22 Kids and Counting returns tonight with an emotional focus on Sue and Noel Radford’s son Max as he battles mounting pressure ahead of his GCSEs.
Max, 16, has a diagnosis of autism and big ambitions for his future.
He dreams of designing aeroplanes and nuclear submarines.
It’s important to us that you never miss our articles when searching for stories! We have all the latest TV & Celebrity news to share with our community of loyal readers.
Click here and tick Entertainmentdaily.com
But one subject threatens to derail everything.
While his talent for maths and physics stands out, English remains a serious obstacle.
With exams approaching fast, the stakes could not feel higher.
Sue and Noel Radford’s son Max struggles
Sunday night’s episode tracks Max as he prepares for his GCSEs.
It quickly becomes clear just how advanced he is in maths.
On a beach near the family home in Morecambe, he calmly writes out complex equations in the sand.
Yet English continues to hold him back. Sue and Noel know that without a Level 5 (high C or low B) in English, university may not be an option.
“My dream is to build huge pieces of engineering, like jets, tanks and submarines,” Max explains.
“I would like to go into a field of chemistry, like rocket fuel or something like that.”
In a bid to inspire him, Noel takes Max to see Concorde. The aircraft leaves him in awe, and he calls it “mind blowing”.
Still, anxiety lingers.
“It’s very stressful. Physics and chemistry is fun. Maths, I like it more than the other subjects,” Max says.
“But I’m very bad at a lot of the other subjects. English, I’m horrible at that.
“With my autism, I see the world differently to everyone else.
“Maths is a lot better than English because there is a definitive right answer and a definitive wrong one. There isn’t with English.”
Chloe steps in
Later, Max heads to his sister Chloe’s house to revise away from the noise of home.
With 14 siblings still living there, finding focus is not easy.
Noel suggests Chloe help him with English. But the session quickly unravels.
“I don’t understand tones. I just can’t read the text and extract information,” Max tells her.
Asked to compare two poems, he becomes increasingly frustrated.
“I’ve read it about three times now. I still don’t know what the tone is and genuinely have no idea.
“I can’t do this, it’s not making any sense. I’ve no clue what is going on. I’m going.”
Max storms out, slamming the door behind him.
Chloe later advises Noel to find a tutor experienced in neurodiverse learning.
Sue and Noel agree, but Max resists.
He admits he has “given up with it” and says he does not “understand the point”.
As tensions rise again, Noel reflects: “There’s no talking to him at the moment, he’s just totally disengaged.
“We’re running out of time. He needs this tutor to see sense.”
With the exams looming, the question remains whether Max can overcome this final hurdle.
- 22 Kids and Counting airs at 8pm on Channel 5 on Sunday March 1, 2026.
Read more: Graeme Hall speaks out as Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly pulled from Channel 5 mid-series