Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice - Season 1

1x1 - Leo and Yasmin

February 2, 2011

Burns survivor Leo meets self-proclaimed beauty addict Yasmin. When 59-year-old Leo from County Durham was 14, a fire at the shop he worked in left him with third-degree burns to his hands, face and legs. Leo survived the fire, but has since undergone over 120 different operations to rectify the damage and has been left with significant scarring. He is fiercely against the use of plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes and believes that women in particular are pressurised to attempt to emulate the physical perfection seen in the media. Leo meets beauty addict Yasmin, who spends 40 days a year doing her make up and would rather be vain than ugly. Yasmin is desperate to have breast surgery and would also like liposuction. With the help of Dr. Laxmi Kathuria, a psychiatrist who specialises in body image, Yasmin and Leo explore the reasons behind Yasmin's obsession with her appearance. Will their shared experience change their perceptions of each other? Will Leo manage to convince Yasmin that surgery is not the answer to her self image issues? And can the pair agree on what it truly means to be beautiful? Throughout the series Adam Pearson, who lives with Neurofibromatosis, which has given him a facial disfigurement, investigates the level of prejudice in society and gives a voice to those normally excluded from the beauty debate. This week Adam devises his own advertising campaign and takes it to the streets to see if the British public are ready to accept a different ideal of beauty.

1x2 - Sarah and Susan

February 9, 2011

Sarah claims to be Britain's most cosmetically enhanced woman. She meets Susan, who has had over 60 corrective surgeries due to childhood cancer. Susan and Sarah are two outgoing and passionate people with very different views on beauty and the beauty industry. Fifty-year-old Sarah says she would try any treatment to turn back the body clock. From breast augmentation to rhinoplasty, this self-proclaimed 'vain cow' jokes that the only thing she has not had done is her feet. Sarah freely admits she would like to go to the grave looking 18. She is terrified of ageing and evangelical about the benefits of cosmetic surgery. She even carries cosmetic fillers in her handbag so she can inject herself when ever she feels that her face `needs a top up'. Forty-six-year old Susan from Edinburgh has had over 60 surgeries to correct the damage caused by a cancerous tumour and subsequent radiation treatment when she was a baby. Blind in her left eye and with reduced hearing, Susan is not prepared to sit at home and hide. When told that reconstructive surgery on her face could be either cosmetic or functional, she made the choice that it should be functional, saying there would be nothing worse that not being able to eat or drink. Susan believes in living the life that you have, and living it to the fullest rather than striving for the perfection. She has struggled to combat the prejudice of others throughout her life but feels confident and happy exactly how she is. Susan is keen to show Sarah that beauty is only skin deep, but does Sarah even care? With the help of Dr. Laxmi Kathuria, a psychiatrist who specialises in body image, Sarah and Susan put their many differences aside to explore when and how Sarah's obsession with her appearance started and how Susan has built up her confidence in the face of the prejudice of others. Adam Pearson, who lives with a facial disfigurement caused by his Neurofibromatosis, investigates the world of celebrity and why people like him are virtually invisible on TV, in movies and pop music. Where they do appear it is usually cast as the villain, such as Bond villain Blofeld. Adam meets a casting director to see if the times have changed and the industry is ready for him to play the Hollywood hero. He also meets the man behind the Spice Girls, Chris Herbert, for an opinion on whether his looks are still a barrier to people like him breaking into pop.

1x3 - Andy and Elicia

February 16, 2011

Andy Tedder, who has Treacher Collins syndrome, meets Manchester beauty queen Elicia Davies. As the reigning Miss Manchester, 23-year-old Elicia is totally dependent on makeup, taking up to three hours every morning putting it on. Elicia thinks nothing of spending the majority of her salary on her appearance. Andy tries to persuade beauty queen Elicia Davies that beauty really is more than skin deep. A landscape gardener from Bournemouth, Andy has Treacher Collins syndrome, a genetic condition that affects 1 in 10,000 people. The condition stopped his facial bones developing in the womb, as well as his ears. Andy has had to endure years of painful reconstructive surgery and taunts from the public. When the two first meet, Elicia isn't shy in expressing her shock at Andy's condition, and admitting that if she looked like him she wouldn't be happy. And Andy is equally as shocked by Elicia's dependency on makeup and flippant desire for plastic surgery. With the guidance of psychiatrist Dr Laxmi Kathuria, Andy and Elicia begin to confront for the first time the personal insecurities that have plagued them throughout their lives. Will Andy ever gain the courage to put himself out there and find love, and can Elicia stop hiding behind the armour and free herself from the beauty beast? Also this episode, campaigner Adam Pearson investigates the wide-spread use of airbrushing in magazines and advertising, and enlists the help of a digital re-toucher to see if giving him the perfect symmetrical face can make him more 'beautiful' in the eyes of the public.

1x4 - Jessica and Chloe

February 23, 2011

Can one young mum with a facial disfigurement convince a young glamour model that there is more to life than looking pretty? Twenty-six-year-old mum Jessica Whitfield was born with a haemangioma on the right hand side of her face. After growing to the size of a tennis ball, much of the tumour was removed; but it left a prominent scar, which has caused the side of Jessica's face to sag. After years of unwanted attention from the public, Jessica feels excluded from the image-obsessed world we live in and worries about the carefree attitude to cosmetic surgery that is sweeping the nation. For 22-year-old glamour model and mum Chloe Page, looking good is more than a lifestyle choice - it's her career. She spends a staggering one month of the year applying makeup, at a cost of over £300 per month. Despite this, Chloe still sees herself as far from perfect and, having already enhanced her breasts, has liposuction and a nose job on her cosmetic surgery wish list. When the two first meet, Chloe is shocked and saddened by Jessica's appearance, while Jessica is amazed that, with a two-year-old daughter, Chloe still manages to spend so much time on her appearance. However, these initial preconceptions are soon thrown into doubt, as a day spent in each other's lives reveals which of the two mums is really the biggest victim of the beauty beast. With the help of psychiatrist Dr Laxmi Kathuria, Chloe finally confronts the body-image insecurities that have burdened her since childhood. But can Chloe overcome these insecurities, put her wish for more cosmetic surgery on hold, and become the confident mother and role model for her child that she longs to be? Meanwhile, campaigner Adam Pearson looks at the discrimination people with facial disfigurements face in the workplace, and undertakes his own experiment to see if looks really do matter when serving the public.

1x5 - Michael and Laura

March 2, 2011

A budding Olympic hopeful and burns victim comes to the aid of a self-confessed beautyholic whose obsession has put her thousands of pounds in debt. At eight months old Michael Boateng was left with significant facial scarring when he rolled off his mother's bed and became trapped with his face against a boiling hot water pipe. Michael sustained severe burns and lost an ear, and after undergoing four painful skin grafts, lived through years of hurtful name calling. As a way of coping, Michael turned to sport and now hopes to compete in the 2012 London Olympics. But he also remains determined to put a stop to the trend for quick surgical fixes. On the other side of the debate is Laura Summers, a woman whose obsession with her appearance is threatening to consume her life. Laura has spent the past eight years chasing her dreams of physical perfection, with costly consequences. Now, the numerous surgical procedures - including several boob and nose jobs, botox and lip fillers - have left her a whopping £30,000 in debt. With the help of psychiatrist Dr Laxmi Kathuria, can Michael convince Laura to accept her natural body, learn her limits and quell her beauty obsession for good? Also in this episode Adam Pearson questions the fashion industry's notion of beauty and takes his campaign to London Fashion Week, where he stages a runway show to prove that models of all shapes and sizes are beautiful.

Adam and Louisa

Beauty and the Beast: The Ugly Face of Prejudice - S1 - E6