News

BBC One and Dragonfly Television are pleased to announce their new addition Life And Birth is due this Spring.

The six-part series reveals what it really takes to deliver Britain’s next generation, through the eyes of parents and staff at three of Birmingham’s busiest maternity hospitals.

With unprecedented access across two NHS trusts, from the antenatal clinics and nationally renowned Fetal Medicine Centres, to the delivery suites, emergency operating theatres and Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the series gives an extraordinary and privileged insight into the places where cutting-edge medicine meets the miracle of birth every single day.

Narrated by Suranne Jones, Life And Birth goes beyond the stories of the labour ward and meets the people who help the safe and healthy delivery of babies, showing maternity care in a way that it has not been seen before.

From intricate lifesaving surgical procedures on babies in the womb, to specialist care for women who have had multiple miscarriages, to births which go as planned, this programme captures the incredible work of NHS midwifes, doctors and surgeons, who are dedicated to supporting families as they bring new life into the world.

The series features a range of birth stories, from early scans and pre-term complications in the antenatal clinics to those starting to push on the delivery suite; from emergency caesarean sections in theatre to families in intensive care and in the post-natal ward getting to know their newborns before they head home.

Head of Documentary Commissioning, Clare Sillery comments, “This programme is going to be a fascinating addition to the BBC One schedule to bring families together in the miracle of birth. We hope audiences will enjoy it as much as they love Ambulance.”

Creative Director of Dragonfly Richard Bond says, “Building on the signature techniques developed on our hit series Ambulance and Surgeons, we’ve combined cinematic prime lenses with the intimacy of the rig, and an innovative layer of social media to create a new BBC One brand with an incredibly diverse cast and - we hope - universal appeal. Warm, funny and truthful, often nail-bitingly tense, and always deeply emotional, this is 360 storytelling at its best.”