The harrowing plight of alleged elder abuse victim "Auntie Em" features in a new documentary on seniors made by Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC).

The 40-minute film on the lives of the elderly in Bermuda, which made its debut at a public forum at BUEI on Thursday and is to be shown on television in the near future, is part of a three-part BBC series entitled Between the Cracks.

The series looks at the social divide between young and old on the Island, with the programme on the elderly including a lengthy section on 95-year-old Auntie Em, whose shocking story was first revealed by The Royal Gazette last September.

We reported how caregiver Yvonne Dawson took the frail widow into her own home after seeing the deplorable conditions she was living in with her adopted daughter and family.

Our coverage looked at how seniors in Bermuda are "falling through cracks in the system" partly due to inadequate legislation to protect them.

BBC chief executive officer Rick Richardson said the story of Auntie Em caught the eye of the documentary makers. "As we did the planning and the outline for the documentaries we looked for compelling stories," he said.

"We obviously read the Gazette piece. We felt that was a compelling story and that to bring it to film would be impactful and would help tell one of the stories of the challenges that seniors have in Bermuda." He said the nephew agreed to his aunt being identified in the film.

Auntie Em has never returned to the house she shared with her late husband and is now in the continuing care unit at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Her nephew and Ms Dawson are both seeking legal aid to launch civil actions against the adopted daughter. The nephew wants to have her evicted from the family home so Auntie Em can return there, while Ms Dawson is seeking thousands of dollars for caregiving she says she was never paid for.

The BBC documentary — produced in collaboration with Age Concern, the Family Centre and Atlantic Philanthropies — also features an interview with Bermudian actor Earl Cameron, 90, and the family of 82-year-old Wilhelmina Fields, who struggled to get a referral for a much-needed operation because of her age.

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson, the Opposition's spokeswoman on seniors, praised this newspaper's investigative reporting on Auntie Em in the House of Assembly on Friday and congratulated the makers of Between the Cracks for a "fabulous film".