He's famous for being a wildlife presenter but Chris Packham has turned his hand to fronting a two-part documentary on the subject of autism and viewers were 'in tears' as they watched the emotional first episode on Tuesday, February 14 - and now say everyone should watch it.
The BBC2 two-parter, Inside Our Autistic Minds, features the stories of autistic people and Chris - who himself was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome in 2015 - helps them create short films to reveal to their family and friends what’s really going on inside their minds.
And viewers could not hide their emotions as the films were unveiled and showed people talking about how they used 'masking' as a survival strategy to avoid bullying or stereotyping in a bid to fit in. Among those taking part was radio legend Ken Bruce's son Murray, who had no real form of communication until he was nine years old. The 20-year-old, who lives in Oxfordshire, communicates by typing on a tablet.
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After Chris asks Murray to come up with script ideas for his film, he is astonished by the reply. Chris reads an email in which the young man describes feelings of loneliness. “I was alone in my world of deep and troubled pining for a person to hear me. I would wonder if that day would ever come,” he writes and Chris chokes up. Read more about it here.
And viewers were left just as choked up as they tuned into the first part of the doc and heard the stories of Murray and the other people taking part.
One said: "Just watching this makes me emotional, having a brother who's been autistic all his life.. he's now 30. People need to watch this to educate themselves on the what autistic people, and families go through."
A second said: "You could do well to watch Inside Our Autistic Minds on #BBC2." Another added: "I’m so glad this programme has been made. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve felt misunderstood or judged as an autistic person. I wish this was shown when I was in school."
"#insideourautisticminds this program is so so important, I’m literally balling my eyes out it’s so nice to know I’m not alone," added another. One viewer felt the documentary was "perfectly judged" saying: "I have no voice but yearn to say so much - very moved by Murray Bruce's plea to hear the words of those non-verbal people with autism."
Another said: "This is intense. I'm so grateful to those people making and appearing in the films." And one pointed out: "This is fascinating and heartbreaking in equal measure. Murray has made me cry, love him."
The second episode of Inside Our Autistic Minds airs on BBC Two on Tuesday, February 21. Catch up on episode one on BBC iPlayer now. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
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