In Britain, one couple in every six is unable to have a child. More women fail to conceive the babies they want, than request abortions of babies they do not want. If you are infertile, you are over-sensitive, vulnerable, anxious.
' I would go to the ends of the earth to have a child ' - the words of Sandy [text removed], a young school teacher constantly surrounded by other people's children. She and her husband Ian have trodden the weary road from infertility clinic to hospital for years. Horizon looks at childless-ness through Sandy's eyes and those of her surgeon as she goes through yet another operation.
The human reproductive system is complex, delicate and full of hazards on the way to pregnancy. The mysteries have not been helped by sensational headlines .. .Test Tube Babies! ... Multiple Births! ... Fertility Drugs! All too often these have concealed genuine medical advances.
Today new drugs and new surgery are giving fresh hope to thousands of childless couples. So what are the chances of having a child of your own?
Narrator PAUL VAUGHAN
Film editor MICHAEL RIGG Written and produced by CHRISTOPHER RILEY