TV Review: Alex Jones – Making babies

Alex Jones: Making Babies is a heartfelt, eight-part series streaming on UKTV play. The programme follows the presenter, Alex Jones, as she trains as a fertility assistant at King's Fertility, London, over a six-month period.

In the first episode, Jones shadows more senior members of staff as she gets to grips with working in a fertility clinic. It's mentioned that during later episodes, Jones will become more hands on as her training progresses. To begin with, Jones observes numerous procedures such as baseline scans, an egg collection, and a frozen embryo transfer (FET). Jones also visits the IVF laboratory, where she is shown embryo development on a timelapse machine. During all the procedures, the narrator provides a comprehensive description of what is happening on screen and explains terms that some audience members may not understand. I think this was really useful, as these are likely to be new concepts to many viewers.

During the programme, we meet couples who are having treatment at King's Fertility. Each couple's background and the treatments they receive differ, which allowed the programme to report on a variety of procedures, with differing opinions and experiences shared as we follow their journeys.

One of the couples, Michelle and her husband, are trying to conceive their second child after having their son through IVF a few years before. We meet them as they have their third and final embryo transferred.  I'll add a spoiler alert here, without spelling out the result of their final embryo transfer, it's difficult to watch the raw emotions associated with fertility treatment, the successes alongside the failures. Though, I do believe that it's important to show both results, as embryo implantation failure is sadly a very real outcome for many people having fertility treatment.

We also meet same-sex partners, Toni and Laura, who are having IVF using donor sperm. We follow their journey through their second treatment cycle, which resulted in the creation of a good-quality blastocyst. The programme catches up with Toni and Laura a few months later, though you'll have to watch it to find out where their fertility journey ends!

The only part of the programme that I didn't like watching was Toni's egg collection. For medical reasons, Toni was unable to be sedated during her retrieval. Consequently, she was awake, and we could hear her in pain as her eggs were collected. This made for very uncomfortable viewing. Although it's important to highlight that this is an experience for some women, I don't think this is a very accurate portrayal of how an egg collection will be for most women, who will receive sedation and be unable to feel the procedure. I was concerned that showing Toni in obvious pain could scare some people and stop them from seeking fertility treatment.

Throughout the programme, the couples give raw, frank interviews that demonstrate the emotional strain that having fertility treatment often involves. They describe the guilt some patients have when they feel sad about not having a second child, when they are aware that some patients undergoing treatment don't have any children. One thing that I noticed threading itself throughout the programme was the hope that patients have, even though they are well aware that their treatment may not work. Yet we also witnessed how this hope can be a double-edged sword, resulting in some patients feeling foolish when their treatment doesn't work, as they had such hope and belief that it would be successful.

Something that is infrequently considered is the perspective of the male partner on the process, and I was pleased that this programme also reported the emotional toll fertility treatment can take on men, as well as women. I would be interested to see whether future episodes cover the topic of male infertility in more detail. Unfortunately, the role of the male partner is often overlooked when it comes to fertility so it would be great to bring awareness to this issue through a high-profile programme.

I think it's great that the programme covered many topics and aired the feelings of fertility patients, as treatment can often be a very isolating process. Anybody watching the programme going through fertility treatment themselves would hopefully feel less alone after seeing that everyone experiences struggles and emotional hardships through their fertility journey. I also believe that this programme may be useful to friends and family members of those going through fertility treatment to see the difficulties that their loved ones may be facing.

Overall, I thought the programme was fantastic. It provided an accurate portrayal of what happens in a fertility clinic and explained the highs and lows that this process can bring to both patients and staff. I'm interested to see what else they cover throughout the rest of the series and would definitely recommend it to anyone hoping to learn more about fertility treatment.