Fans and celebrities have been thanking Paddy and Christine McGuinness for their documentary about autism.
The TV presenter and his wife released the programme, Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism, last night (1 December), detailing their experience of having three neurodiverse children: eight-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and five-year-old Felicity.
The film followed the couple over months as they tried to gain a greater understanding of autism, meeting other parents, experts and people on the autism spectrum.
Many viewers praised the documentary on Twitter, including the actor and comedian Johnny Vegas, who wrote: “What a beautiful, open, informative and emotive documentary currently showing on @BBCOne discussing #autism in our children. Thank you to @PaddyMcGuinness, family and other contributors for sharing and opening up such an important topic for conversation.”
Former Countdown star Carol Vorderman added: “This was a most beautiful and honest and raw documentary. Congratulations @PaddyMcGuinness and Christine, and Paul Scholes for your story about your wonderful son. ‘Our Family and Autism’ .. if you didn’t see it , then please watch on @BBCiPlayer.”
See more reactions from fans and stars below.
McGuinness thanked everyone for their responses, tweeting: “Thank you all for your kind words and wonderful support. It means the world to me and my family. x.”
Speaking last month about his decision to let a documentary crew into his family home, McGuiness explained that his children’s struggles during lockdown had “made me think about families who might be in a similar, or worse, position to us”.
“I was struggling, so I thought if we did the documentary, other families might not feel so alone or isolated,” he said.
