My Child Won't Speak
BBC1, 11.35pm
YOUNG girls chatter like china teacups on a rickety train. They're incessant. Quite simply, they command attention.
Well, not always. Red, Megan and Danielle appear to be three perfectly normal, healthy girls. But there is something puzzling about each of them. They all have selective mutism: a condition which means they can speak but, most of the time, don't. Why? This documentary hopes to shed some light.
In Northamptonshire, most people who know her have never heard eight-year-old Red talk. Instead, she communicates using a whiteboard, markers and a cloth. Her grandfather, John, has never heard her speak a word, and it's breaking his heart.
rolex replicaIn Dover, 10-year-old Megan goes cheerleading every Thursday, but she never cheers. The only place she talks freely is at home: at school she never utters a word. Her teacher fears she is virtually invisible in class and it's affecting her education.
tag heuer replica Danielle, from Caerphilly, is 15. A year ago she was still answering questions with a whiteboard, but now she is starting to open her mouth and speak. Yet a simple trip to the shops can render her silent once again.
In order to be like other girls their age, the three must confront their personal fears and anxieties about using their voices. My Child Won't Speak, part of BBC1's Being Mum season, joins them on their individual journeys as they start to find a way forward.
Brian Beacom
Scots At War
STV, 9pm
There are those who will view this three-parter, in which former SAS Major Ken Hames travels to Afghanistan with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, as offering insight and colour into the dark, dangerous world of soldiering. Indeed, Hames has the knowledge and background to connect with the soldiers.
But there are also those who consider the very idea of the programme inappropriate. And it's certainly true to say that it doesn't deal with issues of political justification. Instead it focuses on the personal stories of those in uniform.
Shameless
Channel 4, 10pm
It was inevitable that this cult drama, which was once so cutting- edge, would slide toward soap opera. It's simply what happens when popular shows run for so long. That said, Shameless still manages to retain some of its kitchen-sink sensibility -
embroidered patches albeit a sink that's blocked up with bile and resentment.
Tonight, Mimi Maguire sparks war when she declares that Kelly is unfit to be a godmother. This places Mimi's son Shane in a difficult position: to side with mum or the wife? Meanwhile, drug baron Paddy is feeling the credit crunch.
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