciality is empathy and, afterwards, either repackaging what she has just been told, or giving voice to the feelings – sadness, frustration, resignation – she can count on the audience sharing. Which is fine, as far as it goes. But as the programme – indeed, as her career as a documentary maker – continues, you do start to wish she could parlay her established bona fides into something just a bit more rigorous and move us all on from our shared understandings.
