When John Davidson was 10 years old, he experienced his first symptoms of Tourette syndrome – small facial tics and eye blinking.

By the time he was 13, the neurological condition was causing full-body movements so extreme he compares himself with the young heroine in horror film The Exorcist.

John tells Sky News: “There’s a scene where the girl’s on the bed and her whole body’s twitching about and screaming. That’s almost what it felt like. My tics became so extreme that I was hurting myself. I was pulling muscles. I was tired all the time.

“I would break down and cry so many times in a day because I was totally out of control. Something had completely taken over my mind and my body.”

Growing up in Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, John was repeatedly told his symptoms were in his head – or worse, intentional – when a chance meeting with a visiting junior doctor while in hospital led to a diagnosis.

Largely unheard of in the 1980s, today, high-profile figures including Scottish musician Lewis Capaldi and US star Billie Eilish have publicly spoken about living with Tourette’s.

Affecting more than 300,000 people in Britain, it’s more common than many think. One schoolchild in every hundred is estimated to be affected by the syndrome, according to NHS England.

While severity can range, there is currently no cure.

And while the University of Nottingham is working on a device which uses electrical pulses to suppress tic urges, the wristband – called Neupulse – is currently awaiting full medical approval.

‘Medication turned me into a zombie’

Treated with drugs as a child, John suffered devastating side-effects: “Anti-psychotic medications turned me into a zombie. I’ve got probably about a two-year period in my teens where I have no real proper memories.”

Frustrated by the lack of support available to him growing up, John is now a Tourette syndrome campaigner, recognised for his work with an MBE.

But even that came with challenges unique to his condition. At the 2019 ceremony at Holyrood Palace, when collecting his award, John shouted “F*** the Queen” at Elizabeth II.

He says: “It was horrific for me. It was like the last thing I ever wanted to have to shout. And I think that’s the nature of the coprolalia, part of the condition, where it’s the worst possible thing you could say in that situation.”

Affecting a minority of the Tourette’s population, coprolalia is the involuntary utterance of socially inappropriate words or phrases.

While less common, it’s the feature of Tourette’s most often portrayed in the media.

John goes on: “It came as much of a shock to me as to everyone else, you know? But I’m the one in the moment having to deal with those emotions and feelings of wanting the ground to swallow me up. [Thinking] I don’t want to be here any more.”

‘Living with it is absolutely awful’

Now, in a bid to tackle the stereotype, a film is being made about John’s life based on his 2025 memoir, with Game Of Thrones star Robert Aramayo playing the lead role.

No stranger to media exposure himself, John has appeared in numerous documentaries over the years, following on from the groundbreaking 1989 documentary about his life, John’s Not Mad. But it hasn’t always been a positive experience.

John says: “Every time they make a documentary, they make such a thing about the swearing part, which then stigmatises the condition because people are then left to assume that everyone with Tourette’s swears and shouts obscenities.”

In reality, coprolalia is not typical of the condition and only affects around one in 10 people with Tourette’s.

John acknowledges there is a comedic element to this: “When people think of uncontrollably swearing like that, it’s funny. ‘Oh my God’, you know, ‘shock, horror’. But for the one living with it, it’s absolutely awful.”

‘Let’s have sex!’

It’s a sentiment the film’s director echoes.

Kirk Jones first met John in 2022. Meeting him at his house to discuss the potential of making the film, John opened the door and, after inviting him in, shouted in his face: “Let’s have sex!”

His first introduction to John’s verbal ticks, the director admits it was a “steep learning curve”.

He tells Sky News: “There’s something about Tourette’s, which I don’t think has made it a very friendly or accessible condition. I think that’s down to the fact that people who have coprolalia come across as being aggressive or argumentative or difficult or upsetting people, and I think that’s unfair. They need as much support as anyone else.”

The director says it took him some time to gain John’s trust, showing he wanted to do more than just revisit tired stereotypes.

He says: “The Tourette’s community had been kind of abused in the past. They’ve been invited to appear on TV shows or radio or be in newspaper articles, under the guise of helping people to understand Tourette’s more. But what the TV channel or the radio show really wanted was just a cheap laugh.

“When I first met John and started talking about the idea of the film, he was understandably suspicious.”

Handing over some creative control, John is also an executive producer on the film.

‘When you laugh, it breaks the ice’

Now, at 54, and having lived with the condition for over 40 years, John believes people are becoming more tolerant of Tourette’s, but would love to see further acceptance.

“It’s about not being shocked. It’s not about being dead serious with a straight face. Feel free to laugh, because when you laugh, it breaks the ice.

“I wish people had the confidence to approach people with Tourette’s and just deal with it as if it was an everyday thing.”

The director, too, hopes the film will have a real-world impact and open people’s eyes to the reality of the condition.

He says: “I hope this film can play a small part in starting to refocus people’s attention on helping and supporting people rather than just laughing or mocking.”

I Swear is in UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 10 October.

Anyone looking for support or information about Tourette syndrome can access resources at Tourettes Action or Tourette Scotland for those living in Scotland.

Ministers must do “much more” to explain why Palestine Action is a proscribed terrorist group, Harriet Harman has said.

Speaking to the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said the government looked like it was just “arresting octogenarian vicars who are worried about the awful situation in Gaza”.

Baroness Harman, who was a Labour MP from 1982 to 2024, said the government had a “number of incredibly important duties” with regard to the war in Gaza – including protecting the Jewish community while also permitting free speech.

👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈

She said that as well as ensuring the safety of Jewish venues, such as schools and synagogues, the government also needed to “try and create an atmosphere where the Jewish people should not feel that they are under threat and be asking themselves whether this is the right country for them to live in and be bringing up their families”.

Baroness Harman went on: “They also have to support and uphold the right to free speech and the right of protest. And people have felt so horrified.

“We all have about the devastating loss of life and suffering in Gaza. And so it’s right that people are allowed to protest.”

A number of protests in support of Palestine Action have been organised in recent months following the group’s proscription under anti-terrorism laws in July, after members targeted RAF Brize Norton and damaged two military aircraft.

Last week, there were calls for the demonstrations to be halted following the attack on Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, in which two people were killed – but a number took place across the country, including in London.

The Labour peer said the organisers of such protests had a responsibility not to allow people to support a “terrorist organisation” but that the government also needed to do “much, more more” to explain why Palestine Action had been proscribed.

Read more:
What does Trump’s Gaza peace plan look like?
Trump’s Gaza deal may not please everyone – but it offers hope

“At the moment, it just looks like the police are arresting octogenarian vicars who are worried about the awful situation in Gaza,” Baroness Harman said.

“So they’ve got to actually be much clearer in why Palestine Action is a terrorist group and that they’re justified in prescribing them and making them illegal.

“But also the police have got to police those marches in stopping them being about the spouting of hatred and inciting violence, with people talking about globalising the intifada, which basically means killing all Jewish people.

“And the police do actually have very wide-ranging powers, not just to arrest people, but to actually ban marches.“

Prince William has fought back tears as he was reunited with a woman who lost her husband to suicide after the death of her young son.

William became visibly emotional while talking to Rhian Mannings during a short film released to mark World Mental Health Day and to launch a £1m project aimed at preventing suicide.

It was always going to be a difficult conversation because of Rhian’s heartbreaking experiences, but both wanted to record the video to highlight the taboo that still exists around suicide.

In 2012, Rhian’s one-year-old son George died suddenly from a hidden illness. Just five days later, her husband Paul died by suicide.

In a deeply moving discussion, William asks Rhian what she would say to Paul now if she could, with her replying: “There’s only one thing I would ever say to him if I had time with him, and that would be, ‘Why didn’t you speak to me?’ I think… I ask myself that every single day.

“He was absolutely devastated, he did keep blaming himself that weekend.

“But I would just like to sit him down like this and just say, ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Because he’s missed out on just so much joy, and we would have been okay. And I think that’s what the hardest thing is, we would have been okay.”

But she then stops and says to William, “Are you okay?” as you see him on camera looking visibly upset, and he simply replies: “I’m sorry. It’s just, it’s hard to ask these questions.”

Filmed in Rhian’s home in Cardiff, they also talk about the harmful taboo that still exists around suicide.

William says: “Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of stigma around suicide. Did you feel that at the time?”

Responding, Rhian says: “I was quite surprised by it, I’d never been touched by suicide, it was something that happened in the news. Nobody would talk about it or actually say what happened. And I found that really confusing at the time”.

Read More from Sky News:
King and Prince William step out together for rare event
Princess of Wales: Phones creating ‘epidemic of disconnection’

The film marks the launch of the Royal Foundation’s Suicide Prevention Network, backed by more than 20 organisations and funding of over £1 million from the Foundation. It aims to transform suicide prevention across the UK.

Rhian’s charity, 2Wish, forms part of the new network. She set up the charity to make sure others who lost a child suddenly would receive the bereavement support they need and deserve.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK