Heard the one about the three vicars who went to the cinema – and were taught a lesson in tolerance? | Ravi Holy

Watching the film I Swear, at first I was irked by the shouting and swearing from an audience member. But I ended up thanking him

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hat do vicars do in their spare time? Last week, I went with two friends, both fellow vicars, to see the new film I Swear. I knew from the trailer that it was about a man with Tourette syndrome (TS). What I didn’t know was that it was about a real person: John Davidson who was the subject of a 1989 BBC documentary called John’s Not Mad and who later received an MBE for his efforts to educate people about the condition and support his fellow sufferers.

Before that programme, most people had never heard of TS. Nearly 40 years later, everybody (sort of) knows what it is, but it’s still often treated as a punchline – particularly on the comedy circuit.

From the trailer, it seemed clear that the film was going to try to have its cake and eat it by both capitalising on the undeniable comic potential of someone shouting the most inappropriate things (“I use spunk for milk”) at inopportune times and attempting to continue Davidson’s work of raising awareness in a respectful and sensitive way. I hope it’s not a spoiler to say it was successful on both counts – but of course I only knew that by the end.