David Tennant narrates the third episode of a new ten-part weekly series, Inside Birmingham Children's Hospital, from 9pm on Channel 4 tonight.

The heart-warming documentary is produced by Dragonfly, the team behind the award winning One Born Every Minute, and is set in one of the largest and most advanced paediatric units in the world. With an unprecedented scale of access, the show follows children and their families on their journeys through 34 specialist departments and further afield into their homes across Britain. The series also features and hears from more than 50 members of staff ranging from leading surgeons and Emergency consultants to specialised nurses, technicians and clinical child psychologists as they care not just for their patients, but the emotional wellbeing of the whole families they have in tow.


Set in the heart of Britain’s second city, the series combines single camera documentary filmmaking with a multi-camera rig set up throughout the hospital to give a 360 degree perspective on the whole hospital, its staff and of course, those that pass through its doors daily, all set against conversations round the dinner table at home and the fraught, funny and all too recognisable family car journeys to and from the hospital. Over the next ten weeks, we’ll follow a number of stories; from life-threatening illnesses and deeply personal psychological challenges to time-honoured childhood bumps and scrapes. 

Inside Birmingham Children's Hospital
Episode 3
Thursday 23rd June, 9pm
Channel 4
This episode of the new series with unprecedented access to Birmingham Children's Hospital explores the 'superhuman' qualities that parents can develop when their children need them. It follows mums and dads who surpass all expectations and whose lives change for ever. Rob, who's 55, has swapped life on the road as a long-haul trucker for glitter, princess outfits and repeated viewings of Frozen after becoming the primary carer for his four-year-old daughter Chelsea. Chelsea was born with a serious kidney disorder and has spent more than 200 nights of her life in hospital. She had a transplant last year, and Rob is balancing his constant worry about Chelsea's health with a new sensitive side and happiness he'd never imagined he could have. Meanwhile, mum Shafak is bringing up four children by herself, including seven-year-old Eman, who also has a kidney condition, meaning more than a cupful of water a day could kill her. Natural rebel Eman is secretly drinking more than her allowance and Shafak must be a loving mother and disciplinarian at the same time. In the Emergency Department, single dad Mark is with his cherub-faced five-year-old daughter Ellesse, who is holding aloft a broken thumb following a scooter mishap. Since becoming a single dad, Mark holds work and parenting in a fine balance and today was due to be a precious day off. Instead he is awaiting minor surgery with Ellesse, who has no shortage of worried questions about what her operation will entail. Mum Meriam and her particularly cheerful eight-year-old son Lucas are also in the Emergency Department. Lucas is suffering minor chest pains as a consequence of a much more serious condition that cannot be treated. Meriam and Lucas's dad face extraordinarily difficult decisions about how much to tell him about his health.