BORN WITH TWO MOTHERS

Channel 4
Windfall Films


Docudrama ‘Born with Two Mothers’, which aired on Channel Four last week, is the story of an IVF mix- up in which a white couple give birth to a black baby.

The unusual format combined actors – including Sophie Okonedo, nominated for an Oscar for her role in the film ‘Hotel Rwanda’, with real-life professionals, including lawyers. The result was a disturbingly real drama.


The lawyers involved were Muiris Lyons, partner at London healthcare firm Alexander Harris; Richard Stein, partner at Leigh Day & Co in the City; and barristers Robin Tolson QC, Andrew McFarlane QC and Pamela Scriven QC. Whenever they or any of the other professionals who took part in the programme appeared, the scene was completely unscripted, they did not know how their ‘clients’ would react, and it was shot in one take.


Mr Lyons was chosen by the producers because of his experience acting for Natalie Evans, who lost a court battle last year to use her frozen embryos after her former partner had withdrawn his consent.


He says: ‘It was quite daunting having actors, who had a very clear idea of their roles and how their characters should react, and then having to do your own part without a clue about what is coming up. You had to respond to bits of information as they came out – it was just like having a real client, but it was also more than that. There is a lot of pressure on giving the right advice, because you don’t want to appear on television getting things wrong.


‘I have done several documentaries before this, and so I was used to having a film crew following me around. But this was more intrusive, especially for the part in the courtroom where there were three cameras and it was very much like a studio, with the lighting.’


The programme culminated in a courtroom scene that took two days to shoot, without any second takes. It was filmed in a training court at BPP law school.


Mr Tolson says: ‘You were opposite lawyers whom you knew and had acted against before, and you had clients who seemed very real, because their acting was superb. But you also had three film cameras, one of which was less than three feet away from your face. The director calls out “running up”, which means they get the cameras running, and then it starts, which was a horrifying moment. I was feeling pretty nervous, but then you warm to it and you forget it isn’t real.’


Mr Lyons adds: ‘It was quite incredible how it was so lifelike and realistic. We were all caught up in it as if it was real. When the baby’s guardian had to give evidence, she was actually in tears over the dilemma she faced over what her report should be, and what was best for the child.


‘The actors had to improvise a lot, and that led to some powerful performances. When we were interacting with them, at the back of our minds we knew they were acting, but their performance was so spontaneous that it was really convincing.’


The case was presided over by Sir Michael Connell, a recently retired High Court judge, who was given the freedom to make his own decision in the case. He ultimately ordered that the baby should live with its biological, rather than birth, mother.


But while the presentation seemed close to real life, how viable was the premise itself – that the wrong embryo could be implanted into a woman’s womb?


Mr Tolson says: ‘A similar case has happened in Leeds hospital, where sperm from a black father was implanted into the mother’s egg. The situation in the documentary, where the mother has no biological link to the child she gives birth to, has not happened here. But apparently the situation has actually arisen in the US and in Holland, even including the racial element.’


The lawyers involved maintain the production has been a huge success. Mr Lyons says: ‘The fact that it is so realistic really makes the programme stand out. I would say that programmes such as ‘Judge John Deed’ and ‘Kavanagh QC’ are probably about 80% realistic – they are quite good but lawyers watching it will spot some things that are wrong. But I think any professional that watches this will think it is about 98% accurate.’


He adds: ‘In fact, it was so realistic that I almost thought about putting a claim in for public funding.’