Paddy McGuinness thanks fans as they flood social media with praise for ‘wonderfully honest and emotional’ autism documentary

Paddy McGuinness and his wife Christine opened up in the honest documentary (Picture: BBC / Twitter)

Fans took to social media to applaud Paddy McGuinness and his wife Christine after their ‘wonderfully honest and emotional’ documentary Our Family and Autism aired.

Viewers couldn’t praise the parents enough as they shared a look at their lives as parents to three autistic children: eight-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and five-year-old Felicity.

In the run-up to the show’s broadcast, both 33-year-old Christine and 48-year-old Paddy shared their nerves and pride over the documentary, which was four years in the making, with Christine even sharing a peek at her workout in the gym, which he captioned: ‘Just getting rid of some nervous anxiety here.’

As the positive reviews and responses came flooding in though, Top Gear presenter Paddy took to Twitter to thank people for their support.

‘Thank you all for your kind words and wonderful support. It means the world to me and my family. x,’ he wrote.

During the documentary, Christine and Paddy visited schoolkids and young adults with autism to find out more about what the future could hold for their own children, as well as Christine revealing her own autism diagnosis and former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes opening up about his 16-year-old nonverbal autistic son, Aiden.

Christine shared her nerves ahead of the documentary airing (Picture: Instagram/mrscmcguinness)

Comedian Jonny Vegas shared his praise for the documentary, writing: ‘What a beautiful, open, informative and emotive documentary currently showing on @BBCOne discussing #autism in our children.

‘Thank you to @PaddyMcGuinness , family and other contributors for sharing and opening up such an important topic for conversation.’

One fan called the show ‘brilliant, illuminating and powerful’, while another dubbed it ‘fascinating’.

Many were delighted to see their own experiences with autism reflected in the documentary.

‘Incredibly important documentary, very personal and very brave,’ praised one viewer. ‘As the parent of a wonderful child with an ASD ‘diagnosis’ I hope that it goes some way towards raising awareness, understanding and compassion.’

It was emotional at times for the parents (Picture: BBC)

‘A wonderfully honest and emotional watch tonight on #OurFamilyAndAutism #paddymcguinness you should all feel so proud, you have an amazing family,’ wrote another.

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Some were in tears at the show, as one fan commented: ‘I wasn’t expecting to be blubbin [sic] this evening. @PaddyMcGuinness and Christine. You’re both gorgeous and doing a wonderful job as parents and adults navigating life.

‘By sharing your story you’ll help many people in all sorts of ways!’

Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism is available on BBC iPlayer.

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