In search of Mirela

NATALIE PINKHAM is no stranger to Channel 5. She’s known to frequent its schedules hosting, or appearing in, many entertaining efforts.

But it was the shocking images of the Romanian orphanage scandal two decades ago that will probably remain in many minds.

TV presenter Pinkham has never forgotten her brief association with the children of Romania, documented here.

Twelve years ago, she spent the summer working in an orphanage. While there, a smiling three-year-old called Mirela stole her heart.

At home in London, she recalls how she developed a special bond with Mirela. In this moving and powerful documentary, Pinkham returns to see if she can discover how time has treated that oncehappy little girl.

Having no clues as to where Mirela might be now, she starts by going to visit the old friend from Nottingham University, Abbie Brown, who worked at the orphanage as well. “Not knowing is almost easier to deal with,” she tells her friend. “You might uncover things you probably won’t want to know.”

It’s a journey Pinkham has prepared herself for.

Journalist Chris Rogers has spent years looking into the predicaments of Romanian orphans, and he’s the ideal person to consult.

He says: “She could have been adopted, she could have remained in the institutionalised system. And a lot of them will have ended up on the streets.” The other option is that Mirela may be dead.

In Bucharest, Pinkham has her first encounter with ex-orphanage children, but it’s one that fills her with guilt after she’s reminded how she loved and then left Mirela.

In Slatina, she is offered the help of English-speaking charity worker Maria, but it is bittersweet as she has both good and bad news to offer.

Pinkham is taken to a foster home where, among seven other children, Mirela is being looked after, but while she’s safe and in good care, her mental health leaves a lot to be desired.

After spending time with Mirela, who doesn’t remember her former carer, Pinkham explains to the cameras: “I feel very, very sad inside.

“On the one hand, I’m really pleased Mirela’s safe and being looked after. And on the other hand, I’m really shocked by how mentally ill she is.

“She was a bright little spark. I just remember her being so smiley.”

When a British volunteer then gets in touch, she learns more about what the future may have in store for Mirela. It might be wise to have a (man-size) box of tissues to hand – you’ll need them.

THIS latest series, in which Gareth Malone has been working with the girlfriends and wives of Armed Services personnel, has proved to be his biggest project to date.

While we have no end of admiration and respect for the men serving their country, the military wives have often spoken of being overlooked – so Malone is giving them the perfect opportunity to have their say through the power of song.

In this final instalment, he prepares to see all his hard work pay off, as the group is set its biggest challenge – performing at the Royal Albert Hall on Remembrance Sunday.

The women will sing a song composed for them by Paul Mealor, which uses their own words and letters as inspiration.

There’ll be tears before the show’s through. as the husbands return home – so that’s another box of tissues required.

TODAY, many scientists consider Alan Turing to be one of the 20th Century’s greatest thinkers, who helped to lay the foundations for the computer age, pioneered the idea of artificial intelligence, and became one of the first people to investigate the mathematical underpinnings of the natural world.

To the less scientifically-minded, he is famous as the man who was instrumental in breaking the German naval Enigma code during the Second World War, arguably saving millions of lives in the process. Alas, not only were his achievements largely unrecognised in his own time, but, because he was a homosexual, he was treated as a criminal.

After being convicted of “gross indecency”

in 1952, he was forced to undergo chemical castration, and killed himself two years later.

This docu-drama looks at why modern technology means experts are finally catching up to Turing’s ideas, and explores his final years by dramatising sessions with psychiatrist Dr Franz Greenbaum.