Last Date

Last Date is a groundbreaking DV training drama from the makers of Leaving, designed to help audiences see the warning signs of coercive control and abuse.

The film:

• Increases understanding of how abuse begins and traps people in relationships through the cycle of abuse

• Provides preventative training for young people in schools, colleges and youth groups

• Provides a medium for training people in the public and voluntary sectors to more easily recognise and support people suffering from domestic abuse

Your licence includes:

• 1 years access to our streaming platform where you can view the film
• An embeddable version for your presentations watermarked with your company logo and uploaded to a private YouTube link

By using innovative storytelling techniques, Last Date fast-tracks the gradual nature of psychological and physical abuse and condenses it into a single night, making it clear for the viewer to see how such behaviour can take hold of a person’s life, and further escalate to entrap them in a dangerous, repetitive cycle.

Highlighting key stages from charm, grooming, jealousy, humiliation, possessiveness, gaslighting, isolation, intimidation, threat and assault; the aim of Last Date is to empower the viewer with the watch outs and red flags of a potentially abusive person, enabling them to steer clear and move forward in their own lives with more respectful, healthier relationships.

It also has the power to generate discussion around roles and responsibilities within relationships and challenge perceptions and stereotypes but also the role of society as a whole in how it reacts and intervenes.

If the purpose of Leaving was to illustrate why victims of abuse don’t just leave, the purpose of Last Date is to show how it begins and manifests.

“Given the impact and relevance of the film Leaving it was difficult to see how the team behind it could top that. With Last Date they have produced a film which combines the impact of Leaving whilst representing the very difficult issue of coercive control. The filmmakers have succeeded here by using innovative techniques to show the cumulative impact of abuse over time.”

“The film shows the ways in which an abuser undermines their partner, plays with reality, and how bystanders can be complicit. As such it is a vital resource for trainers and practitioners to use to raise the issue of coercive control and abuse. I believe this will be a mainstay of DV training for many years to come.”

– Dr Emma WIlliamson, Head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research at University of Bristol

Like its predecessor, Last Date can be used in a training capacity by experts working in the field of domestic abuse and violence to discuss this behaviour, but this time by those working in the education sector, such as safeguarding practitioners. This crossover also provides opportunities for both prospective users of the film to collaborate, so that trainers and schools, colleges and universities can work together to provide the very best service in education and prevention.

The filmmakers have gone to great lengths to ensure that the film is usable in a classroom setting and initial screenings have been resoundingly positive.

“The Healthy Relationships film Last Date had a great balance between being explicit and discreet. It was able to highlight domestic abuse to the extreme but also allowed students to see the progression with the discreet behaviour at the beginning. This film is the perfect resource within a PSHE lesson because it prompts the students to ask questions and allows them to challenge stereotypes.”

– Kerry Mulinder, Head of Learning Development and Safeguarding St Brendan’s College, Bristol

The supporting training pack includes:

The Good Practice Guide is a supportive training resource which gives information and insights into the beginning, progression and repetition of abusive relationships and how subtle the original warning signs can be.

Starring new-comers Ellie Ekers and Perry Moore as Lori and Jack on their first date, the SFD team deliberately cast a couple on the right side of aspirational and relatable, who would be young enough to show experience and promise but not be so young that their situation and the film’s setting seemed unrealistic. By setting the film in a restaurant we deliberately step away from the well trodden tropes of depicting abuse to remove assumptions and show the behaviour for what it is.

“Last Date will help break cycles of abuse and in supporting young people to make healthy decisions and find fulfilling respectful relationships before lives and future children suffer.”

– Rachael Rice, MA Oxon. Accredited Counsellor

Please see our FAQs page for more information.

Supported by

In association with

Cumbria Police & Crime Commissioner

Knowsley Council

Victim Support National Centre

Avon & Somerset Police

Welsh Women’s Aid

Bristol City Council/Bristol Safeguarding Children Board