Disability - a phoney business

When the star of Channel 4 comedy Fonejacker tried to trick actors into thinking he was a disabled interviewer, what exactly was running through his mind? Cathy Reay investigates

Organisers of popular sci-fi convention Collectormania, which is attended by British and American television and film stars and their fans, were outraged in November after an independent film company that had expressed interest in covering the event for Channel 4 exploited it for a comedic stunt.

Channel 4 comedy Fonejacker features a series of prank phone calls involving a variety of characters portrayed by actor Kayvan Novak. One of his personas is Dufrais Constantinople, who uses a wheelchair, and, although it has never been clarified, appears to have mental health issues.

The show’s creators were refused media passes to the Collectormania event after they explained their intentions to film Dufrais “interviewing” guests. From emails Disability Now has seen, they then applied using a different email address, kept their intentions hidden and were granted access. Once at the event Kayvan is described as having “terrorised” guests and staff as his crew discreetly filmed his activity.

Suzi Wilson, a crew member of Showmasters who staged the event, said: “He approached [actress] Barbara Nedeljakova on a motorised wheelchair and began to talk to her about a script he wanted her to read. From the way the guy kept changing his mind and mumbling to himself, he came across as having mental health issues. He then started insulting her, saying ‘So... why is the midget [a nearby actor] signing more autographs than you?’”

Kayvan and his crew were quickly escorted from the building. A disabled attendee wrote on the Collectormania messageboard: “I don’t think this makes disabled people look very good, but more to the point I don’t see why the Fonejacker guy needed to be disabled to play his ‘prank’?”

A Channel 4 spokesman told Disability Now that Kayvan’s character is “not intended to use disabled people as the butt of the joke”. In what appears to be a rather contradictory statement, they added: “The character is clearly exaggerated for comedic value and in no way focuses on the character’s disability. It is based on Dufrais’s unusual social skills and his interaction with members of the public.”

However Channel 4 choose to label it, it is obvious to us that Dufrais’ “unusual social skills” link to him having mental health issues, and that this disability is the focus of the role. But besides the clear discrimination, not to mention exploitation, going on, is anyone actually going to find it at all funny? We’ll have to wait until later in the year to find out.

• Fonejacker series three is expected to air sometime in 2010. It has not been confirmed whether the footage from Collectormania will be used.