Leading TV producer: it's 'remiss and thoughtless' to make programmes without disabled people in them

It is 'remiss and thoughtless' for producers to keep telling stories without disabled people in them, 'it doesn't make any sense' - that's the view of the Head of Drama at Lime Pictures in Liverpool.

Louise Sutton, who has also produced two episodes of the award winning Black Mirror series, has joined a growing list of TV executives who have pledged to audition more disabled actors for all their new shows.

It follows what she described as a 'lightbulb moment' after she was invited to speak to the Disabled Artists Networking Community, set up by Coronation Street Actors Cherylee Houston and Melissa Johns, working with TripleC Manchester.

One in five of us has a disability but that's hardly ever portrayed on screen.

The soap Hollyoaks, produced in Liverpool is leading the way and has introduced the first actor with autism to a mainstream drama. Talia Grant has Asperger's and plays teenager Brooke Hathaway.

Talia told us:

"I'm very observant I hear things so much more loudly than anyone, I smell things so much more strongly. I remember being in a room and it smelt like wet sneezes. I think my character has that as well and it is really a portrayal of what a lot of people go through."

In the second of her special reports our correspondent Elaine Willcox has been talking to some of the cast on set.