Davina McCall takes viewers on a 'pill revolution'

When the contraceptive pill was first approved for use in the US in 1960, it was truly life changing.

By allowing women to take charge of their fertility, critics and supporters alike argued that it paved the way for a sexual revolution.

However, more than 60 years on, there seems to be some suggestion that women are falling out of love with the pill, and in this documentary, Davina McCall is asking why.

This isn’t the first time the former Big Brother host (and Masked Singer judge) has tackled the subject of women’s health. In 2021, she fronted the documentary Sex, Myths and the Menopause, in which she aimed to get rid of some of the taboos surrounding ‘the change’.

It was clearly a subject that was close to heart. Speaking at the time the film aired, she said: “I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a project that has affected me so deeply. I get home after filming and sometimes I just sit down and cry… from deep frustration and anger at how we are failing women.

“This film isn’t just for menopausal women, it’s for their partners, their fathers, their brothers, and their sons. We’re all in this together. I used to think that menopause was an age thing and now I realise it’s a woman thing.

She added: “For far too long, there’s been a shroud of embarrassment, shame and fear around this topic, and this is where it stops.”

It seems it also made her realise that their needed to be a wider conversation around issues affecting women. She told the magazine Women’s Health: “With the success of the documentary and then the subsequent outpouring from people that they just don’t have enough information, I realised that there’s still so much information to give.

“I have a platform that I can use to get the message out there. If I was going to ever use it for anything, this is my time to use what I’ve got.”

So, now she’s tackling contraception, and the choices that are available to her daughters and their friends.

She finds that more people are questioning whether they want to put synthetic hormones into their bodies, and that women are taking to social media to speak out about the side effects they have endured.

The result has been a decrease in the use of a pill – and an increase in the use of natural family planning methods. But just how reliable are the natural methods, and can women always access the contraception they need?

Davina finds out as she bust some myths, while also revealing the results of a Channel 4 survey of over 4,000 women about the effects of contraception on their mental and physical health, and how easy it is to find the right information and solutions.

Once again, Davina finds herself whether enough is being done to support and educate women on an issue which has huge implications for their wellbeing.