One in every 1,000 pregnancies in Britain has a spine or brain defect like spina bifida. Thirty years ago, actress Ruth Madeley was one of them. Despite having spina bifida herself, it is a condition she doesn't fully understand. In this programme, Ruth sets out to discover why she has it, whether it could have been prevented and what it means for her future.\n\nRuth meets the lord campaigning for a change in the law that he says could prevent thousands of birth defects. And she discovers that a pioneering surgery could offer a different future for babies diagnosed with spina bifida, by operating on them before they are even born. She discovers how this surgery was invented, meets the families whose lives it has changed and follows the team of British surgeons preparing to perform this extraordinary foetal surgery in the UK for the very first time. But Ruth also examines attitudes in Britain today and asks whether we should change the way we see disability.
Source: BBC 2
2020: Hubble: The Wonders Of Space Revealed
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its launch, this film tells the remarkable story of how Hubble revealed the awe and wonder of our universe and how a team of daring astronau ...
24-04-2025
BBC 2
2020: What's The Matter With Tony Slattery?
Tony Slattery was one of the most gifted TV comedians of the late 80s and early 90s. One of the Cambridge Footlight set that included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, ...
10-02-2025
BBC 2
Life Story: A Horizon Special
It's 1951. There's a race on, and two of the brightest and brashest young men in Cambridge are determined to win it. The prize is glittering. Eternal fame, glory and almost cert ...
11-12-2024
BBC 2
2020: Pluto: Back From The Dead
The incredible story of how Pluto has been propelled from an unremarkable ball of ice on the edge of the solar system to a world of unimaginable complexity - where some form of ...
28-10-2024
BBC 2
2018: 5. Jupiter Revealed
'To send a spacecraft there is a little bit insane,' says Scott Bolton when talking about Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. But that is exactly what he has done, ...
26-09-2023
BBC 2
2005-2006: The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow
Dr Temple Grandin can talk to the animals; she has a legendary ability to read the animal mind and understand animal behaviour when no-one else can. But this is no feat of telep ...
21-06-2018
BBC 2
2011-2012 - Global Weirding
Series exploring topical scientific issues. Horizon follows the climate researchers investigating the strange patterns of severe weather seen around the world in recent years.
09-07-2014
BBC 2
2020: Hubble: The Wonders Of Space Revealed
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of its launch, this film tells the remarkable story of how Hubble revealed the awe and wonder of our universe and how a team of daring astronau ...
24-04-2025
BBC 2
2018: 8. The Placebo Experiment: Can My Brain Cure My Body?
Could the power of fake pills be used to treat some of our most common medical complaints? To find out, Dr Michael Mosley embarks on Britain's largest ever trial to investigate ...
04-03-2019
BBC 2