OUR FAMILY AND AUSTISM: BBC ANNOUNCE NEW DOCUMENTARY WITH PADDY AND CHRISTINE MCGUINNESS

In 2017 Paddy and Christine McGuinness’s four-year-old twins, Leo and Penelope, were diagnosed with autism and last year their youngest child, Felicity, four, was also diagnosed.

Like 2.8million other British families, the McGuinness family is still coming to terms with their ever-changing reality - and are left with many unanswered questions.

In this powerful and moving documentary for BBC One and iPlayer, Paddy and Christine are bravely revealing their story to viewers, as they look within their own family and others to help them answer some of these questions.

What is autism in medical terms? When a child is diagnosed, what do you do? What support is out there? What does the future have in store? Is there ever a ‘right’ way to react and deal with the news of a diagnosis? And what is the impact on the family?

Paddy and Christine will meet with other parents of autistic children to see how their experiences differ and whether they can learn from them. They will also meet leading paediatricians and cutting-edge child-development experts to discover more about their children’s autism - and the condition in general.

Intimate, emotional and refreshingly candid, this is the portrait of a family so many assume they know, but seen here like never before. The film aims to challenge people’s preconceptions and kickstart a national conversation about an increasingly common condition that so few of us really understand.