I Swear wins praise and Bafta gold as a feelgood film about life with Tourette’s

i swear has become a central talking point after Robert Aramayo won the Bafta for best actor for his portrayal of a Tourette syndrome campaigner in I Swear, and critics have labelled the film an "astonishing feelgood" study of life with the condition.

I Swear dominates at Baftas 2026

Robert Aramayo’s Bafta for best actor prompted attention and prompted a republishing of a piece that was originally published on February 24, 2023 and is being republished by The Independent after his win. The film’s prominence at the Baftas 2026 pushed its depiction of Tourette’s back into the spotlight and led critics to revisit reviews that called I Swear an "astonishing feelgood film about life with Tourette’s. "

How the film traces John Davidson’s life from Galashiels to advocacy

I Swear is a biographical drama based on Scottish campaigner John Davidson’s experience of Tourette’s, spanning his teenage years to the present. The story begins in Galashiels, Scotland, in 1983 when Davidson entered "big school" and follows the first tics and their social fallout. The film opens with an expletive-laden outburst at his MBE ceremony, and that sequence—swearing as part of Davidson’s experience—reappears as a recurrent, defining moment.

The film’s arc: rejection, punishment and a turn toward public life

At first, Davidson’s tics are dismissed by teachers and classmates as irritating or attention-seeking, but they steadily become uncontrollable motor and vocal outbursts. That shift strains his relationship with his father, played by Steven Cree, who had pinned hopes on Davidson’s promise as a footballer; the dream of a professional career collapses and is replaced by frustration and disappointment. Consequences ripple outward to physical punishment at school and mounting conflict at home. Thirteen years on, the story pivots toward transformation as Davidson—after withdrawal and the conviction that Tourette’s disqualified him from work and ordinary sociability—begins to reenter public life with the help of allies.

Allies, performances and the film’s stance on stigma

Dottie Achenbach, played by Maxine Peake, and Tommy Trotter, played by Peter Mullan, are the allies who help Davidson forge kinship beyond his family. They establish that Davidson’s Tourette’s is not a moral fault requiring apology, and that recognition recalibrates his trajectory from enforced quiet to self-acceptance and advocacy. Critics note that Aramayo’s performance conveys the physicality of the tics with remarkable authenticity, while the film resists a simple redemption narrative and foregrounds ongoing struggles rooted in both the painful, agonising and exhausting tics and the ignorance and stigma that compound the harm.

What Tourette syndrome is and how the film avoids sensationalising coprolalia

Tourette syndrome is described in coverage as a neurological or neurodevelopmental condition named after 19th-century researcher Gilles de la Tourette and characterised by tics— involuntary movements or vocalisations. The official definition noted in background material is motor and vocal tics nearly every day over more than 12 months. There are two types of tics, motor and vocal, and common motor tics often involve the head and neck. The film stresses that coprolalia, involuntary swearing, affects only a small minority of people with Tourette’s and deliberately moves beyond sensationalising symptoms.

Premonitory urges, onset and public examples

Coverage republished alongside the film explains that tics often begin with a premonitory urge, a build-up of tension similar to the feeling before a sneeze, and that many people can recognise that urge—a detail important to tic management. Tics usually have onset in childhood, typically in the early primary school years though occasionally later, and Tourette’s often runs a waxing and waning course with periods when it is not noticed for weeks or months before returning. Sometimes tics worsen in response to stress such as the start of a new school term or moving house; other times they worsen for no reason. One public example cited in background coverage describes fans of singer Lewis Capaldi helping him finish a song at a concert after symptoms of his Tourette syndrome flared and temporarily prevented him from performing.

Casting controversy and the wider debate

The decision to cast an actor who does not have Tourette’s in the lead role has reopened debate over disability drag, a controversy some critics argue sidelines disabled performers. The film’s makers and critics differ on that point, but the conversation intensified after Aramayo’s Bafta win and the renewed attention to the film’s choices.

Next on the public timeline: coverage and republished essays tied to the film are circulating after the Bafta season, and conversations about representation, casting and the lived realities of Tourette’s are set to continue as screenings and award-season visibility proceed.