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The UK's leading inventors create ingenious new solutions to everyday problems.

The UK's leading inventors create ingenious new solutions to everyday problems and build life-changing solutions for people in desperate need.

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Inventing the Impossible: The Big Life Fix

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Ross Atkin

Akram Hussein

Zoe Laughlin

Yusuf Muhammad

Jude Pullen

Ruby Steel

Ryan White

Haiyan Zhang

Ros Ponder

Tom Watt-Smith

Eleanor Roffe

Mark Hanford

Studio Lambert

John Deol

Charlotte Whitaker

Itamar Klasmer

Mick Ebeling

Caskey Ebeling

Not Impossible Labs

The Big Life Fix: Inventing the Impossible: Episode 4

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Episode 4

Inventing the Impossible

BBC Two - The Big Life Fix, Inventing the Impossible, Episode 4

Three more people are helped by the inventors,including a young boy living with Tourette’s

A boy with Tourette’s needs help to control his tics, a paralysed man is determined to be independent, and the parents of a disabled child ask for help to make his legs stronger.

In this episode the fixers take on three more challenges to change lives, including one of their toughest yet when they try to help a young boy with Tourette’s to control his tics and behavioural issues. 

11-year-old Malachi lives with his Mum and younger brother in Cornwall. Malachi has Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological condition characterised by involuntary movements and noises called tics. He also has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and struggles with disruptive urges and violent outbursts. At school, he needs three support workers with him at all times. As Malachi gets older his behaviour is increasingly difficult for mum, Marie, to manage and she’s increasingly worried that if he doesn’t find a way to control himself, he will end up in serious trouble. Electronics engineer, Ryan White, teams up with Zoe Laughlin, an expert in materials, to explore what they can do. But their first encounter with Malachi leaves them concerned that they may have taken on more than they can manage. Knowing more about the condition could help them work out what to do, so their next stop is Great Ormond Street Hospital in London to meet one of the world’s leading experts in the field, Dr Tara Murphy. 

4-year-old Jasper suffered complications after contracting hand, foot and mouth disease when he was a year old. He had a heart attack and a stroke in his spine which left him paralysed from the waist down. His parents have sought the best medical help they can get for their son, in the hope that he’ll one day be able to walk again, but so far he’s only gained enough strength to be able to crawl. They’re hoping that the team can come up with an invention that will enable Jasper to be upright and moving his legs, so that he can work on building the strength in his muscles and get used to being in a standing position. Technologist and designer Haiyan Jang takes up the challenge and enlists the help of inventor and engineer, Yusuf Mohammed, to help search for a solution.  Whatever they create needs to safely hold him up in the right position and also keep his young brain engaged so that he enjoys using it.

26-year-old Greg is determined to be as independent as possible, despite being paralysed from the neck down. He led an extremely active and social life before a car crash dramatically changed his life four years ago. Now he has no control of his body and can only move his head to operate devices like his wheelchair and computer. Home is an assisted-living apartment in Bristol where he receives help with everyday tasks but, in order to remain active, he makes an arduous journey into the city centre on his own every day in his electric wheelchair. This two mile trip would be straightforward enough for most people, but for Greg it’s fraught with difficulties. With no use of his hands he is unable to press buttons on road crossing boxes, he can’t use his mobile phone without asking strangers to pick it up and dial the numbers, and he has to give shop assistants his credit card pin number and ask them to use it for him. Designer and engineer, Ross Atkin, and software expert, Akram Hussein, pair up to see if they can come up with a solution. If they can crack it, they could potentially change the lives of many more people with similar disabilities.

The Big Life Fix: Inventing the Impossible

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Leading inventors to come up with life-changing ways to help people.

Thousands of people struggle with everyday tasks, hampered by their health or the environment. This series challenges leading inventors to come up with life-changing solutions.

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