A series of programmes produced with the help of the University's Autism Research Centre has been nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts).

‘The Transporters' series is nominated in the Learning Primary category at the Children's BAFTAs taking place on Sunday 25 November. The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony taking place this weekend at the Hilton in London.

‘The Transporters' is a series of 15 five-minute episodes which aim to help autistic children learn about human emotions. The programme features eight toys with human faces, each representing a different emotion.

The series was made available for free on DVD to families with autistic children. All 40,000 copies of the show have been taken.

Early reports from research conducted have suggested that watching the films leads to increased emotional recognition in such children.

Professor Baron-Cohen said: "It is wonderful that a project designed to help pre-schoolers with autism has been judged to be competitive in the context of national film and television. It is great that universities like Cambridge can reach out to a community right across the UK, in this case parents of children on the autistic spectrum.”

The Autism Research Centre is situated within the School of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Psychiatry. The centre aims to understand the biomedical causes for the range of autism conditions.

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