Inside Birmingham Children's Hospital - Season 1

This first episode meets three fathers with stiff upper lips, but whose bottom ones begin to wobble. A football coach's son goes into minor surgery; another dad finds his feet in difficult circumstances; and a third father battles an instinctive fear about his son going under the knife.

With unprecedented access, this heart-warming series explores modern-day parenting through some of the 270,000 patient visits to Birmingham Children's Hospital each year. Narrated by David Tennant, the series intimately follows children and their families on their journeys through 34 specialist departments and further afield. From emergencies in A&E to discussions in families' cars and around the dinner table, the series discovers what it really means to be a parent, through testing and also life-affirming moments.

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.

One minute they're bewilderingly grown up and the next they're a child again: teenagers present parents and doctors with a unique challenge. It is said that 'the day we fret about our future is the day we leave our childhood behind' and this episode follows two teenagers making their own life-changing decisions about medical treatment, while a third is rushed to hospital after some youthful risk-taking leaves her with a potentially serious injury. For 16-year-old Jack, life is about his mates and going to gigs. But he is also a severe epilepsy sufferer, and wants to have pioneering brain surgery to stop his frequent and debilitating fits. But there is a risk that the operation could permanently affect his memory and personality.

Most parents dream big for their kids, but when your child's health is in question, all of that changes. Priorities shift as events threaten to change their futures forever. This episode follows parents rapidly adjusting their hopes for the future in the face of potentially life-threatening accidents, and another mother refusing to abandon her hopes for a son who urgently needs an organ transplant. Twelve-year-old Mollie is brought to A&E by ambulance after being knocked over by a car on her way home from school. Until Mollie's parents arrive, Dr Kate has to be mum and dad as well as treating her injuries.

Having children forces people to grow up fast, and for families with children facing major challenges, the learning curve is steeper still. This inspiring and heart-warming episode follows parents who have started families early in life and are already having to make decisions that will define their children's future. Baby Isla has anophthalmia, a rare condition that meant she was born without eyes. Just one in every 10,000 babies in the UK are born with the condition and young parents Tom and Jessica are pulling together to support their baby as she begins the process of having her eye sockets expanded to accommodate prosthetic eyes. Seven-year-old Codi is having a new cast put on his leg. He was born with club feet and, together with his mum Kira, he has made over 120 visits to the hospital in his short life and undergone more than 12 procedures.

Parenting starts with keeping your children safe and secure, then becomes about learning to let them go. But the parents and children in this new episode fight for their future when ordinary life is dramatically thrown off course. When the stakes are this high, mothering and fathering instincts are intensified. Nine-year-old Evan and his family receive an extraordinary piece of news after discovering that he urgently needs a life-saving kidney transplant. The news puts his parents back in the driving seat as they face a vital decision about Evan's future. Teenager Keanu's life also recently changed dramatically when she was diagnosed with a kidney disorder and heart problems. Her mum has been by her side every step of the way during her treatment but faces a unique challenge when acts of teenage rebellion threaten to undermine Keanu's health.

When children come along and a relationship becomes a parenting partnership, couples learn a lot about each other. And when their child's health is in danger, they learn an awful lot more, sometimes testing even the strongest relationships. This episode follows three children facing very different challenges, and three couples relying on each other as never before. Accident-prone four-year-old Finley is putting first-time parents Mark and Nicola through their paces in the Emergency Department waiting room. Sitting still is not on his agenda, even though he has an alarming cut on his forehead; just his latest mishap as his mum and dad climb the steep learning curve of early parenthood. Meanwhile, 10-year-old Louie faces the prospect of major heart surgery with quiet courage. But his parents Kerry and Damien struggle to hide their anxieties about the surgery and also worry about his response to their fear.