27 Oct 2009 11:37
MOTIVE TELEVISION PLC (the "Company" or "Motive")
CONTRACT WIN
Motive's Manchester-based production business, Scarlet Television Ltd, has been contracted by the BBC to produce a major documentary programme featuring Rosa Monckton. The programme, provisionally entitled "When Loving Your Child Is Not Enough," will be broadcast on BBC1.
In the programme, successful businesswoman, charity worker and confidante of the late Princess Diana, Rosa Monckton explores the realities of families caring for disabled children in a frank and moving documentary.
With the backdrop of headline grabbing tragic cases in which desperate mothers, such as Fiona Pilkington, killed themselves and their child because they could no longer face the daily reality of their lives. Rosa, who herself has a child with Down's syndrome, admits that she too has felt a "crushing despair."
"I remember picking her up and actually saying: 'I can not take this any more' and I shook her and I shook her …then something snapped in my head and I realised what I was doing," explains Rosa.
Since the birth of her daughter Domenica, Rosa has campaigned for the rights of disabled children and their families. After the recent shocking high profile cases in which mothers have killed their disabled children, she tries to find out how easy it is for families to reach the edge of desperation. She also discovers how the maze of bureaucracy often prevents families getting the help they need.
She meets parents who are struggling to come to terms with their toddler's disability; those who are striving to cope with everyday economic hardships, as well as caring for their child, and also the families of those who found they were unable to cope and in the end had to let go of children they dearly love.
For Asher Nardone, aged 39, the difficulties of caring for her son Callum, who has cerebral palsy, were intensified by the abuse she suffered from neighbours after she was re-housed by the council.
While visiting Asher and her two children, Rosa experiences this first hand. "The reality is that it's commonplace for families with disabled children to become targets of abuse." says Rosa.
At the other end of the spectrum, Rosa talks to David Cameron about his disabled son Ivan, who died recently. David says: "The parents of disabled children are not angels. They don't choose it. It's what fate deals them. You learn all kinds of ways of loving someone who can't tell you that they love you. The most profound thing is having had this most incredible person in your life."
This programme is the latest in a number of BBC commissions for Scarlet Television, and another significant BBC commission will be announced shortly.
For further information, please contact:
Motive Tel: 020 3086 9430Mick Pilsworth
Note to Editors
Motive Television (www.motivetelevision.co.uk) is a leading media investment company, specialising in digital television technology providers and television rights owners. Based in London, it is listed on the AIM and is led by television industry experts Mick Pilsworth and Len Fertig.
Motive's main investments include:
A 49.9% interest in comedy production company Brown Eyed Boy, whose most recent hit show, "How Not to Live Your Life", starring Dan Clark,was broadcast on BBC3.
A 50.6% interest in Manchester-based Scarlet Television, whose recent credits include "Diana's Last Summer", "Britney: Speared by the Paps", "50 Greatest TV Endings" and "50 Greatest TV Couples", all for SKY 1; Richard E. Grant's "Elementary My Dear Viewer" and "Roald Dahl's Revolting Rule Book", both for ITV2; "The Making of a Monster" for Crime & Investigation Network, and "Beefcake: A Very British Sex Symbol", for BBC2.
A 100% interest in Dublin-based production company Motive Television Ltd, whose recent credits include "No Place Like Home" and "Summer in the Sun" for Irish broadcaster RTÉ; "Part of What We Are", a major history of Gaelic games for Setanta Sports and 10 live GAA matches for Irish broadcaster TV3 (in association with Asgard Media). Motive Television Ltd is currently in production on live Champions League and Europa Cup football for TV3.