One in 200 people in the UK is a hoarder: someone who can't stop collecting things but can't bear to throw anything away. This one-off film takes a closer look at the debilitating condition and four extreme sufferers as they confront or are confronted with their hoarding.
Compulsive Hoarding is a growing phenomenon and a recognised manifestation of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It has only recently become the focus of research because the very nature of the condition keeps suffers shrouded in secrecy and shame.
Sufferers can be men or women, young or old; although most are only diagnosed at their most extreme, at the age of 50.
Many compulsive hoarders live claustrophobic, lonely existences, often in a vicious circle of deprived circumstances with their ever-accumulating piles of rubbish preventing them from even eating, sleeping and keeping themselves clean. The mess often becomes so dominant that it leads them to cut ties with family and friends, resulting in both their self-esteem and their social life suffering.
Dagenham-based 48-year-old William is the first man in Britain to receive an ASBO for hoarding. For him, hoarding is a full-time occupation - and he's inspired by his childhood heroes: the Wombles, the furry creatures from the hit 1970s TV show who lived underground and collected rubbish on Wimbledon Common.
Every night, under the cover of darkness, he heads out on a stealth mission to forage for goods from recycling bins and local shops. William says: "There are always things to do in the life of a busy hoarder... I've got the nerve to do what all the other guys don't."
Rarely leaving the house by day, William heads out under the cover of darkness with a wish list: "Newspapers and magazines, clothes, general household goods... anything I haven't already found, some things interest me more than others."
But armed with the ASBO, his local council are keeping a close eye on him, and William will face an enforced clearout.
Sixty-five-year-old retired accountant Roy lives in a typical English village. He's been married to 60-year-old Karen, a retired music teacher, for 31 years. But they have a secret: Roy has hoarded all his life, and what's more, he's in denial. Their nine-bedroom house is full of broken household goods.
"As a war baby I was clearly taught that everything had a value... I've felt it almost a slander, an insult; I dispute that I do horde. I don't go out of my way to collect everything like the proverbial bag lady. But yes, I am certainly slow at sorting and discarding."
From his dead aunt's incontinence pads to broken toasters, he won't throw anything out. But an upset Karen has finally had enough and is determined to make him see reason, enlisting the help of their daughter, the local GP and her vicar to help her out.
Hoarding affects a third of people with OCD, which means that 300,000 of us have hoarding tendencies. In Britain, it's a secretive condition, but in the States, it's a different story.
Seventy-eight-year-old Lloyd became a celebrity hoarder when his collection of over 5,000 bikes and bike parts was uncovered in Los Angeles. He faced prison for refusing to part with them. But with a fundraising drive to raise $50,000 and a team of 120, a clear-out is undertaken to save Lloyd.
Finally, 60-year-old New Yorker Maureen believes that things have emotions, just like people. For her, the idea of throwing something out is akin to being held at gun-point. But after eight years of medication and 13 different therapists, she's realised that things have to change...
