In a study designed to evaluate the behavioural impact of a fictional parasuicide, information about deliberate overdose treated in 63 British hospitals was obtained for the week after the televised overdose & the week before. After adjusting for trends in the equivalent weeks in a control year, the increase in the cases of parasuicide was not found to be significant. Findings do not lend support to the claim that there was a strong imitation effect after this televised parasuicide. (36 refs.)