Cutting Edge

What do you do if you really want to have a girl and you just keep on having boys? Keep trying, like the Bowens have, for 21 years? Forty three year old Wendy Bowen has eight boys and is still desperate for her dream girl, and her biological clock ticking has turned it into an obsession. She's not alone though, across Britain there are women like Wendy who suffer from a psychological condition called 'Gender Disappointment'. Michelle Priestley, from Bedford, loves all things girly and feminine. She never imagined herself as a mum of four boys. She loves her children dearly but at 37, is getting desperate for a daughter. Michelle has persuaded husband Jason to give it one last try for a girl. There is a growing online community of parents using the internet to research ways of swaying the sex of their baby. Michelle is a regular visitor to an American website and has followed some fairly unusual natural gender swaying methods from it, such as dietary supplements, herbal extracts, and timing sex for a particular day. During the build up to the day of her scan for her fifth child, tensions are running high. Michelle's anxiety is getting to her and her family. The cameras are with her when she finds out if she's finally going to have that longed for daughter. In Plymouth, 40 year old Nicola Trathen, decided six years ago that enough was enough after her fourth boy was born. She had heard of a way of choosing the sex of a child through a method called PGD (Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis), similar to IVF but the sex of the fertilised egg is determined and selected to implant into the mother accordingly. Gender selection, as Nicola was to find out, is not available in the UK for 'family balancing'. Legislators state that the social reasons are not strong enough. There are also concerns that without this ban, designer babies could become a huge market, and internationally it could exacerbate pre-existing social tendencies to favour sons. Nicola does not agree an

Cutting Edge follows four eight-year-old girls as they adjust to a new life away from their parents and their home. Each of their parents has decided that their child will be better off boarding in a private school, in this instance Highfield, one of the best boarding schools in the UK. But how do they cope being separated from their families at such a young age? And how in particular do the mothers deal with the difficult decision of sending their offspring away to be educated?

ncient traditions meet modern fashions in an ostentatious culture clash in the world of 21st-century gypsy and traveller weddings. Gaining rare access to this fascinating and often misunderstood community, Cutting Edge uses the prism of the weddings to reveal a culture where brides compete to have the biggest dress but having children out of wedlock is still taboo and divorce is unheard of. Considered 'on the shelf' at 20, many girls in Gypsy and Traveller communities get married soon after their 16th birthday with the support of their family. The weddings are visual spectacles: girls parade into church in enormous dresses that sometimes weigh more than the bride herself. Although the women look sexually provocative there is a tradition of premarital chastity that is increasingly unusual in Britain today. This is a community that lives alongside but detached from mainstream society. It is a community of contrasts, living by centuries-old religious and cultural traditions but at the same time embracing the gaudier extremes of the celebrity- and fashion-obsessed times in which we live.

Cutting Edge enters the world of No Win, No Fee. Can you really get thousands of Pounds if you cut yourself shaving? And is a primary school liable if a child stubs his toe in the playground?

Cutting Edge meets writers for True Life magazines, and those who've confessed all, entering a world of jailed cannibals and bum implants

Cutting Edge follows three boys shortlisted for the Peter Beckwith Scholarship, which could pay for them to attend Harrow School, on the day that two boys are chosen for the scholarship.

Cutting Edge follows the new editor of The Lady, as she tries to turn around the fortunes of Britain's longest-standing women's weekly magazine.

Cutting Edge gains access to the missions undertaken by medical staff and pilots in the RAF's Critical Care in the Air Support Team, flying from Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. As they bring injured servicemen and women back from Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, the C-17 Globemaster, one of the world's largest military aircraft, is transformed into a hospital with everything needed to bring wounded personnel home in less than 36 hours.

Cutting Edge follows the story of two families whose children died abroad, and their quest to uncover the truth behind their deaths.

A profile of veteran entertainer Bruce Forsyth and his wife, Wilnelia Merced.

How have gay millionaires Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow's determination to have more children affected them and their kids?

Cutting Edge follows one of Britain's most prolific base jumpers and his right-hand man as they jump from the top of some of the country's most famous landmarks and escape death by pulling their parachute just seconds from impact. 'Base' is a secretive, underground community that likes to play while the city sleeps, and the 'bandit jumpers', as Dan and Ian are known, cruise the streets, searching for buildings to sneak into, climb up and jump from. Dan and Ian have leapt from some of Britain's iconic structures, such as Nelson's Column, The Millenium Dome, Wembley Stadium and Blackpool Tower. Dan and Ian explain that a successful jump gives an unbeatable high, but the lows are often fatal. One wrong turn or gust of wind can result in a very serious accident. Since base jumping was invented there have been 144 deaths, meaning one in six people who take up the sport are killed. Dan is a natural athlete who has escaped serious injury in over 800 jumps, but the risks he's taking are spiralling to more dangerous extremes in search of thrills. Now, he even goes out on his own during the night on a 'base crawl', leaving his girlfriend to worry whether he will return. Ian has earned a reputation among his jump buddies as being accident-prone. In 2009, he was almost killed when he smashed into the side of a building after his parachute opened incorrectly. Film makers Rob Davis and Alastair Cook question the drive to keep going back to a sport that jeopardises their lives and also their relationships with their families and partners. Can they really marry the two or will they be forced to make a choice to decide their future? Every jump relies on an element of luck and these men know they are playing russian roulette, yet they cannot kick the habit. With stunning and exhilarating images throughout, the documentary follows the spectacular jumping exploits and near-death experiences of Dan and Ian over the course of a year, seeking to gain psychological insight i