Before disaster strikes, two psychotherapists—both accidental killers—must disarm each other’s trauma trigger. One is an emotionally damaged vlogger known as THE HAPPINESS ANGEL, and the other is a sex-crazed millionaire. This is a hot, female-led, UK-set, modern-day Jekyll and Hyde story fired into action by a 50,000-volt police taser.

The inner workings of the human psyche spring to life in this high-concept, multi-award winning, darkly comedic psychological thriller with echoes of A BEAUTIFUL MIND, JEKYLL AND HYDE, and BBC TV’s KILLING EVE.

FADE IN Candy, The Happiness Angel—smarting from her mentor’s unrequited love—“I’ll fucking make him love me if it kills me,” she says in her opening vlog amid the tranquillity of the Dartmoor National Park. Disturbance! She sees a young woman dragged backwards by her curly red hair and thrown into a car. Rushes to her aid. Car Chase. Confrontation! Mayhem. Abductor killed. Police arrive. Scarlett—aka ‘the Hostage’—a lesbian minx/super-fun villain and main antagonist, screams, “She just murdered my husband. I saw it!” Our heroine is tasered.

The 50,000-volt hit triggers the rare but real-life taser-related disorder, Excited Delirium, capable of disturbing sufferers in bizarre and violent ways. Candy develops a compulsion to throttle her lovers mid-act, electrifying her sex life and transforming her personality, Jekyll and Hyde-style!

From her cell, Candy appeals to her mentor, Jason, for help. He’s in the middle of a 3-in-a-bed orgy. Jason sends his high-powered lawyer to Plymouth. Scarlett drops her murder allegation. She falls in love with Candy and seduces her. At the height of ecstasy, Candy throttles Scarlett. Before blackmailing Candy, Scarlett says, “Maybe that taser shot fucked with your brain!”

The psychosexual powerplay between protagonist and antagonist is stylised with 3-way split screens of “Good Candy,” “Bad Candy,” and “Her Finger Movements” that depict Candy’s psychological struggle and internal conflict. During a callous act when Scarlett and Candy dance on the late husband’s grave followed by sex against the tombstone, the split screen echoes KILL BILL and its murderess victims. A priest appears and breaks up the near-death throttling of Scarlett. She utters—in a very hoarse voice—“See you in court, bitch!” Candy’s High Court trial proceeds interspersed with traumatic backstory in flashback. Jason gives compelling testimony for her defence. Candy makes a powerful enemy of taser industry mogul, Zalika!

Candy’s one-woman taser industry investigation is explored at both psychological and socio-political levels. True life references to Dr. Zian Tseng’s research and the police killings of Robert Dziekanski in Canada, and Andrew Pimlott in Britain (who burned to death in a taser fireball) gives this script authority in its political and commercial critique.

Jason’s extravagant Fitzrovia penthouse is where Candy finally achieves the love from Jason that we know she craves from her livestream in the opening scene. It is also where internal and physical conflicts explode, with a climactic ending in the pivotal moment of Candy winning over her lethal compulsion. Scarlett dies a violent—albeit comedic—death. Candy and Jason make love together for the first time. The bed session is fused with psychodynamic healing in harmony with the reverberations of Ravel’s masterpiece *BOLERO* to help exorcize the throttling compulsion. *(OUT OF COPYRIGHT—NO FEES TO PAY.)* On the cusp of success—disaster! Their concentration is interrupted by a whirring sound. A Metropolitan Police helicopter hovers off the balcony.

Blinded by a ray of sunlight, Candy acts suspiciously. Sharpshooter aboard the helicopter fires. Candy’s fate—indeed, her life—is in the balance for reasons related to an ancient first edition (1609) of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (featured in every act) connected to Jason’s first love who perished under his car. There’s unfinished business here! Jason is devastated. The audience, on tenterhooks. Candy is helicoptered to hospital with gunshot wounds at FADE OUT.

TRUE FACTS: The taser industry together with police misuse of the stun gun are responsible for thousands of taser-related deaths worldwide according to Reuters News Agency. Also, taser spike contact to the head can cause brain damage as well as the more common cardiac complications from shots to the chest, research published in the Canadian Medical Journal has concluded. All this with a weapon that was originally marketed to police services as non-lethal!

Despite the shocking statistics above, the intensely funny tone with which Candy approaches the taser industry makes for an accessible story about modern life.

BIO—I am a former stress management consultant specializing in problems of the subconscious mind. I am also an author and self-made millionaire from the licensing of 92 consultancies based on my award-winning pilot practice. I won the Daily Express Award for Innovation in Franchising in 1993. The protagonist’s backstory is a fictitious but true-to-life fusion of the toughest trauma cases I ever worked out. The exhaustion from which, possibly brought on the two major strokes I suffered in 1995. My first health book, AFTER STROKE published in February, 2000 by Thorsons (HarperCollins)—and still in print today—featured in an episode of BBC TV’s Cornish Chronicles, on ITV’s famous This Morning show with host Richard Madeley, and on Channel 5 TV News.

Right now, in the West, mental health is going downhill fast! Can THE HAPPINESS ANGEL’s determination to win the heart of her beloved Jason and regain her sanity following outrageous misfortune compounded by her own shortcomings play a pivotal role in educating, enthralling, and whetting audiences’ appetites for a sequel? I hope so because her plight will surely resonate with multigenerational audiences cross-culturally. DMH. January, 2025.