The BBC has announced the details of Beyond Disability, a documentary season that captures the stories of disabled people and their families, as they take on everyday life and new challenges. Programming will be on BBC One and Radio Five Live.
BBC One and Whisper Films follow Lewis Hamilton's younger brother Nic, who was born with cerebral palsy, in his first season as a racing driver.
October Films has worked with Rosa Monckton who speaks to parents who are facing the challenge of allowing their children, who have with learning disabilities, to lead independent lives.
Rita Simons wants to make the best decision for her five-year-old daughter, who is profoundly deaf in Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me by Leopard Films.
Comedin Laurence Clark and his wife make the decision to have a second child, despite both having cerebral palsy, in a film from IWC Media.
Beyond Disability starts on BBC One in March and includes repeats of Stormchaser: The Butterfly and the Tornado on BBC Three and You’re Having A Laugh on BBC Two.
Maxine Watson, executive producer, said: "This season is about ordinary disabled people dealing with the same everyday challenges that everyone faces – leaving home, choosing a career, raising a family."
Details of new programming for the disability season
Racing with the Hamiltons: Nic in the Driving Seat
10.35pm, BBC One, Tuesday 6th March
Becoming a racing car driver isn’t easy for anyone, especially when you have cerebral palsy and your older brother is the world’s youngest F1 winner. In a sweeping one-hour documentary that captures the highs and lows of starting out on the racetrack, Nic hits the competitive Clio Cup to see if he has what it takes to make it as a driver.
With his family on the track and brother Lewis on hand for advice, Nic is determined to prove that he can go beyond being disabled to kickstart a career as a driver. But his cerebral palsy and lack of driving experience means that he’s facing tough odds just to finish each race in one piece, let alone do well enough to continue beyond just the one tour.
When a high-speed accident threatens to end his career before it's really begun, it takes every ounce of Nic's courage to get back in the driving seat. A moving documentary which looks at how one ordinary young man pushes beyond being disabled, to take on an extraordinary challenge.
The documentary (1x50) was commissioned by Danny Cohen, controller, BBC One and Charlotte Moore, commissioning editor for Documentaries and BBC Three. The commissioning executive at the BBC is Maxine Watson and Sunil Patel Is executive producing for Whisper Films.
Letting Go
10.35pm, BBC One, Tuesday 13th March
Having a child leave home is difficult enough for any parent, but when your teenage daughter has Down’s syndrome it can be even harder. Domenica Lawson, nearly 16, is unsettled at the prospect of growing up and of having to one day leave home. But it’s her mother, Rosa Monkton, who is faced with the challenge of planning for the future, knowing that her daughter must eventually start an independent life without her.
Letting Go follows Rosa as she meets three other young people with learning disabilities, and discovers how they are managing the transition to greater independence.
Jack Hale, from Devon, is a year older than Rosa’s daughter and also has Down’s syndrome. There is a happy and well-run care home very nearby, but his mother Ronni has never really considered it. Her sparky son has ambitions to be a DJ and to ‘be famous’, and she is reluctant to limit his horizons.
Jess Hiles has a rare genetic disorder. With the encouragement of her parents, she has moved into her own flat. But as she and her parents have discovered, living alone does not mean living independently.
The documentary (1x50) was commissioned by Danny Cohen, controller, BBC One and Charlotte Moore, commissioning Editor for Documentaries and BBC Three. The commissioning executive at the BBC is Maxine Watson and Denman Rooke is executive producer for October Films.
Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me
10.35pm, BBC One, Tuesday 20th March
EastEnders actress Rita Simons (Roxy Mitchell) has six-year-old twin daughters, Maiya and Jaimee. Maiya was diagnosed with hearing loss at six months old and Rita and husband Theo have been told that one day she will probably lose her hearing completely.
This personal documentary follows Rita and her family as they make life changing decisions for Maiya’s future: for them, the choice is between embracing the deaf world, learning to sign and sending her to a specialist school or trying to give her hearing with technology, implants and artificial sound. The choices that lie ahead for Rita and her family are vast and complex.
Along the journey, Rita meets a hearing mother with a deaf daughter who has embraced the deaf community, she watches a young boy have his cochlear implant turned on for the first time, and engages with a group of people who are strong supporters of their deaf culture. Rita also experiences first-hand what it is like being a deaf child in a hearing world.
Rita Simons: My Daughter, Deafness and Me is part of the Disability Season on BBC One. The programme will be shown on the Sign Zone and will also be available on BBC iPlayer.
The documentary (1x50) was commissioned by Danny Cohen, controller BBC One, and Charlotte Moore, commissioning editor for Documentaries and Knowledge, BBC Three. The commissioning executive at the BBC is Samantha Anstiss and Todd Austin is exec producing for Leopard Films.
We Won’t Drop The Baby
10.35pm, BBC One, Wednesday 21st March
Comedian Laurence Clark and his wife Adele both have cerebral palsy. When they had their baby boy Tom six years ago they were criticised by doctors for being irresponsible, because Laurence is wheelchair-bound and Adele is heavily dependent on her crutches.
But now Adele is pregnant again and this time she is determined to have a natural birth - a brave decision considering Laurence’s cerebral palsy was caused by his own difficult birth and Adele’s CP affects her from the waist down. For six months we follow Laurence, Tom and Adele in a film that lays bare the joys…and hurdles… of disabled parenting.
The documentary (1x50) was commissioned by Danny Cohen, controller, BBC One and Charlotte Moore, commissioning editor for Documentaries and BBC Three. The commissioning executive at the BBC is Sam Anthony and Elspeth O’Hare is executive producing for IWC Media.
