What drives some families and women in particular to want more and more children? This was the question behind the idea for a film which was commissioned for Cutting Edge by Meredith Chambers at Channel 4.
It's a straight forward question but finding the answer involved getting access to the inner workings of large families in order to understand how parents manage a huge brood. And seeing those parents at the point of expanding their families even further was going to be the best way of understanding their rationale. I was going to have to shoot kids - lots and lots of them.
There are not that many families in the UK who already have 10 children and who can or who want to have more. Often the mothers in very large families have to stop because of age or health issues, so finding the right households in the filming period was the first challenge.
Co-producer Danni Davies, who crucially developed the idea in pre-production, searched the country to find suitable families and in the end we decided to film with three. The Simpsons from East Kilbride were trying the hardest they'd ever tried to conceive their 14th. The Johnstones from Ormskirk were six months into their 12th pregnancy and the Salims from Rochdale were weeks away from having their 11th when we found them.
First off, we had to give viewers a sense of the sheer scale of the families involved. Executive producer Mark Raphael at North One Television suggested using jib shots to help give a sense of the size of the families - it was a great way telling the audience we were going somewhere different and unusual.
Shooting began on Christmas Day and we stayed with the families until March. Most of the children were living at home and ranged in ages from one week to 17 years old.
Filming in houses that were small for the size of family they contained was another challenge. Often we'd be filming with people round every door and once you'd added in the crew there really wasn't much space. The crew all got used to being squashed. Trying to remember everyone's names was another challenge. And, as for interviewing anyone, it required a lot of patience. I remember trying to film a scene with one of the mums who was trying to tell me about a pregnancy kit that allows women to test whether they are pregnant two weeks before menstruation, by detecting the relevant hormones. However, getting her explanation without screams of “Mum!” from one of her three children under three years of age, meant there was no way we could do it in one take.
Not surprisingly soundmen Ian Mackleggan and Andy Paddon had their work cut out trying to get clean sound amid hordes of noisy children, especially as they only had once chance to get a really natural response. By combining quick reactions and their considerable expertise they managed it.
An additional challenge was trying to get the best shots of family life without destroying the intimacy. One of the first scenes we filmed was the birth of the Salim family's 11th child, a daughter named Rukyya. The Salims were happy for me to be in the delivery suite, but because Noreen was Muslim I had to reassure her that I wasn't going to film the graphic details of her birth. I just needed to be there for their important family moment. At times it was simply Noreen, her husband, Mohammed, and myself in the room but once the delivery was over and the larger family arrived the moment was shared with 14 happy people, not including the hospital staff!
When the film required a sense of closeness I used the Sony Z1 camcorder, with camera-men Johann Perry and Patrick Smith on digibeta for the everyday larger family occasions.
Large families tend to attract negative attention. Winning their support took time. But when I got their trust I found all the families to be close, loving and well cared for despite being in a situation most parents would deem a living hell.
So what drives families to have so many kids? You'll just have to watch to find out - but I'll give you a clue: it's not for the tax-breaks.
13 Kids and Wanting More is a North One Television production for C4. It airs on Thursday 22 May at 9pm
Clare Richards: My tricks of the trade
Take a second DV camera, if the budget allows, as you never know when it might come in handy.
Borrow the soundmen's fluffy mic bits so when filming solo you can hide the mic properly.
I keep a bottle of anti-bacterial hand-wash in my kit bag for when there's no sink handy.
A wireless headset is invaluable on outdoor shoots for keeping track of what is being said and where. Particularly on Blackpool beach when I had the job of running between piers and slot machines to round all the children up.
A constant supply of coffee and the odd raisin scone on location helped me to stay on top and keep smiling!
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