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First transmitted in March 2005
Extraordinary Families is a new series that looks at how three very different families, who have experienced family life pushed to the extreme, cope and survive. Directed by award-winning director Jane Treays, the programmes offer an intimate and moving insight into the lives of three of Britain's most unusual families.
Programme 1: The Seven Wives of Alexander Spencer
Throughout Alexander Spencer's adult life, he charmed his way into women's lives and married them after a short courtship, only to abandon them out of the blue, normally within a few months of the wedding. Spencer's ex-wives reveal how they were seduced by his promises of fidelity and eternity, what happened when he left, and how they have been left with a legacy of sadness and distrust that has affected the rest of their lives.
If you've been affected by a painful relationship break up and want to know how you can pick up the pieces and move on with your life, this feature has some valuable advice.
Programme 2: A Mother's Story
The Field family is not like the vast majority of UK families: Catherine is deaf and going progressively blind, and her husband Simon is profoundly deaf, while their two young children, Elizabeth (four) and Jennifer (18 months) can hear and are fully sighted. As the children grow up, everyday life will inevitably become increasingly complex. Yet Simon and Catherine remain confidant that they will cope with whatever life throws at them.
Find out more about the challenges and issues faced by disabled people who become parents.
Programme 3: And Baby Makes... Eleven
Sarah and Graham Potter from Devon describe their family as a happy one. Certainly, with 11 children (eight separately and three together), it is a large one. Yet the family has had a far from easy time of it and has had to face a huge range of challenges over the years, from alcoholism and Downs syndrome to domestic abuse; not to mention the downright chaos that is part and parcel of living with a large family in a small terraced home, complete with a menagerie of pets and a penchant for collecting everything and anything...
If you've been affected by any of the issues in the programme, you might find it useful to read the following features from our health and family sites, which also offer further sources of advice and support:
