Caring youngsters

ORTISE Williams, founding member of boyband JLS, knows all about the pressures of caring for a loved one as he meets young carers from across the UK who take care of their parents on a daily basis, as well as experts who support the youngsters in a time of crisis.

When Williams was 12, his mother, Sonia, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he became her carer. With such first-hand experience he knows exactly what the young people he will meet are going through every day.

Official figures show that around 200,000 children in the UK are caring for their parents, but experts believe this could be as high as 700,000 and the last census showed that the biggest age group increase in young carers was with children under seven years old.

Williams will witness this for himself when he meets six-year-old Ty-Reece, who cares for his mother, helping out with daily chores that most six years olds would not even think of doing. His mum suffers from a series of health problems that some days mean she can hardly move.

There’s also teenagers Clare and Erin who care for their partially-disabled dad and have the huge responsibility of administering 20 different daily medications without making a mistake.

The boyband member is faced with teenage carers, who once they are home from school, take care of their parents before being able to socialise with friends or completing their homework. The programme also features expert Professor Saul Becker, who has advised the government on the need to provide more support to child carers in Britain. He provides Williams with the hard facts and figures about young carers in the UK today.

Williams says: “I wanted to make this film to bring awareness to the public after feeling isolated as a young carer myself. In this programme I expose the unknown.”

This Old Thing: The Vintage Clothes Show (Channel 4, 8pm)

THIS week Dawn O’Porter's in Doncaster, where she faces tough opposition from vintage-hater Liza, who's not afraid of spending a small fortune on one-off, bold fashion statements to help her stand out from the crowd. However, she's concerned that she dresses like her teenage daughter and wants a more mature style. With the aid of a few devious devices, can O’Porter persuade Liza that old is just as good as new?

Brand New House for 5K (Channel 5, 8pm)

SEVEN years ago, Caroline and Sean bought a three-bedroomed semi-detached house. When Caroline was pregnant with twins, they moved in with their son Jack. They had big ideas about sprucing up the place, but their plans failed to materialise, with exposed pipes, filthy radiators and 1970s design values making it look more dated than a re-run of Only Fools and Horses.

"I just want the complete opposite of what I've got," explains Caroline while showing Linda Barker round her dark, dated kitchen.

With a drab master bedroom, dominated by a huge, brown, built-in wardrobe, it has little appeal, while the main room downstairs features a grown-up area for eating at one end and a kids' den at the other.

To keep costs down, Barker and her team re-use the carcasses of the kitchen cupboards and the master bedroom and change the doors. Let’s hope the design guru can stay within budget, and cure the couple of their DIY phobia