ITV Dramas - Introduction!:

This has to be the best thing shown on television that I can remember. It's called "After Thomas" and was screened on Boxing Day on ITV1. It's about a young couples struggle to cope with their son with autism.

Kyle (the child in question) is probably a bit lower-functioning that Alex. But it really struck a chord with Deb and me. It was finally something on TV relevant to our lives. In fact, I think it was probably the closest television representation of our life that I can imagine. It wasn't complete, but everything presented was pretty accurate for at least our experience of being parents of a child with autism - the little victories and defeats, the breakthroughs that lead nowhere, the difficulty of going shoe shopping.

The bits that got missed out were the trauma of the diagnosis (although it was referred to by the mother, who stated that she'd been accused of having Munchausen's syndrome) and the statementing process - with easy assumptions made about their ability to change Kyle's school.

Well, I hope you watched it. A regular complaint by me is the failure of television to really screen drama that feels relevant. Well this was it - probably have to wait another 10 years for anything this good.