Open Space — Season 1, Episode 3: Christine's Children

Episode synopsis

Three years ago Christine Ridg well and her two young daughters were paid a rare visit by her ex-husband. Although Christine had been granted custody of the girls, he snatched them and took them to his new home in Italy. She tells of her long and harrowing fight for her children. Her case is not unique: right now at least 500 children, snatched from Britain, are still outside the country, outside our laws.

About Open Space

Open Space was a programme produced by the BBC's Community Programme Unit. It was an evolution of the earlier Open Door series of programmes allowing minority points of view to make a television programme about issues of concern to them. The programmes were transmitted on BBC 2 in a mid-evening slot and would attract audiences between 500,000 and 1,500,000. In a typical year there would be two or three groups of up to eight Open Space programmes each usually half an hour long. A producer, an assistant and a budget of up to £25,000 would be allocated to each programme.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Power in Your Hands
• E2Time and Other Thieves
• E4Chingari - The Spark
• E5National Health Service: 1: the Consultant's Tale
• E6National Health Service: 2: Mission of Mersey
• E7National Health Service: 3: On Whose Authority?
• E8A Day Off the Buses
• E9Ducking the Rocks - A Social Worker's Life
• E10Downtown Video
• E11Health Care: Your Money or Your Life
• E12A Healthy Future?
• E13A Midsummer Night’s Belfast