Jamie Laing: New reality show reveals ‘raw journey’ of parenthood
Laing and his wife Sophie Habboo star in a new three-part reality TV series, which can be streamed on Disney+ from next month.
Radio presenter Jamie Laing has said it was “nerve-wracking” to have cameras film him and wife Sophie Habboo as they became parents for the first time.
The couple, who starred together in Made In Chelsea, are the subjects of a new three-part reality TV series, which documents them as they try to conceive and then become pregnant.
The show, which can be streamed on Disney+ from next month, features footage of baby Ziggy’s birth in December, and then follows the pair as they adapt to life with a newborn.
Asked why they wanted to have such intimate details of their lives filmed, Laing said: “Well, my poor wife, Sophie, married someone who really loves to be behind the camera, in front of the camera, has recorded and documented everything forever. I always have.”
The BBC Radio One host said viewers can expect a “true, real, raw journey of going through pregnancy together as a couple, the ups and downs, the lefts and the rights”.
He said they did not want scenes to be set up as in Channel 4’s Made In Chelsea.
“We’re not going to stage anything, we’re not going to do a Made In Chelsea where we’re going to set up scenes. We’re just going to do it properly,” he added.
“This genuinely is showing everything because we were so used to having cameras there. And it’s nerve-wracking because people are always going to judge.”
Habboo added: “And with the birth scene, we really didn’t expect to go in there. I didn’t actually want to film that, but it’s there and it’s real and that is the story and that is what happened.
“If I’m totally truthful, there were times where I thought, ‘that surely isn’t going to be kept in. That’s not going to be aired’. But it’s life. I do feel a little bit nervous about it.”
The series also features both of the couple’s mothers, with Habboo describing Laing’s as “Jamie as a woman”.
“I feel like they’re built for this show. Jamie and his mum love the cameras and they have huge personalities,” she added.
The couple have hosted a range of red carpet events, such as the Brit Awards together, along with their own podcast series, NearlyWeds and its follow-up series, NewlyWeds and NearlyParents.
Habboo also joined Laing as a presenter last summer on his Radio 1 show when his co-presenter Vick Hope went on maternity leave.
Raising Chelsea can be streamed on Disney+ from April 2.
