I am so glad someone has come out and said this. We were shown something similar in the late'60s/early '70s and it's not an exaggeration to say that I was put off childbirth for life. I have never felt able to explain this to anyone and I so regret knowing too much - if it had all been a bit of a mystery I would probably have been a very happy mother. Sadly, it's too late now for me, and it seems, others like me. Hopefully there are lessons to be learned. Thank you to everyone else who shared their experience - at least I now know I am not alone.

Susan James, Glos., UK,

Bravo Helen...Bravo! You dear, sweet person!

Gary H Holbrook, Golden, Colorado

No, Jean, I guess it didn't. Then again it's possible to have sex without having a child. So, no need to avoid it.

LBB, Austin, TX, USA

I agree with MP and with Ms Mirren - in fact I think I must have been forced to watch the same film! It certainly had the same effect on me.

Chris, Rugby, UK

i can sympathise with her views. i was in a convent school and at age 15 we were shown a horrifyingly graphic film about childbirth. I swore then that i wouldn't put myself through that ever. Subconsciously i also sought out partners who couldnt or wouldnt have children. That said, i am now at a stage where i feel ready and brave to have children but wish i hadnt been put off by childbirth because by now i could have been a mother.

MP, london,

It seems to me the film would have deterred her from having sex as well as from having a baby. That didn't seem to happen though, did it.

Jean, Sullivan, IN USA

If it's anything like the film I saw when I was at school (UK) in the early 1970's I can quite understand it - you couldn't opt out and it was very graphic! They used to warn the school nurse when it was being shown as people would either throw up or pass out -the record was three people passing out in a class of only 15!

LR, Norwich, UK

Doesn't this moving story - and the devastating effect it had on Helen Mirren's life - provide some insight into the hyper sensitive nature of adolescents. The received wisdom today is that every human activity should be explained as early and graphically as possible. Two examples from fiction and fact -In the Archers story line an 8 year old is told his mother has been raped- by her. and in real life foster children are to be taken From a Somerset couple because they refuse to explain homosexualitiy to the children in their care. Both assume that 'facts' must be conveyed by parents and to young children.
Perhaps that isn't quite right and children, whilst they should not be left in ignorance and should have all queries answered as far as possible, surely must be allowed to develop in their own way and sometimes that is in blissful ignorance of some of the grittier and toughtr aspects of life and physiology.

Anne Garvey, Cambridge, UK