MARK O’Sullivan created a sitcom about child sexual abuse to deal with his own trauma.
But who is Mark O’Sullivan and what is his new sitcom about?
Mark O’Sullivan is a comedian, actor, writer and director.
He was born on December 25, 1976 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
After attending Monk’s Walk secondary school, Mark studied Performing Arts at Oaklands College in St Albans.
He planned on going to drama school, but lost both of his parents a few years apart and went into teaching for five years.
During his time working as a self-taught film maker for a charity, he met Miles Chapman and they started writing and performing comedy together.
Together with Miles Chapman, he created, wrote, executive produced and directed the Channel 4 sitcom Lee and Dean.
Mark also played Dean in Lee and Dean and has had roles in Tell Me Everything, The Nevers and the BBC’s The Javone Prince Show.
His latest project is called Making Lemonade.
It is a project to build upon and share the process of creating something positive from the trauma he experienced making this documentary and sitcom.
Making Lemonade will include podcasts, a book, workshops and talks.
Mark O’Sullivan is married to his wife Jenny.
In 2022 he mentioned in an interview that his wife is friends with Miles Chapman’s wife.
He told AbsolutelyMagazines: “His wife is friends with my wife, and we have lots of mutual friends.”
“We’d go on lots of family holidays together and I remember one of the first holidays we had in Ireland, we got told off by respective wives because we were just trying to make each other laugh all the time!”
“We have a similar sense of humour.”
I hope it helps to normalise the conversation around sexual abuse. Silence is fuel to abusers.
Mark O'Sullivan
My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom is a new Channel 4 sitcom, in which Mark O’Sullivan reflects on making a sitcom as a way to deal with his experiences of abuse.
The show also reveals how he dealt with his experiences as an adult and what happened when he told his family about his abuse.
Making something positive out of the trauma I went through as a child really feels like the best – the only – way for me to deal with it.
Mark O'Sullivan
It also followed the court case that took place when Mark was in his thirties.
The cast includes Cariad Lloyd, Rufus Jones, Ellie Taylor and Sam Underwood, as well as Mark.
The show was recorded in front of a live studio audience and is set in the style of a 1980s family sitcom.
Producer and director Joe Evans said to the press: “It’s been an incredible privilege to work with Mark O’Sullivan on a project in which he’s laid his soul bare, and found a strikingly original way – both through his comedy, and his extraordinary testimony in the documentary – to express the complex impact that childhood sexual abuse has had on him.”
Mark O’Sullivan said about the sitcom: “Making something positive out of the trauma I went through as a child really feels like the best – the only – way for me to deal with it.”
“Being given the opportunity to drag what happened to me out into daylight, where it’s not nearly as powerful and destructive as it was when hidden, has helped me so much.”
“I hope it helps to normalise the conversation around sexual abuse.”
“Silence is fuel to abusers.”
“It stops people from coming forward to say what happened to them.”
“If we talk about it, shine bright light directly on to it, we can deal with it.”
“Making this has helped me so much. I hope it helps others too.”
Cariad Lloyd, who acts in the show, said: “Mark writing and confronting his trauma through comedy has been at times, heart-breaking, but mostly a life affirming process, to see creativity allow a new narrative to be written.”
My Sexual Abuse: The Sitcom will air on Channel 4 on Tuesday May 28, 2024 at 10 p.m. and will also be available to stream on the Channel 4 website after its release.
