Born With Two Mothers

[Thomcat]

Looks like it's going to be really good.
I saw one of the lead actresses, forgot her name, on Richard & Judy today. Looks fab. 4 actors and everyone else they use, lawyers doctors etc are real lawyers, doctors etc. There is an outline but a lot is unscripted and made like a documentary/fly on wall.
One of the couples (2 of the 4 actual actors) are told that someone will ring the doorbell at x timne but they don't know what they will be told so. Graet idea and gripping storyline.

2 couples, one white, one black, both going through IVF. Black womans baby is implanted in white woman.

[Willow2]

when is it?

[marthamoo]

Thursday 21st April, 9pm, Channel 4. I read about it in Radio Times - it sounds excellent. Mostly improvised, as TC says, and they filmed it chronologically so it unfurled as a real case would. The four actors knew roughly what they had to say but everyone else responded in real time as they would if genuinely appearing as an expert witness in court. Based on RL cases in UK, USA and Holland. I will definitely be watching. This is blurb from C4 website:

Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo ( Hotel Rwanda ), Lesley Sharp ( Vera Drake ), Lennie James ( Frances Tuesday ) and Adam Kotz ( The Canterbury Tales ) star in this provocative drama from first-time TV writer, playwright Zinnie Harris, about an IVF mix-up resulting in a white woman giving birth to a black boy. Two childless couples - one black: Lucretia and Errol Bridges (Okonedo and James), one white: Laura and James Mayfield (Sharp and Kotz) - anxiously await news of their latest attempt to conceive using IVF. One woman will succeed, but even before the baby is born, and unknown to both sets of potential parents, serious doubts emerge among medical staff surrounding the transfer of embryos, threatening a major ethical and legal dilemma. A black boy is born to a white birth mother, confirming their fears. The drama follows the traumatic emotional journeys of both couples as they become obsessed with fighting for parenthood of the child. The cast improvised scenes with real-life professionals, all of whom portray themselves responding as they would in real life, from the initial mix-up to the highly-charged court case in which a real judge decides how the child will live. Writer: Zinnie Harris; Dir: Ian Duncan; Prod: Oliver Morse; Prod Co: Windfall Films

[marthamoo]

BUMP!

This is on tonight and I for one will be watching it!

[RTKangaMummy]

just bumping as it is on my alerts but members may not read them

And then miss it

[Hermione1]

I can't wait to watch this. looks fab, i love things like that.

[tiredemma]

can somebody PLEASE tape this for me? im at work and cant get hold of dp to tape it.

[expatinscotland]

Was this based on a real case? What happened in real life? How shocking!

[Nemo1977]

am just watching this how devestating a scenario to be in...poor families

[expatinscotland]

What a tragedy for both!

[Aero]

cheers for reminder people - almost forgot!!

[expatinscotland]

Aw, man! I think about how I'd feel knowing my baby was with some other woman. I don't know. If I had someone else's child like that, I'd want to give it back, b/c I know I'd just die if I found out some other woman had my baby. I couldn't do that to someone else.

[expatinscotland]

That was really powerful. I'm glad the other family was still able to keep in touch. I hope they all sued the hell out of that clinic.

[JulieF]

I'm totally shocked by the "verdict" how a woman who has carried a baby for 9 months and given birth to him is expected to hand him over to someone else is beyond me.

I honestly think I would abscond the country rather than comply

[Surfermum]

I couldn't watch it as I knew I'd end up getting upset whatever the verdict. Heartbreaking either way.

[psychomum5]

I came on MN near the end, was making me cry and I needed to just listen rather than watch. What a hideous dilemma for both families and what fantastic acting!

[MamanFlo]

OMG that was good...I cried.
I am due in two days and although I understand perfectly the bonding between the unborn baby and the mother, I thought right from the start the the white woman was quite selfish to keep that baby (and later in court her lawyer questions the black woman about her motivations about Joe...but the white one is not questionned at all !) .

If she had given back the baby right from the start it might have been easier...

[expatinscotland]

It doesn't shock me. But I think it's b/c my perspective is different. In the States, biology is given precedence in courts, with a few exceptions. They've had a long history of big cases involving surrogates, adoptions, mix-ups, etc. So I've gotten used to that.

[JulieF]

I suppose I'm just looking at it from th point of view of a woman who has given birth. I found the birth process such a strong powerful thing that for me it took precedence over anything else.

[expatinscotland]

I agree, Maman. Although I am not black, I am non-white, and I wouldn't feel I could show a person what it is to be black in Britain. There's so much I couldn't relate to.

[MamanFlo]

JulieF...but the black woman was also desperate for a child...and she didn't even discussed it properly with her partner (who had doubts right from the start...would you like your DH to have difficulties to bond with your child ? is that healthy ?...). It's a tough call, but she should have handed over the baby as soon as it was obvious it wasn't hers...

[emkana]

I was in floods of tears.

Even though rationally and taking the longterm view it is best for the child to be with his genetic parents, I felt very very upset at the white mother having to be part with Joe. Just knowing the strong feelings I have for my babies, the thought of having to give your baby away is just devastating...

[JulieF]

Well as a woman I wouldn'r care what my dh thought, as far as I would be concerned I had given birth. I can look at the intellectual arguments but I KNOW emotionally that is what I would feel.

[JoolsToo]

there could only be one verdict in my opinion and that was the one the judge made - tragic though it was for the Mayfields.

[expatinscotland]

For me, the birth process was awful. Complications, long and painful labour, etc. I felt wiped out and passed out from exhaustion. But when I woke up and saw she looked like her father, the bond was there. It was all biological to me.

[emkana]

Also thinking of little Joe....
I know the guardian said the transition for him would work well because he had a strong attachment to begin with, but knowing what my dd's were like at ten months... wouldn't be parted from me, literally glued to the hip... how confusing and sad for a little one like that to abruptly be taken away from the only mother he has known so far, who is, after all, his whole universe at this stage, rational arguments meaning nothing to him.