I watched (as I’m sure many others did) a TV programme on triplets the other night. For anyone that didn’t see it, the programme featured four sets of identical triplets, all living in the UK. While it was fascinating, the underlying tone seemed to be ‘Look! Look! There are THREE PEOPLE and they look EXACTLY THE SAME!’ Isn’t that WEIRD?! We should POINT and GASP at them!’.

Yes, identical twins and triplets are absolutely fascinating but not necessarily in the ways the programme chose to highlight. As a mum (and a mum of multiples at that), I was more interested in finding out how the parents coped with the shock of a triplet pregnancy, how the mother coped with the birth, how they dealt with three tiny babies that looked EXACTLY THE SAME (see? They’ve got me at it now), how the siblings coped as they grew up together, that sort of thing.

Instead, they participated in a series of not very serious or scientific ‘tests’: can boy triplets fool girl triplets into thinking they are the same person and are they competitive with each other, for example. The old chestnut about ESP or a ‘sixth sense’ was revisited. The test they did (all wired up to sensors, one got an electric shock, the other two were blindfolded and their brain activity was measured) showed there was some form of reaction from the other two when one received the shock, but it wasn’t explored in any great detail.

I’m not convinced that the programme did much to alter the perception of multiple births. The science behind identical triplets was given a cursory glance and didn’t differentiate between other types of multiples. The sameness of the triplets was highlighted over and over again but they didn’t talk enough about their possible differences, e.g. relationships, ambitions, qualifications, values, etc. One of a set of girl triplets went to Australia for several months, leaving her sisters behind. This should have opened up a discussion on separation and development away from the sibling group. Instead the (undeniably beautiful) girls were filmed being photogenically sad at the airport.

I feel it was an opportunity wasted. The subject of multiple births was given a prime time slot and the programme makers failed to see the potential of the subject. There are very few programmes on multiple births in the UK (most I’ve seen are American) and aside from a series on satellite TV from five years ago (the wonderful ‘Baby Baby’) and the inevitable media scrum when quads or more are born, few people understand what a multiple pregnancy/birth is like. Identical triplets are worthy of discussion but only when the subject matter is treated sensitively and with respect, not like bearded ladies or two headed goats at the fair.