BBC Documentaries

Baby Makers: The Fertility Clinic (2013x5)

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Britain is in the grip of a fertility crisis, with more and more people seeking treatment to help them get that elusive, dream baby. But what is it like to work on the frontline of fertility treatment? Award-winning filmmaker Richard Macer spends three months in the Hewitt Fertility Centre in Liverpool, one of the largest fertility clinics in Britain. He meets gynaecologist Professor Charles Kingsland, who believes that not being able to have a child is a disease that blights society. Every day Kingsland and his team harvest women's eggs, whilst the men are sent to the 'masterbatorium'. In the lab, Macer finds the scientists who perform the profound act of conception every day, bringing together eggs and sperm in tiny plastic petri dishes. The film follows the stories of four couples as they pursue their dream of getting pregnant, but from the perspective of the staff. What is it like for the staff to be involved everyday in the creation of new life? Does anyone come closer to playing God?