Joe Swash will be exploring the “untold stories” of Britain’s teenagers in care in a new BBC documentary titled Joe Swash: Teens in Care.

The I’m A Celeb star who is married to Stacey Solomon, said he found it “really difficult” to leave the children in the situations they were in when he was filming.

His journey of discovery follows the long-awaited publication of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.

The report said the number of children aged 16 and over in care has increased by 37% in the last decade alone and now Joe wants to know more as it’s a topic close to his heart.

What is Joe Swash: Teens in Care about?

Joe Swash: Teens in Care is a 60-minute documentary following Joe as he explores the stories of teens in care over the age of 16, who are the largest growing cohort in both child protection and care.

His mum Kiffy has been a foster carer for over 15 years. Joe has always been passionate about his mum’s role and with his wife Stacey, they are considering fostering in the future, but his interest in the care system has peaked in recent years.

Joe who is a father of four, said: "Stacey and I, when the kids are old enough and they’ll be semi-independent, will sit down and think about fostering. We love kids and Stacey is on the same sort of page as me. I’m not saying that it’s something we’ll definitely do but if circumstances are right I think it’s something we will definitely think about doing."

Now he wants to highlight these issues and spend time with teens across the UK who live in foster care and in residential children’s homes, to show what growing up as a teenager in care is really like.

Joe said: “The idea is to show what growing up as a teenager in care is like and highlight the challenges these teenagers face, where the system is going wrong and where it could be made better. And to raise awareness that the system is failing these young people and something needs to happen and the system needs to change. As a society we owe it to them."

In addition to spending time with teens, Joe meets experts and policy makers to ask what they are doing to fix a system that he feels appears to be failing the young people it’s supposed to be caring for, establish the root causes and explore where the signs of optimism are.

Joe continued to say: "This documentary is hard hitting, it's reality, it’s what’s happening right now in society. We need to make a change. We need to do it now. I don’t think everyone realises how bad and how much disarray the care system is in.

“Hopefully it’ll open people’s eyes to the problem and they’ll watch it and come away with the same feeling I got, that we need to do something. I really hope that people who watch it have an opinion and they voice it, and together we can try and make a change and make things move a bit faster."

The Northern Echo: Joe Swash said the documentary was 'hard hitting'Joe Swash said the documentary was 'hard hitting' (Image: BBC/Firecracker Films)

The 41-year-old explained what he “struggled” with the most with filming the documentary.

He said: "I was moved by the personal stories of the young people I met. I found it difficult leaving them in that situation they’re in, and then coming home to my family, and having a laugh and feeling the love and the warmth of my house. I felt really guilty about that. I've been taking it for granted for so long, and they haven't had it at all.

"Also because of my kids, I really struggled with it. I had to stop myself from putting my children in their situation because that was tearing me apart as well. But I’d definitely argue that anyone who met these teenagers would come away and feel guilty and feel like they've let them down in some way.

“I just felt like I wanted to do more for them. There’s not much I can do apart from shining a light on the situation and that was a real struggle for me. I just wanted to take them all home with me, I just wanted to parent them but I couldn’t which was sad."

Joe Swash: Teens in Care is on Tuesday 11 July at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.