Cherry Healey: Old Before My Time - Episode Guide

In the first programme, Cherry meets medical experts who are treating young recovering alcoholics like Jo, who has damaged her liver so much that her stomach is filled with 23 litres of fluid which must be drained every three weeks. She also meets 21-year-old Mat, who fell into an alcohol-induced coma and had to have a liver transplant.

In the second programme, Cherry meets young people who are having health problems associated with their past drug use and the medical experts who are treating them. 20-year-old Chris is having lung problems and developed such a serious addiction to cannabis that he ended up in residential rehab. Vicky is now in recovery from her cocaine addiction, but has been having heart problems. Cherry meets the mother of 21-year-old Hester who died after taking what was at the time a legal drug, GBL.

In the final programme, Cherry meets young people who are dangerously obese and the surgeons who are treating them. Clair gained weight through a combination of stress and medication and has now developed a range of obesity-related illnesses like gout, asthma and bad joints and is on more medication than your average OAP. Clair is having gastric bypass surgery, a major and irreversible step as a last ditch resort to control her obesity.

Tom also gained weight through medication and developed non-alcoholic liver disease. To cure his condition, he has been fitted with a gastric balloon to try and shed some of his 22 stone and six months on he has already lost five stone.