COMING SOON...
As the mother of a child with disabilities, the soap’s recent storyline has felt close to home
What you’ll be watching on TV in the weeks ahead…
CELEBRITY MASTERCHEF BBC1
Fans of will spot a familiar face in the kitchen when the celebrity cookery competition returns. After coming third in the BBC3 show, will drag queen Baga Chipz sashay her way to the final and take the crown from last year’s winner, Vicky Pattison?
BRAVE NEW WORLD SKY ONE
Demi Moore features in this adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel, in which the world seems perfect until a newcomer throws everything into chaos. Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey) also stars.
Acorn TV
Set in 1880s Dublin during the heyday of post-mortem photography, this dark comedy drama stars Michael Smiley as memorial photographer Brock Blennerhassett, who gets drawn into a suspicious deaths inquiry.
HAMILTON DISNEY+
Soon we’ll be able to watch this smash-hit Broadway musical from the comfort of our own homes. Created by and starring Linmanuel Miranda, it tells the story of one of the founding fathers of the USA.
When my daughter was two years old she was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that doctors said could end her life. So the Coronation Street storyline about little Oliver Battersby being diagnosed with a similar condition has flung me 16 years back in time.
Nothing prepares you for the shock of discovering your child has a lifelimiting illness. I truly believe many parents develop PTSD from being told such news. As with Steve and Leanne and many other mums and dads I’ve spoken to, we were told ‘don’t go away and Google it’. Of course you do.
When I typed in ‘RCDP’, the internet threw up medical images of skeletons with misshapen spines, short legs and arms. It also said kids with RCDP are unlikely to live until their third birthday.
I believe families should be offered counselling after being told their child’s diagnosis and practical knowledge about what life with a disabled child entails.
The Corrie writers have been working with the wonderful mums who run The Lily Foundation for families with Oliver’s condition – mitochondrial disease. Steve and Leanne’s story will be told with great sensitivity.
We have been lucky. My daughter is now 18 and strong and beautiful. She has learning disabilities and will always use a wheelchair but she has a wicked sense of humour and joy of life.
As families emerge from lockdown, I urge you to remember what this has felt like. Because for many mums and dads with disabled children living in isolation, fearing for your child’s health is a lifelong reality.
Throwing his hat in the ring
Anthony Joshua has said about meeting Her Majesty: ‘I told the Queen her dress matched her eyes, I wasn’t flirting.’ Given the grin on her face, maybe she thought otherwise.