Channel 4 Orders Stroke Documentary Trauma: My Broken Brain

Channel 4 has ordered Trauma: My Broken Brain, a documentary series following three young people living with the aftermath of a stroke.

The series is made in partnership with the Stroke Association. It is produced by Stream Media Group, with the commission first reported as an exclusive by Deadline on 30 September 2026.

The three subjects are all in their twenties or younger. Each story picks up after the initial medical crisis, during the long period of recovery and rehabilitation.

Dan is 28. A dancer before his stroke, he was left confined to a wheelchair and barely able to speak after emergency brain surgery. Saskia is 22. She was left bedbound after a severe brain bleed. Dec is 20. He collapsed and spent weeks in a coma.

The cameras stayed with them for seven months. That extended shoot allows the series to track small changes over time, rather than a single moment in hospital.

Filming took place with access to two NHS hospital trusts in the North West of England. They are The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, a specialist centre for neurology and brain surgery, and Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

The show was ordered by Simon Lee, the Channel 4 commissioning executive — the channel executive who signs off the programme. Victoria Noble and Ben Padfield serve as executive producers, overseeing the series creatively and editorially. Laura Hooper is the producer on the day-to-day production. Storm Theunissen is the series director, guiding the filming and storytelling across the episodes.

Stroke is often associated with older people. For viewers, this means the focus here is different. It is on young adults facing speech loss, limited mobility and long stays in bed at the point in life when many are starting work, training or independent living.

No transmission date has been announced. The partnership with the Stroke Association points to support and information running alongside the broadcast.