‘You changed the world tonight’: Fans and celebrities praise Paddy McGuinness’s autism documentary

‘This was a most beautiful and honest and raw documentary,’ posted Carol Vorderman

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.