TVScope The Mummy Diaries, Channel 4, Thursday, November 8th
Two little girls play happily at their parent's feet. They stuff their rag doll into a shoebox and put on the lid.
But this is no normal happy family scene. Imogen (4) and Melissa (3) are playing funerals under the direction of psychologist Julie Stokes, and it's their mum, Wendy's, funeral they are rehearsing through play.
This, the first in a three-part Channel 4 series about five families, all with mothers who have been diagnosed with terminal cancer, confronted head on the painful reality that many mothers are dying before their children grow up.
It focused on the counselling sessions of Julie Stokes as she helped two mothers, Wendy and Pam, to prepare both themselves and their children for their imminent deaths.
Pam's children, Felix (13) and Lydia (10), are older but both mothers desperately wanted their children to know not just how much they loved them, but how much they didn't want to leave them.
They were helped to move beyond the paralysis of fear brought about by their diagnosis, into translating their love into actions.
This involved the keeping of a diary, the writing of a "Mummy Manual" so that their children would know what they would have wanted for them in the normal everyday matters of homework, bedtimes, relationships, etc.
They also created memory boxes for each child, with photos, little notes recalling good times, cards with "I love you because . . . ", and items sprayed with a favourite perfume. It was hard for the mothers to write, as Pam put it, "like you're not going to be here when you so want to be here".
Julie also helped the children to express their emotions and fears about the possibility of losing their mothers. Felix and Lydia knew much more than their parents realised, despite their desire to protect them, and both wanted to be more involved.
As Wendy's children were so young, Julie had to uncover their thoughts and fears through play and drawing. Imogen, dressed as a fairy, danced round each room casting spells to make her mummy well, but her Lego figure mummy died and had to be put in heaven.
Sadly, during the making of the first programme, Pam died, and Julie's intervention continued at the funeral, where the mourners where asked to write their memory of Pam on a card to add to the children's memory box.
We witnessed the children opening Pam's memory boxes five weeks after she died, and the comfort that this provided for them in their time of need.
While at times unbearably painful to watch, this is a powerful series, which manages to deal with intensely personal trauma without seeming intrusive. We owe a debt of gratitude to the families for helping us to see that the power of the love of a parent for their child can help the unbearable to be borne.
Julie Stokes urges all parents to create memory boxes for their children, just in case. How many of us will take up that challenge?
Review by Olive Travers, occupational psychologist