Tourette tale taken to Hollywood

John has had two documentaries made about his condition

The life story of a Galashiels man with Tourette's Syndrome is being worked up into a script for a Hollywood movie.

John Davidson, 34, has already featured in two BBC documentaries: "John's Not Mad" and "The Boy Can't Help It".

Now top names such as the Coen Brothers and American Beauty director Sam Mendes are said to be showing an interest in the motion picture project.

Mr Davidson said it could be vital in making a worldwide audience aware of the difficulties of the condition.

"Something that is really important is the public awareness and making people aware of what the condition is, how to react to the condition and how to react to the behaviours," he said.

Difficulties faced

"It is just something that everybody needs to be made aware of because as time goes on we are experiencing members of Tourette Scotland having problems with the police.

"There are children being threatened with antisocial behaviour orders who have a medical condition," he added.

An American scriptwriter is working on the project after spending time with Mr Davidson last year.

The film would be based in Galashiels and chart the difficulties he faced while growing up in the Borders with the condition.