It is one of the most engaging and heartbreaking dramas of recent words and The A Word continues on the BBC on Tuesday night.
While plans for new series of other dramas has been scrapped due to the coronvirus pandemic, fans of The A Word will be relieved to hear that all filming for its third series was completed last year, in time for it returning to BBC1 at 9pm on May 5.
The plot picked up two years on from where things ended in series 2, Joe is 10 and living in two places at once, processing the seismic change in his life through the filter of his autism.
Alison and Paul are divorced and live 100 miles apart; Nicola has moved to London and Eddie lives with his dad. Only Maurice is holding it together.
A BBC teaser reads "If Maurice is the one holding it together, you know you are in trouble. A family is always a puzzle and this one needs piecing back together, albeit in a different shape."
Filming for the new series of The A Word took place last year in the Lake District and Manchester New faces this series include Julie Hesmondhalgh (Broadchurch, Coronation Street) Sarah Gordy (Call The Midwife, Holby City) and David Gyasi (Troy: Fall Of A City, Man In An Orange Shirt).
The A Word cast
Alison Hughes - Morven Christie
Paul Hughes - Lee Ingleby
Joe Hughes - Max Vento
Rebecca Hughes - Molly Wright
Maurice Scott - Christopher Eccleston
Eddie Scott - Greg McHugh
Heather - Julie Hesmondhalgh
