Yep, this is definitely random! According to this news story singer and actress Mariah Carey is going to star as a social worker in a "gritty film" called "Push". My freelance colleague Andrew Mickel - who clearly has amazing research skills - stumbled across this story and it got me thinking: will such a film help raise the positive profile of social workers?

I can't recall any mainstream, Hollywood, films that feature social workers so perhaps it's about time there was one.

MC isn't *cough* renowned for her acting skills (anyone see "Glitter"? no? exactly) so what actress or actor would you like to see play a social worker instead?

Jonny Depp would be nice - especially if they could film in a real life setting - like my office, for example..

sidney:

Jonny Depp would be nice - especially if they could film in a real life setting - like my office, for example..

 Great reply sidney!

sidney:

Jonny Depp would be nice - especially if they could film in a real life setting - like my office, for example..

 

If he does, you'd probably need a lot of extras right? For authenticity they would have to be social workers/students I think...

 

colin firth would be great and I am even prepared to allow him to shadow me so he gets some real life experience!!  Seriously though I think that any programme that could bring the real work of social workers into the spotlight would be beneficial especially showing the work we do with families to enable them to stay together and how difficult it is to get court orders etc.  Can anyone remember seeing the programme on BBC1 a couple of years ago about social workers that was informative and I was studying at the time and it scared us social work students to death.

Tink63:

 

colin firth would be great and I am even prepared to allow him to shadow me so he gets some real life experience!!  Seriously though I think that any programme that could bring the real work of social workers into the spotlight would be beneficial especially showing the work we do with families to enable them to stay together and how difficult it is to get court orders etc.  Can anyone remember seeing the programme on BBC1 a couple of years ago about social workers that was informative and I was studying at the time and it scared us social work students to death.

Yes Tink63, I remember the 2004 BBC1 programme "Someone to Watch Over Me" about social workers in Bristol Council's child care team. It was a fascinating and powerful look at what they (or you lot! LOL) actually do daily and how clients react to social workers. I went to Bristol to interview some of the social workers who were filmed by the BBC to find out about their experiences. Most were very happy with it, even though they found it strange at first. Read my feature here.