Rob Delaney will be the first person to sign a CBeebies Bedtime Story.

Rob Delaney

Rob Delaney

The 41-year-old comedian will read and sign on the popular CBeebies kids programme 'Bedtime Stories', and the 'Catastrophe' star will be using Makaton, which he learned to communicate with his late son Henry who tragically died at the age of two.

In a statement released on the CBeebies Twitter account, Rob said: "Our family learned Makaton to be able to communicate with our son Henry.

"We're sad Henry isn't here to see it but we're happy other families will get to enjoy a story told in Makaton."

Henry - whom Rob had with his wife Leah - lost his battle with brain cancer earlier this year, and Rob previously shared an emotional essay that was originally penned as part of a book he wanted to release for parents of sick children.

But he decided to stop writing the book when he saw his son's last "bad MRI scan", saying he and his family "just wanted to be with him around the clock and make sure his final months were happy."

Explaining why he posted the excerpt, the 41-year-old comedian wrote: "The reason I'm putting this out there now is that the intended audience for this book was to be my fellow parents of very sick children.

"They were always so tired and sad, like ghosts, walking the halls of the hospitals, and I wanted them to know someone understood and cared.

"I'd still like them to know that ... But I can't write that book anymore because our family's story has a different ending than I'd hoped for.

"Maybe I'll write a different book in the future, but now my responsibility is to my family and myself as we grieve our beautiful Henry."

The show will be broadcast this Friday (16.11.18) at 6.50pm.


Tagged in