New BBC Three drama Overshadowed is impressing critics and audiences with its accurate portrayal of the isolation and inner torment of anorexia. Don't expect the familiar tropes of calorie counting and numbers on the scale, as this show is aimed at moving beyond the idea that eating disorders just involve a person obsessing with weight and the bodies they see on catwalks.

Adapted from the play written by Eva O’Connor, originally from Clare, the series is comprised of eight 10-minute YouTube-style videos. A teenage girl, Imogene played by Michelle Fox, decides to use her new camera to record a daily vlog, showing her life and her family and sharing her thoughts with the camera. But a seemingly innocuous decision to get fit leads to a compulsion, and soon we see her exercising frantically in her room and isolating herself from her friends and family. The happy normal teenager becomes withdrawn and obsessive as the disease takes hold. Her ‘weight loss’ is achieved through makeup, unlike the well-meaning but much maligned Netflix drama To The Bone, which saw actress Lily Collins shed weight for the role. Always by Imogene’s side on-screen is Anna, someone only Imogene can see, the personification of her eating disorder, talking to her, cajoling her into exercising. Eva plays Anna, a sinister, creepy character who encourages Imogene to eat less and exercise more. But she’s not just a negative force, she’s luring Imogene in, telling her she is all she needs and that she will be there for her.

Watch episode one here:

Eva battled anorexia for eight years and told The Independent that she hopes the series will help anyone battling the disorder to seek help. “I remember watching something with my mum years ago about a girl who was really sick and she was recovering and it was an hour long documentary and we turned it off and both burst into tears and I feel like our show might do that for some people – they’ll see themselves in it. But hopefully they’ll watch it to the end and cry and say, I want to recover. I want people to know it is 100 per cent possible to recover. When you’re in recovery, you need lots of reminders that you can do it and to keep going. I hope that Overshadowed is one of those signs for someone, to keep going towards recovery.”

Watch the whole series here.

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