In each episode of the series I tracked down witnesses, discovered key sites and pieced together the extraordinary survival story of a child raised wild.

Hunting down the truth, extracting reality from all the lies and tall tales surrounding cases like these was never going to be easy.

Children who grow up outside the bounds of 'normal' society can give us insight into human child development, into cultural attitudes to disability, and how different societies categorise and explain relationships between humans and animals. They can reveal something about what it is to be human.

But these strange, feral children are also often a source of shame and secrecy within a family or community.

These aren't Jungle Book stories, they're often harrowing cases of neglect and abuse. And it's all too likely because of a tragic combination of addiction, domestic violence and poverty.These are kids who fell through the cracks, who were forgotten, or ignored, or hidden.

I feel privileged to have met these people - they've survived extraordinary experiences. And I was inspired to see the ways they're being rehabilitated, and to witness the love and devotion of their carers now.

We filmed the series in Fiji, Ukraine and Uganda. See some pics from the shoots at 'IMAGES' (on left).

Check out raisedwild.wordpress.com for more on the phenomenon of Feral Children and some of my research about resilience, language acquisition, notions of childhood, and the way animals and the wild are classified in different cultures.