One of my favourite characters these days is Marcus, the midwife who, wretchedly, is no longer with Sean. The scriptwriters need to remedy that one soon.
Anyway, the actor who plays Marcus, Charlie Condou, popped up on BBC Breakfast this morning to talk about his family arrangements. He and his partner Cameron are bringing up his two children with their mother, a straight female friend, Catherine. They live separately, but share the care of their toddler and 8 month old daughter and son. If I say it's all very unremarkable, I don't mean that parenting isn't special. It is, and I love being a mum more than anything else in life. The way these children are being brought up, shared between two homes - with the added benefit that all three parents get on really well - follows the same pattern as many other families these days - is a pretty good example to follow.
It is important, I think, to show how these unconventional families can work really well. What matters is how well the parents meet the children's needs, not gender of the participants. Take that, Daily Mail.
Charlie mentioned that he'd written a column in the Guardian about the family's experiences. I should have been working this morning but allowed myself to be distracted for far too long by it. It's well written, funny and every parent will empathise. Do go and allow yourself to be distracted too. There are worse things you could be doing this lunchtime.
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