SUNDERLAND-BASED production company MCC Media is behind the latest episode of award-winning CBBC documentary series My Life.

In The Floating Hospital, viewers are introduced to Iona, a 15-year-old British girl who sails with her family on hospital ship The African Mercy, and Grace, a Congolese teenager whose life has been shattered by the growth of an enormous tumour of her face.

Grace and Iona don’t speak the same language but have managed to find a way to overcome the barriers and become friends as Grace waits to find out if the doctors can save her life.

The film was produced and directed by producer Paul McCoy, who founded MCC Media with Pam McCoy in 2009. The creative team there creates films for both the corporate and TV market. It has a keen interest in the health arena, working on many national health initiatives and campaigns.

The company won the commission from CBBC after making a taster tape for the episode in Tenerife, with the help of Gateshead-based creative development agency Northern Film and Media. The final film was shot in Pointe Noire, in the Republic of Congo, in September.

“This was a fantastic experience for everyone who worked on the film,” says Paul McCoy. “It was a great story that just had to be told. None of this would have been possible without the help and hard work from Mercy Ships and the team at MCC Media.”