I wasn't making light of Phil Collins' depression. Believe me, I'm all too aware of that state of being. I was making light of his redic past lives (which BTW, are always interesting lives, never like a night guardsman) and just remarking the guy has issues beyond it (depression, personal relationship stuff, things that go into a show).
Bates is a terrible TV character who's the recipient of 50% of my bad things happen to TV people scenarios. If turning a shitty Edwardian TV character into a crochet hoop is punching down, punching down has lost all meaning.