Katie Price: What Harvey Did Next follows the progress of Katie's son, Harvey Price, as he moves away from the family home to begin a new chapter in his life.
Last year, in 2021, the moving documentary, Katie Price: Harvey and Me, gave a candid insight into Katie and her son Harvey's home life and followed the daily challenges of caring for a child with complex needs.
Katie's eldest son, Harvey, now 19, was born with a number of physical and neurological conditions. He has septo-optic dysplasia and autism.
Speaking about the hugely positive response she and Harvey received from the original documentary Katie says, "To hear how so many people connected with our story and how it helped families going through similar experiences made me so proud."
In the follow-up documentary, Katie Price: What Harvey Did Next, which airs Monday, March 7 at 9 pm on BBC1, cameras follow Katie and Harvey for six months as Harvey leaves the family home in Sussex to begin a more independent life at specialist college National Star College in Cheltenham and live full-time in his own flat on the college campus.
Here Katie Price tells us all about the documentary and her hopes for Harvey...
Why did you want to do a follow up to 'Harvey and Me' and what do you hope audiences will take from watching it?
Katie Price says, "With the first documentary I think it ended on a 'I want to know what happens’, so there then needed to be a second one. This one is more in depth with Harvey, more of an insight and more opened up."
As Harvey develops into adulthood, what are your main hopes and goals for him?
"The main goal for me is Harvey definitely learning all the independent skills and understanding a bit more about danger. For example, when you’re making a cup of tea to know that if you’re going to spill it it’s hot - it’s just little things like that. Or being able to put the washing on and then put the covers back on the bed, for me it’s more independent stuff like that."
What's your message to parents in a similar situation to you, who might be fearing that next step?
"Other parents out there can see that I’ve been an absolute full-on, hands-on mother to Harvey. I’ve brought him up on my own and he’s a credit to me. It's really hard work, it’s draining, and I know it affects your life but it's not Harvey's fault. It does teach you patience."
"For anyone out there doing it, I have great respect for them. It does come to a point where sometimes you have to let go and let other people help. Him moving way, it gives me anxiety, because I know him best. I think, 'Are they going to wash him properly? Are they going to give him the right food, are they going to help him lose weight, and do his meds?' All this goes through your mind. It's hard to let go but it's important for him to learn some independence."
A child leaving home is something that all parents have to go through. How hard did you find it with Harvey?
"My other kids will be teenagers and they will go off, they’ll drive and then they’ll come back and use the house as a hotel. Harvey can’t do that. He's at residential three hours away and I have to go to him and we have to plan. It will always be like that. I can plan to do something with him when I'm with him, but if I turn up and he doesn’t want to do it then those plans go out the window. You get used to that, I’ve had 19 years of it."
What do you think is next for Harvey?
"I can’t wait to see what the next three years brings with him hopefully him at college. I sit there now and think ‘Oh my god, how else can he surprise me?’ because he surprises me every year. Six years ago, he didn’t really talk and now he talks all the time. Ten years ago he was in a wheelchair, he wouldn’t even walk now look at him! He's like his own little man. I’m not allowed to call him a boy, he’s like ‘No I’m a man!’."
When people say you can’t do something, do you want to prove them wrong?
"With Harvey, it’s always been me and him; I do like a challenge. I like to set myself goals because the more people put me down, the more they say ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that’, I turn it around, I’m driven by it. Don't get me wrong, there are obstacles all the time and dramas, trust me I’ve been there, but you’ve always got to have that little fight in you to try and get through it."
Do you think that fighting, independent spirit is something you’ve passed on to Harvey?
"I think with Harv, the biggest strength I’ve seen with him is when he’s been in hospital and when he’s been fighting an illness or something, particularly when there are needles going in and out of his arms. To see just how strong he is, he says, ‘Look Mum, I’m brave.' He’s a fighter, he’s strong and he does more than anyone ever thought he would do. Now he’s going to do even more."
Katie Price: What Harvey Did Next airs on Monday, March 7 at 9pm on BBC1
