Joe Wicks is to front a one-off mental health documentary.
Joe Wicks
The 34-year-old fitness expert - who was a hit with the nation last year thanks to his lockdown daily P.E. lessons - will star in a 60-minute BBC film, in which he will look back on his childhood and speak with family and friends to explore how his experiences with a heroin-addicted father and mother with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) shaped his passion for health.
Joe said: "I've spent a lot of time helping people improve their physical health, but as a child that grew up in a home with parents that struggled with their mental health, I know that this is just as important, especially given what's happened over the last year.
"I'm passionate about exploring it and I want to use my own experience to connect and help families today who are in similar situations to the one I was in. I also want to share the message that exercise can be a really powerful tool in helping to boost our mental health."
Louis Theroux will serve as executive producer on the documentary and hailed being involved as a "complete thrill and privilege".
He said: "I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who flocked to Joe’s online work-outs on that first day of PE With Joe back in March 2020.
"I’m a true believer in Joe’s mission of improving your mental wellbeing through exercise and it is a complete thrill and privilege to be able to spread the word further in this documentary, while also showing a side of the nation’s favourite PE teacher they have never seen before. This is a dream project for me.”
With an estimated 3.7 million children in England living in a home where an adult has a mental health issue, Joe will explore how to better support these youngsters and what else can be done to improve the nation's mental wellbeing.
'Joe Wicks: Mental Health, My Family And Me' will air on BBC One and iPlayer.
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