About a boy

Lee Ingleby and Morven Christie face fresh challenges with their son Joe as the moving family drama about autism returns

- CAREN CLARK

NEW DRAMA

The A Word

Tuesday, BBC1 HD, 9pm

The A Word has won huge acclaim for shining a welcome spotlight on the challenges and joys of raising a child with autism. But as the Lake Districtset series returns for a third run, the Hughes family face fresh hurdles as they battle to do their best for son Joe (Max Vento) amid changing circumstances.

Set two years on, the series sees a now 10-year-old Joe trying to cope with the separation of parents Paul (Lee Ingleby) and Alison (Morven Christie). While Paul remains in the Lakes, Alison is in Manchester, where Joe attends a specialist school.

‘There are challenges and upheaval,’ says Ingleby, 44. ‘Joe’s two years older. Peter Bowker, the writer, wanted a gap, so there’s a change in Joe and we see how the things he relies on shift. Joe ’s having to cope with life in two places, plus his sister Rebecca [Molly Wright] is pregnant and he’s dealing with what that means, too.’

Alison tries to build a new life for Joe during the week and Paul attempts to provide normality for him at weekends – although Paul and Joe are living with Alison’s acerbic dad Maurice (Christopher Eccleston) while Paul renovates a new house.

‘Paul’s trying to keep up the pretence of everything being hunky-dory, but it’s not,’ says Ingleby. ‘He wants Joe to feel settled but he’s still trying to get the measure of how to be a good dad and he feels guilty.’