Motherhood can feel full of judgement - sometimes over the smallest decisions, sometimes over the ones that change everything. But what happens when the stakes couldn't be higher?

In Judged: A Mother's Love, Katie Bridget Murphy explores three extraordinary stories of mothers facing impossible choices - choices that shaped birth, everyday life, and even death. These decisions didn't just transform their families; they variously uncovered hidden truths, challenged laws, and helped changed society itself. Through powerful testimony and expert insight, this series asks: what happens when motherhood is pushed to its limits?

Writer and Producer: Katie Bridget Murphy Senior Producer: Ophelia Byrne Executive Producer: Elizabeth Clark Sound Engineers: John Benson and Davy Neill Sound Design: Bill Maul Artwork: Tom Cunningham Assistant Commissioner: Prabhjit Bains Commissioning Editor: Khaliq Meer

Judged: A Mother's Love is a BBC Audio Northern Ireland production with BBC Sounds Audio Lab.

Katie Bridget Murphy meets actor Patrick FitzSymons, whose life takes a dramatic turn when he discovers he was adopted and that his birth was illegally registered. From fake pregnancies to falsified documents, Patrick’s story reveals the lengths some went to in a society steeped in shame. Then, Patrick realises his case is not unique. It could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Writer and Producer: Katie Bridget Murphy Senior Producer: Ophelia Byrne Executive Producer: Elizabeth Clark Sound Engineers: John Benson and Davy Neill Sound Design: Bill Maul Artwork: Tom Cunningham Assistant Commissioner: Prabhjit Bains Commissioning Editor: Khaliq Meer

Judged: A Mother’s Love is a BBC Audio Northern Ireland production with BBC Sounds Audio Lab.

Patrick FitzSymons seeks justice for an illegal adoption that rewrote his identity. His story helps uncover decades of secrecy, cross-border adoptions, and a state that turned a blind eye. As Ireland’s Taoiseach issues a historic apology on this issue, Patrick takes legal action - one of the first to do so. But after years of struggle, what does justice look like for Patrick, and for his birth & adoptive mothers whose choices, he believes, were shaped by shame?

Writer and Producer: Katie Bridget Murphy Senior Producer: Ophelia Byrne Executive Producer: Elizabeth Clark Sound Engineers: John Benson and Davy Neill Sound Design: Bill Maul Artwork: Tom Cunningham Assistant Commissioner: Prabhjit Bains Commissioning Editor: Khaliq Meer

Judged: A Mother’s Love is a BBC Audio Northern Ireland production with BBC Sounds Audio Lab.