If memory serves

What's behind a reality show about an eatery with waiting staff living with dementia? 

- RUSSELL BROWN

THE RESTAURANT THAT MAKES MISTAKES, TVNZ 1, Sunday, June 18, 8.30pm; TVNZ+ In telling stories about people with disabilities meeting challenges, there is one constant peril: the dreaded "inspo" short for "inspiration porn". Real lives are complex and no one really wants to be served up as a public feel-good pill. In The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes, it's the subjects themselves who do more than anyone else to keep it real.

The premise of the programme, based on an original British show, is to put a group of people living with dementia to work in a restaurant and live with what happens next. The question of work is vital for some of the volunteers; one, 56-year-old Dawn, went from being an experienced family-violence counsellor to the youngest resident of a rest home in just two years. Another, Cliff, was the managing director of a company and, "I loved my work."