Episode 1: The Early Years

Available for over a year

Dr Guddi Singh is a paediatrician looking for answers. She’s worried about the patients whose problems can’t be fixed with a prescription – babies who are not thriving because their parents can’t afford to heat their home or children who are obese because they don’t have access to outdoor space. Children in the UK face some of the worst health outcomes in Europe. Dr Singh wants to find solutions. In a three-part series, she travels across England through the three ages of childhood: the early years, the primary school years and adolescence. She meets people in the community, from health workers to teachers, on a quest to discover what’s going wrong and what it will take to turn things around. In the first episode, she visits Hartlepool in north-east England, where she grew up, to explore the early years of childhood. It’s one of the most deprived parts of the country. She meets people on the frontline in the voluntary sector and public health, visits a school that is providing social support to families and finds out from parents what’s needed to survive and nurture their children. Presenter: Guddi Singh Producer: Jo Glanville Editor: Kirsten Lass Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones Production Executive: Lisa Lipman Sound Engineers: Dan King and Jon Calver Photography of Guddi Singh courtesy of Anad Singh Commissioning Editor: Daniel Clarke A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4