Channel 4 Thursday 15 February at 9pm
Full term twins in the womb – model created by Artem, photograph taken by Special Effects Director David Barlow
Twins appearing to embrace in the womb, siblings engaged in early game-playing and never-before-seen footage of 'vanishing twin syndrome'. The team behind Animals in the Womb turns its attention to the incredible story of multiple foetal development in Miracles in the Womb.
Combining revolutionary 4D ultrasound footage (three dimensions plus real time) with state-of-the art graphics and life-like modelling, Miracles in the Womb offers a stunning window on the often fraught world of multiple pregnancy – from conception to birth.
The film follows real-life rare pregnancies, including identical quadruplets conceived by chance (estimated as a 1 in 64 million occurrence) and triplets, theoretically the result of a rare phenomenon called Superfecundation, where one of the foetuses was conceived at a separate time to the other two.
Full term twins in the womb – model created by Artem, photograph taken by Special Effects Director David Barlow
And in a television first, the film reveals through a 4D scan, a rare case of a vanishing triplet, known as 'vanishing twin syndrome', which sees the death and absorption of a twin or higher multiple into the womb. In most cases, vanishing twin syndrome goes unnoticed, by mother and doctor alike.
Jeremy Dear, Head of Development at Pioneer Productions said: 'This film opens a window to another amazing and unseen world – that of human multiples in the womb. Our work with leading obstetricians and ultrastenographers has allowed us to accurately recreate the environment and extraordinary developmental journeys of twins, triplets and quads from conception to birth.
'The computer animation, models and 4D scans show just how complex and fascinating this journey is, and in particular allow us to investigate the way in which such multiples interact in the womb – they are amazingly tactile, often appearing to embrace, arm-wrestle, and fight in ways that some believe are replicated after birth as they grow up'.
The film also features specially-commissioned poetry, written and performed by Roger McGough and Brian Patten, which tells the story of twins as they grow together in the womb.
If you're expecting twins, triplets or more here are some useful organisations.