Planning My Own Funeral (Miriam Margolyes Documentary) | Real Stories

Actress Miriam Margolyes is 77 and death is busy hoovering up her contemporaries. She has already met people who say they reject death - but what if you have no choice but to confront it? In the concluding episode of this compelling documentary series, inimitable actress Miriam wants to know if we can ever be ready to meet death face to face. She heads to the west coast of Scotland to meet Tracy, who, two years ago, was working as a deputy head teacher in Oxford when she discovered she had terminal ovarian cancer. She decided to move to the remote island of Bute to live the rest of her life doing what she wanted. Now 60, she has just a few months to live. The advantage of knowing you are going to die, she tells Miriam, is that you have time to prepare for death. Miriam helps Tracy plan her wake and meets her daughter Mathilda, 19. Part of Tracy’s preparations include trying to lessen the impact her death will have on Mathilda, so for the past six months Tracy has recorded a series of personal messages and irreplaceable life advice for Mathilda to follow when she is gone. Tracy’s frank and forthright approach to dealing with cancer strikes a chord with Miriam, who is keen to meet people who can talk about the reality of dying without sugar-coating the pill. Inimitable actress Miriam Margolyes is rather terrified of death. In this thought-provoking and entertaining documentary, she's on a mission to tackle questions of mortality and confront her fear of dying head-on.