The man who is The Responder: Mr. Tony Schumacher

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Research is part of the process,  and one of my most favourite things to do in order to write an article.

Researching Mr. Schumacher is a delight, and was so when I first did it around the time season 1 of The Responder hit our screens.

Mr. Schumacher is one of those people where you can look forward to every interview, and what he has to say, and he's refreshingly honest and open about his life and the reality behind the Responder.

For the audience is the fact that he had been a police officer himself a huge advantage.

It brings a never seen before reality and honesty into the show, and that makes it so exceptionally good and different.

Mr. Tony Schumacher had an eventful life before he became a writer, he worked as a bouncer, taxi driver and as a police officer.

To start with, it was great fun and it was exciting. You get to drive cars and run around and get in fights at the weekend, it was brilliant. But after a while it was just 999 jobs constantly, that was all I did, for ten, eleven years and it just wore me out mentally.”

 But like Mr.Schumacher said himself, the fun stopped and the problems began.

Source: confidentials.com 

And the once adventurous job turned into a mental and personal nightmare.

Doing the job on the street's for more than a decade and being indeed the first Responder to crime and tragedy Tony Schumacher witnessed was more than we can imagine.

Read a very interesting quote from Mr. Schumacher here:

When I first joined the police, I remember on my second or third night, an old bobby called Colin said to me " you will never knock on someone's door and tell them they've won the lottery, you are  only ever going deliver bad news in this job.

So it's a big responsibility, but conversely, it's incredibly exciting".

Reading this it's easy to immediately remember certain scenes where Chris is on the streets, trying hard to function and cope with what he witnesses night after night.

Lives, families and his own mind getting destroyed piece by piece.

And this is exactly the honest, pure and bleak view we get on Chris and the job.

There is no sugar coating, and that includes Carson's mental state.

A state Mr. Schumacher can relate to, he worked hour after hour, night after night and what we see in Chris is close to home for Tony Schumacher.

Although we should immediately add, that Tony Schumacher was never corrupt, this storyline is loosely based on two other bobbies and we shouldn't go further on this story, because that's something we should definitely only hear from the man himself.    

The constant tension we see and feel in Chris Carson is a mirror for the absolute pressure this job brings, and one day it was too much for Mr. Schumacher and it ended in mental health issues and after a while he quit his job, because he couldn't cope anymore, he was even homeless for a while.

He lost his job, his, family and his house.

And in it's place were self-blame and a hopeless situation.

I admire the freely talking attitude of Mr. Schumacher immensely, especially nowadays when we tend to paint everything with the happy colour of perfection, very well aware that there is no such thing.

Lives and histories like Mr.Schumacher's path, is not only more likely because 970 million people struggle with a mental health disorder and one of four people is affected.

But most of us don't have a straight way to success without obstacles.

On the contrary , we hardly work in the same job for forty years anymore.

We make different experiences, and work different jobs, before we find what we love, unfortunately not all  of us get to that point.

For example, I have worked as waitress, a receptionist, tour manager, librarian and blogger.

And here I am...

But back to the important things, in our case Mr.Schumacher and his way to his true path.

Source : Broadcast 

When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose 

 Tony Schumacher was working at a taxi driver, when the editor of Liverpool Confidential got in his taxi.

He and Ms. Annie Sammons chatted and talked about jobs Mr.Schumacher told a sweet yet incredibly life changing lie.

He told her that he was a writer, and maybe he really always had been, because that was his childhood dream.

She gave him his first writing job, and after three published books, he decided its time for a screenplay.

( if you are interested in reading more, here is Mr. Schumacher's first article. Spoiler; it's absolutely brilliant and moving.) 

Article TS 

He downloaded a free scriptwriting programme and got to work.

Liverpool production company liked the script, and he got invited, but before anyone even had the chance to sit done with him, the award winning screenwriter Jimmy McGovern came along and they met up for further developments.

But besides the fact that McGovern liked his ideas , he still advised Mr.Schumacher to write about his experiences with the police, and guess what...The Responder were born.

An idea his audience is entirely grateful for!

And besides the fantastic script, and the fact that I am ridiculously happy knowing that he wrote The Responder with Mr.Freeman already in mind, there is something else which I find so hugely inspiring.

The way I work is on the basis that if you don't ask you don't get.

 I love this! Because Mr.Schumacher and his career is a prove , that besides all the hard work, you also need to believe in what you want and what you do.

And this goes for all of us, we all have our dreams we might bury too early, because we think its impossible or we lack confidence, but we should keep trying, especially in a moment of crisis.

We need the dreams that keep us going.

I would absolutely never compare myself to  screenwriter and author, but I'm no stranger to mental health disorders, and had an absolute low point in my life last summer, with a big fat depression monster that almost drove me into making a final decision.

Once out of the ever returning dark clouds I started thinking about this blog project.

I had some writing and promotion involvement, and I have a twenty years experience as a Freeman fan, so why not realising this project so incredibly close to my heart ? 

Why not ???? Because there are millions of great arguments against it, but equally great ideas and hopes in my mind.

Let's go for it, because if we do nothing, then there will be no change or achievement at all.

Mr. Schumacher is a great inspiration , and lately his writing brought us one of the greatest shows the BBC ever broadcasted.

The Responder and his unique take on a police officer, and unvarnished truth of Chris Carson is without exaggeration simply excellent television that is second to none.

We are ready for S2! 

  

    

 

For questions and suggestions or to chat please contact me: sabsigb7@yahoo.com