Opinion: Prince Harry's The Me You Can't See a sensitive look at mental health

OPINION:

You're rolling your eyes, I know. Prince Harry is talking about his mental health again. Didn't he up sticks to California for privacy?

Barely a day goes by without him popping up to share his turmoil, and here he is on global TV, literally inviting us into his therapy session. The series acts as one giant therapy session, mostly conducted by Oprah Winfrey.

The Duke hopes the coverage will focus on other contributors and not just him. For a man who has spent a lifetime brooding about the media, he doesn't seem to understand it very well. One half of the world's most famous couple lobbing hand grenades toward the world's most famous family is going to hog the headlines.

Oprah Winfrey interviews Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Photo / Getty Images

But to label this as a follow-up to Winfrey's sensational sit-down with Meghan is to do the programme a disservice. That one was all showbiz, with cliffhanger endings and curated sound bites. Taken as a whole, The Me You Can't See is a sensitive, serious-minded look at mental health, albeit with a title that's a bit Sesame Street.

Harry executive produced the show with Winfrey, and it does feature other people, some famous, some not. Lady Gaga talks about self-harm and PTSD after being raped early in her career. Robin Williams' son talks about loss and addiction. A US Olympic boxer reveals her struggles with OCD. A young woman has schizophrenia. There isn't much let-up.

Winfrey talks of her own troubles - it's easy to forget she had an awful start in life, enduring poverty, abuse and a pregnancy at 14 that produced a baby who died in infancy. Wealth and luxurious lifestyles don't insulate you from pain. You'll need to remind yourself of this in episode three when the cameras move from Harry railing about media intrusion to a hellish camp for Syrian refugees, where a small boy recalls his brother dying when their playground was bombed.

If this all sounds grim, it needs to be said the show tries to offer solutions and demonstrate it's important to let all this out rather than bottle it up, possibly why Harry let us watch his EMDR session, a viewer experience that feels uncomfortably intrusive.

The young royal pair on their mother's funeral. Both Prince William and Prince Harry sent out to thank the wailing crowds for their condolences... as kids. Photo / Twitter

You could argue, and you'd probably be right, that his grievances against the Royal family should not be spewed out for public consumption. But I defy even the most ardent Harry and Meghan haters to watch without sympathy footage of him as a grief-stricken 12-year-old after his mother's death, sent out to thank the wailing crowds for their condolences. It is grotesque. We should finally allow Harry the privacy he craves, if only he would keep his side of the bargain.