Hope and prayers

INVENTING THE IMPOSSIBLE: THE BIG LIFE FIX

BBC2, 8pm POLLYANNA Hope is desperate to be a ballet dancer when she grows up. But the 12-year-old lost her leg in a horrific accident when she was just two and struggles with certain moves.

“In my ballet exam, I got marks off because I didn’t point my foot,” she says. “It’s quite difficult to point your foot when you don’t have one.”

Pollyanna has since given up doing exams but footage of her pirouetting across a studio on her prosthetic blade demonstrates her determination.

Enter the inventors and engineers of The Big Life Fix. This hugely emotional series sees teams of super clever scientists come up with ways to change the lives of those who face day-to-day difficulties. Yusuf Mohammed is the inventor taking on the challenge of building Pollyanna a prosthetic leg that will enable her to go up on her tip-toes.

“If she wants to be a dancer when she grows up, she will be,” says mum Sarah Hope.

Viewers were in tears to hear how Pollyanna had been waiting at a bus stop with Sarah and gran Elizabeth in 2007 when a bus careered into them, killing Elizabeth and seriously injuring her and Sarah. Will Yusuf be the answer to their prayers?

Also, software engineer Akram Hussein tries to come up with a solution for 73-year-old deaf Scot Bobby Pitcairn, whose nerve endings are too damaged to have a hearing aid (See Page 20).

And materials expert Zoe helps a man who was paralysed in a car accident to bake a cake with his three-year-old daughter. CHALLENGE Sarah, husband Christopher and daughter Pollyanna