The Surrogates

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Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

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Five young British women attempt to carry babies for other people.

What is the reality of choosing to have someone else's baby? The emotional highs and lows of the complex world of surrogacy in the UK, told by five women and the would-be parents.

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

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Chloe Campbell

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The Surrogates: Series 1: Episode 1

Episode 1

BBC Three - The Surrogates, Series 1, Episode 1

Caitlin and Emma try to help other people start a family. David looks for a surrogate.

In this episode, we meet Caitlin and her boss Kate. Caitlin is 26, a single mum, and in a new relationship with her boyfriend Jordan. Kate and her partner Matt have lost three pregnancies, including one at 32 weeks. Kate has been told that medically she could carry her own baby, but after such difficult experiences, she doesn’t feel able to. After talking about surrogacy in the office, Caitlin offered to help Kate and Matt have a baby. Kate and Caitlin live in Alderney, in the Channel Islands, and in this programme they fly to Southampton to have Kate and Matt’s embryo transferred to Caitlin’s womb, in the hope it will work and Caitlin will get pregnant. 

Meanwhile, 23-year-old Emma is pregnant with the baby of a gay couple she met on a fertility matching app just a few months earlier. As the biological mother, it begs the question: will she become more attached as her bump grows? And will letting go of the baby be more difficult than she thought at first it would?

We also meet David, 40, who is a single gay man hoping to have a child through surrogacy. David has made embryos using anonymous donor eggs and joins a surrogacy organisation in the hopes of meeting a woman who will carry his child. But in most surrogacy agencies, intended parents aren’t allowed to ask a woman to be their surrogate, and so David has to go to events and wait to be picked by someone. How will he navigate this, and will he successfully attract the right woman?

The Surrogates: Series 1

BBC Three

A multi-platform service for 16-34s, featuring comedy, entertainment and factual content.

The BBC’s multi-platform service for 16 to 34s, innovating with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intellectual factual content.

Five young British women attempt to carry babies for other people in this documentary series exploring the taboo subject of surrogacy.

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