Time to face the brutal truth: thereâs no glamour at the bottom of a glass Alcohol addiction has long been romanticised in films, TV shows, books and adverts. Letâs stop glossing over the destructive drudgery and sheer sorrow of the disease âAn honourable exceptionâ to the depiction of alcohol on screen: Siobhan Finneran as Clare Cartwright in Happy Valley. Photograph: Ben Blackall/BritBox âAn honourable exceptionâ to the depiction of alcohol on screen: Siobhan Finneran as Clare Cartwright in Happy Valley. Photograph: Ben Blackall/BritBox Sun 4 Jul 2021 02.45 EDT When I was 21, I decided I should make a proper effort to be a writer. I knew what I needed: countless films and television shows had told me. I needed a typewriter, fags and a bottle of whisky. I acquired them, and set myself up at the kitchen table. Yep, I thought. Now I am the business. I was Dorothy Parker, Carson McCullers, Raymond Chandler. So I would die miserably â who cares? I was 21, and still immortal.