Just an illness.

Writer Susan Sontag discusses the history of illness as metaphor, drawing on her own experience of cancer and the horror she perceived in other cancer patients who were suffering not only from the disease but from its reputation. HIV positive men describe their reactions when diagnosed and the reactions of others. There is a critical examination of government AIDS awareness films. Contributors examine the association of certain illnesses with punishment, and the influence of the impending millenium in heightening the expectation of catastrophe. Among those taking part are Prof. Jonathan Miller, Michael Neve (medical historian), the Rev. Richard Holloway, Bishop of Edinburgh, Baroness Margaret Jay, National AIDS Trust, and Fr. John McDade S.J. (theologian). The programme is based on Susan Sontag's book, 'Illness as Metaphor'.