“Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder”: see it on TV

“Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder” is a Cutting Edge documentary that will be aired at 9pm on Wednesday 21 December on Channel 4, and will thereafter be available on Channel 4 on Demand (4oD).

It tells the story of Richard Wallace, “arguably the UK’s most extreme hoarder”.

National Declutter Week

At Storage.co.uk we’re very interested in the subject of clutter, and one of our earliest blogs was on the subject of excessive hoarding: “Champions of Clutter: the phenomenon of compulsive hoarding”.

At this level, we are not just talking about untidy homes, and things getting in the way (or even a cluttered cellar as pictured above). In the case of Mr Wallace, his house “is so stuffed that it takes 40 minutes to get from his chair to the front door”. His garden is piled high with refuse, but he rejects all the local council’s efforts to do something about it.

Clutter is an issue in many people’s lives, which is why Storage.co.uk is organising the National Declutter Week 2012 – which will take place between 7 and 18 March 2012 (see our recent blog).

Decluttering has all kinds of benefits – delivering a sense of wellbeing, as well as other social, financial and mental outcomes.

But people with a very serious compulsion to hoard are in a rather different league, and are probably well beyond the scope of National Declutter Week.

Mr Wallace is an extreme case: “with the hoarding now affecting his ability to function, Richard is entrenched to the point where his health is suffering, his safety is increasingly at risk and he is living in a physical and mental prison.”

But we are all somewhere on the hoarding spectrum. Watching “Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder” may well ring some uncomfortable bells.

2 Responses to ““Obsessive Compulsive Hoarder”: see it on TV”

1. rachel says:

   December 23, 2011 at 3:21 pm

   What a moving documentary. This programme demonstrated two very different approaches to a local issue. The landscape gardener was clearly a kind and thoughtful man who approached the situation with a practical solution as opposed to the disgusting approach of some of the other residents. I live a similar village to the one in this documentary, and could relate many of the residents to people I know from where I live. The young(ish) man in the posh car who gave his opinion through his open passenger window who had no practical solution but to sit and complain whilst he drove round in his ‘look at how rich I am’ car, was a great example of people with a few quid.

   The landscape gardener is worth a million of that cretin, and many others in the village who walk around with an air of ‘do you know who I am?’

   My dad always said to me; ‘be careful how you treat the people on the way up, as they break your fall on the way down’… I suspect that if the gardener fell on hard times, he would have many more people breaking his fall than the vile man in the posh car.

2. gemma davies says:

   January 17, 2012 at 6:54 pm

   DO YOU OR A MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY, HAVE A PROBLEM WITH HOARDING?

   WOULD YOU LIKE FREE HELP?

   A NEW DOCUMENTARY WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU…
   Up to 3 million people in Britain suffer from compulsive hoarding. A new documentary is offering psychological support and practical help for people who want to tackle their condition and clutter.

   This will be a sensitive and intelligent documentary exploring this complex condition. If you or any member of your family would like more details, please email newtvshow@rocketmail.com

   We’d love to hear from you and treat all information in the strictest confidence.