PRESENTER Nicky Campbell is the perfect choice for this new four-part series about the life-changing process of adoption – because he was adopted himself as a baby.

For the purpose of this, at times, emotional programme, cameras have followed parents desperate to adopt, and the children who need families – so that we can gain a rare insight into adoption in Britain today.

We’ll meet a gay couple who thought they would never become parents, a single mum adopting for the third time, and a baby boy born addicted to heroin.

But we’ll also be let in on Campbell’s story. He was born in Edinburgh in the 1960s after his mother travelled there from Ireland to escape the stigma of pregnancy outside marriage.

He was adopted as a young baby and speaks openly about his experiences, explaining how reasons for giving children up for adoption have changed greatly.

“The shame of illegitimacy back then meant thousands of women across the country gave their children up for adoption each year. Today children are rarely given up for adoption, the vast majority are taken away from their birth parents because of a history of neglect or abuse,” says Campbell In this first instalment, he meets Dan and Ania, who are desperate to adopt, having made the decision to do so after Ania suffered two miscarriages.

The hopeful couple meet up with social worker Fran who assesses their suitability to adopt, and in that meeting, no stone is left unturned, from financial history to details about their own childhood.

Ania points out: “It’s funny that our social worker knows us better than our families.

She knows everything, even stuff you don’t share with your family.”

But if Dan and Ania were worried, it turns out they needn’t have been – they’re approved and the search can now begin to find a child for them.