Throng

families at war (1/5)
20.00–21.00

Five's Trisha Goddard embarks upon a brand new series in which she and a team of experts attempt to help a group of families besieged by arguments, feuds and deep-rooted tensions. Five families will each spend three days at a country house in a beautiful part of Norfolk, where the calming country air can work its magic. Trisha's first family consists of a group of sisters at war.

Aiding Trisha in her efforts to bring about change are Jamil Qureshi and Andy Duncan. Jamil and Andy are experts in the field of 'mind-shaping' – a powerful mix of hypnosis and psychotherapy. The
pair hope that their treatment will transform the behaviour of the feuding family members and allow them to see their pasts and futures differently. Trisha, meanwhile, uses her considerable experience in
conflict resolution to help the participants begin their journeys to reconciliation.

Tonight's family is made up of four sisters – Caroline, Tracey, Richelle and Kirsty – and their mum, Gwen. Eldest sister Caroline grew up in care from the age of four, and her behaviour has now driven her mum and sisters to despair. Sibling Tracey describes her as "two-faced, backstabbing and conniving", while mum Gwen says that though she loves her daughter, she cannot stand the person that she is. As Kirsty, the youngest of the four sisters explains: "If we don't get help, the family is going to fall apart."

As the women arrive for the first of three days of treatment, Trisha attempts to get straight to the heart of the matter and unearths a host of past ordeals. Caroline and her brother Jason were taken into
care during mother Gwen's postnatal depression. After this trauma, it emerged that the father of the three younger girls sexually abused Caroline. Things got even worse when Jason died of cancer in 1993. This chain of events led to feelings of guilt, anger, shame and bereavement, with blame being apportioned throughout the family. Trisha knows that her job will not be easy: "There's so much work to be done with this family".

One rule of the Norfolk treatment house is that all members of the family must cook and eat together, so Trisha sets them their first assignment: in order to reopen lines of communication, the women must
put together a shopping list. While the task sounds simple, it immediately causes problems, with arguments breaking out amongst the sisters about the quantities of chocolate and alcohol on the list.

The next step is for the family to sit down together and discuss the origins of their problems. The women are encouraged to be honest with each other, sharing truths about what incidents they see as being responsible for the discord. When asked what the worst thing any family member had done to her, Caroline shockingly responds: "My mum sleeping with my dad [her stepfather] after he'd done what he did to me." But it seems that Tracey also has some dark secrets, as she bursts into tears and leaves the room when her turn comes.

As an explosive first day draws to a close, Trisha hands the case over to Jamil and Andy. Jamil is aware that there are many issues to be dealt with in just two days, but he is not daunted by the task. Early
next morning, he takes Gwen aside to hear her side of the story and learns that Caroline seems to have been hit hardest by the loss of Jason. He also discovers that despite their problems, Gwen loves her
daughters very much. In order to allow better understanding of each other's problems, Jamil makes them create 'mood boards', using pictures to express their emotions.

Upstairs in the 'expert area', Caroline has her first consultation with Andy and describes yet another trauma – she lost a baby daughter to cot death 11 years ago. It emerges that Caroline blames herself for this tragic accident. "Well today's the day your sentence can come to an end," says Andy to an emotional Caroline.

After a day of intensive therapies, great progress has been made, with the women talking to each other for the first time in years. However, there is still a long way to go: "If we continue to make this progress it will be great," explains Jamil. "But I'm fully aware things can go backwards."