Bodyshock

At over eight feet tall, Sultan Kösen from Turkey is the world's tallest man. This Bodyshock special follows his journey around the world in search of a cure for his Gigantism - the life-threatening disease that causes him to grow even further beyond his record-breaking height. After he was crowned the world's tallest man in September 2009, Sultan's title brought him the attention of the world, but he desires more than just fame; there's only one thing he really wants - a true love. He meets a new best friend in George Bell, America's tallest man, and meets a girl for his first ever date. But, as this film uncovers, his biggest challenges are still to come. He was born into a poor family in a remote Turkish village, and they spent most of their money on hospital treatment to remove the tumour on his pituitary gland that caused him to grow taller. As a result, Sultan grew up scared and alone. For the first time, Sultan invites viewers into his new home in Ankara, and takes the film-makers back to where it all began, where his family open their hearts. The film follows him on an inspirational journey across the world as he goes in search of urgent life-saving surgery. This revealing documentary delves deep into the mind of the troubled 27-year-old, and follows the emotional story of the world's tallest man and his fight for survival.

Logan and Greg could be two kids in any average American family. Except they have two dads and one of them is pregnant. Now, they are starting a new life in new town, in the US Bible Belt. How will their neighbours react to this extraordinary family? This sensitive, intimate portrait follows an ordinary family, raising children and seeking to bring new life into the world, while believing that prejudice can be overcome if only people would see them for who they are: a loving and protective family unit. Tom and Scott Moore have been married for three years. Born as Jessica and Laura, they each came from traditional families. Now gay men, they met at the local Lesbian Gay Bi Transgender group and fell in love. Tom already had two adopted sons, Greg and Logan, who form the backbone of their family, along with two dogs, two cats, a turtle and a puffer fish. Thirteen-year-old Greg has a form of autism called Aspergers syndrome. Eleven-year-old Logan has just started middle school. Together, the Moores were blissfully happy as a family of four, but like most married couples, Scott and Tom still wanted to try for a baby. Unlike most male gay couples, they had the means to do so, as Scott still has working female reproductive organs. Biologically, getting pregnant is no different for him and he just needed a sperm donor. In fact, the biggest difficulty faced by a pregnant man is other people's judgement. The documentary follows Scott's pregnancy and the safe delivery of his baby son, Miles. Their lives continue to twist and turn when a freak fire, which burns down their house, forces them to relocate. They quit their jobs, pack up what is left of their possessions and drive their family 1000 miles south to start a new life in New Mexico. Now Greg and Logan have to adjust to new classmates, and the prospect of explaining their unusual family set-up to strangers, while Scott and Tom have to deal with the conservative views of their neighbours, many of whom think only women should have children. Despite all the pressures they face, will Scott and Tom decide to continue growing their family, and have another baby?

Three-year-old twins Krista and Tatiana Hogan are conjoined at the head. It is usual to carry out separation surgery on conjoined twins as early as possible, but Krista and Tatiana can never be separated. Bodyshock presents a rare and moving portrait of a family determined to keep their twins together and give them a fulfilling life. The filmmakers follow the family as the girls make progress through one of the most difficult years of their lives, and have unexpectedly positive effects on the rest of the family. Most poignantly, doctors finally discover whether these extraordinary little girls can see through each other's eyes, as their mother believes.

China's 'Elephant Man', Huang Chuncai, tells his own shocking story as he undergoes surgery to remove life-threatening tumours weighing 20kg that have caused him a lifetime of suffering. As a small child, Huang developed a small facial swelling. Now 31, his features have been destroyed and his body wracked by the tumours, which make up half his body weight. Bodyshock follows Huang as he travels to one of China's leading cancer hospitals for the surgery that he hopes will allow him to live a normal life, but which also carries terrible risks.

This Bodyshock Special features 13-year-old Twinkle Dwivedi who, for nearly two years, has inexplicably cried tears of blood. The spontaneous bleeding, which happens almost daily, also comes from her head, hands and feet. The programme follows Twinkle and her mother as they travel from their home in northern India to explore the cause of her extraordinary condition, visiting a Catholic Bishop to ask whether her bleeding is stigmata, bathing in the Ganges and visiting an alternative medicine centre. But when a world expert on blood disorders flies in to examine her, Twinkle's journey of discovery edges closer to some uncomfortable possibilities.

As experts consider a review of UK guidelines for treating transgender children, this film follows a number of children in the US who told their parents they were born in the wrong body. In America, children under 16 can be prescribed hormone 'blockers' to prevent the onset of puberty, with a view to then follow with hormone treatment to become their new gender. This film follows the American experience. Eight-year-old Josie was born a boy but has been living as a girl for two years since revealing the full extent of his feelings about his identity to his mother. Kyla is also eight. She was born a boy but loves anything pink and sparkly, has grown his hair, and is preparing to return for school after summer dressed as a girl for the first time. She says: 'If I had to wear boys' clothes and be a boy for the rest of my life, I'd probably die.' They have both been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Sixteen-year-old Chris, who was born a girl, started testosterone treatment at 14. He now has a deep voice and plentiful body hair, and shaves regularly. These children and their parents reveal what it is like to face life-changing questions, giving a frank insight into a subject most people never have to consider.

Half Ton Mum tells the story of the world's heaviest woman, Renee Williams, a 64-stone, 29-year-old mother of two who, in a desperate bid to lose enough weight to save her life, undergoes life-threatening surgery. Renee, who has realised she wants to be around long enough to see her two daughters grow up, hopes her story will help change the lives of the estimated 2 million Americans who weigh more than 40 stone.

At just seven years old Dzhambulat Khatokhov ('Jambik' for short) is four foot three inches tall and weighs 16 stone - as much as a baby elephant. He dwarfs his older brother who is twice his age and less than half his weight. Nobody knows why Jambik is so big, or what this means for his long-term health. But Dr Campbell - one of the world's leading experts on obesity - is determined to find out. Travelling over 2000 miles to the Caucasus Mountains in Southern Russia, Campbell meets the 'biggest boy in the world' to see what, if anything, can be done for him...

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A Swiss doctor discovered these tiny, fragile children in a remote Indian village in 2003. Their bones were dissolving and their hair thining and he diagnosed them with progeria, a rare disease that uncontrollably accelerates its sufferers into old age. Even relative to what is already known about the disease, the children remain a medical mystery. One mother had given birth to five children who had been affected, despite an established average of one sufferer in every 4 million births.

With her legs fused together like a tail, Milagros Cerron has one of the rarest birth abnormalities in the world: sirenomelia, or 'mermaid syndrome'. Can an operation by charismatic but controversial plastic surgeon Dr Luis Rubio, to be broadcast live on national television, save this little Peruvian girl? The story of the operation and the attendant media circus is a revealing look at what happens when medicine, politics, religion and superstition collide in a poor and struggling country.

In the Romanian province of Transylvania, Lucica Bunghez is being eaten alive, consumed by an 11-stone tumour growing out of her back. Eventually, it will kill her. Lucica suffers from neurofibromatosis (Nf), a genetic disorder that makes the body spontaneously produce benign tumours, and doctors don't dare operate on a tumour that has reached this size. Only one man can help her. Dr McKay McKinnon, at the University of Chicago Hospital, is a world expert at removing large tumours, and Lucica has sent a desperate plea for him to see if he can save her.

No overview found.

China's 'Elephant Man', Huang Chuncai, tells his own shocking story as he undergoes surgery to remove life-threatening tumours weighing 20kg that have caused him a lifetime of suffering. As a small child, Huang developed a small facial swelling. Now 31, his features have been destroyed and his body wracked by the tumours, which make up half his body weight. Bodyshock follows Huang as he travels to one of China's leading cancer hospitals for the surgery that he hopes will allow him to live a normal life, but which also carries terrible risks.

No overview found.