Paddy and Christine McGuinness launch ‘Table Talk’ podcast

Celebrity couple, Paddy and Christine McGuinness have launched their first podcast series, Table Talk with Paddy and Christine.

The audio offering comes in partnership with McCain and charity Family Fund, to raise better awareness of the highs and lows of daily life for families raising a disabled or seriously ill child.

Christine McGuinness:

“I worked with McCain and Family Fund in 2021 on its Mealtime for All campaign and the Table Talk podcast has been just as special to me. I wish there had been a similar podcast when I was growing up, so I could understand myself more and perhaps even start my diagnosis journey earlier. It’s been really inspiring to listen to the stories and hear about the everyday lives of families raising children with additional needs and how Family Fund makes a difference in their lives. We really hope people listen and get involved.”

Following the success of their recent documentary, which saw the couple lift the lid on their personal experiences as a family with three autistic children, Paddy and Christine will virtually meet six families across the UK with disabled children, to learn more about the realities of family life, the worries and wonders they face, how they spend time together and the support that changes their lives.

Table Talk with Paddy and Christine aims to provide a much-needed platform for the UK families that Family Fund helps every day, highlighting difficulties and celebrating heart-warming everyday moments. Families polled, with a disabled child, report feeling widely underrepresented in society, with more than three-quarters of parents with disabled children saying they want to see more families like theirs shown in mainstream culture.

Set around a virtual dinner table, each week the six-part series will meet a new family and take on a different topic, ranging from the steep extra costs associated with raising a disabled child, mealtimes, family holidays and sibling dynamics to the impact of the pandemic, communication and the heightened importance of the senses.

The podcast series launches alongside new research into family life across the UK, in a poll of 2,000 families, commissioned by McCain and Family Fund, the UK’s biggest charity supporting families with disabled, and seriously ill, children. Almost half (46 per cent) of parents without disabled children are not familiar with the challenges that wider families experience

Families raising disabled children spend, on average, an extra £66 per month on food for their household, and on average an extra £30 per month on household energy bills, compared to families without disabled children

Parents with disabled children agree that mealtimes together are important (63 per cent). Half of these parents would like to eat more meals together as a family and half believe it helps with family communication, but it can be a challenge and take almost twice as long to get everyone together to eat More than a quarter of families with disabled children say they never feel able to entertain their friends for meals at their house and dining out can be challenging, compared to parents with non-disabled children, who dine out with their family twice as much

For families with siblings of disabled children, three in four families (74 per cent) say their non-disabled children get to spend less quality time with them and carers. Almost half of families (47 per cent) say their non-disabled children take on caring responsibilities for their siblings. When it comes to day trips, families with a disabled child go on three a year, while the average family goes on five.

A large percentage of families, 80 per cent, say that having a disabled or seriously ill child has taught them a lot as an individual and four in five do all they can to ensure their youngster has the same opportunities as other kids.

Table Talk with Paddy and Christine is out now and available to listen to on all major streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Listeners can support families raising a disabled child, in urgent need, by heading to mccainfamilyfund.co.uk to learn more and donate.

Paddy McGuinness:

“I’m so excited to be launching my first podcast with Christine, McCain and Family Fund. As many people have seen, myself and Christine are on a journey of learning about autism and other disabilities and listening to other families and hearing their important stories has made me realise how vital it is to properly highlight the real issues that families across the UK face.”