My New Brain

Each year in Britain, 135,000 people end up in hospital with a traumatic brain injury. Most at risk are young men, and the effects, though often hidden, can be profound and life-changing for the people affected, as well as their families and friends.

This powerful and moving Cutting Edge film follows 20-year-old Simon Hales on a remarkable journey through rehab, as he and his family come to terms with the challenges of life after brain injury.

A popular undergraduate at Newcastle University, Simon was on a night out when he and a friend tried to climb back into a nightclub they'd been thrown out of by mistake.

In the dark, Simon fell 20 feet and landed on his head, suffering a severe brain injury. He was lucky to survive, but it took Simon five weeks to wake from his coma.

Simon may look more or less 'fixed' on the outside - he is walking and talking relatively normally - but on the inside he is battling with a new and less compliant brain. And his family wants to know when they will get the 'old' Simon back. But nobody can say - with brain injury, the doctors just don't know.

My New Brain follows the progress and the struggles Simon and his family face as he's treated in a brain injury rehabilitation unit and begins his first visits home.

As well as remembering nothing of the accident, or the weeks and months before, Simon needs constant attention; his mood swings violently and his mum, Jane, says it's like having a toddler all over again, but in the body of a 20-year-old.

Clips from Episode 1

• My New Brain
• This Is Me
• Mood Swings

• All Clips (3)