Jeff Brazier: I see Jade in our two boys

Jeff Brazier: I see Jade in our two boys
Jeff Brazier: I see Jade in our two boys (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Jade Goody's former partner Jeff Brazier has told how he sees her in their two sons, a year on from her death. Speaking about their children Bobby, six, and Freddie, five, TV presenter Jeff said: "When Bobby rolls his eyes, when Bobby's moody, when Bobby's just waking up he looks very much like mum. "It'd be impossible to not see Jade in them because she was a big character - and there's no way that a big character like her would not have left little traits to remind me that she was around in Bobby and Freddie." Jade's family have filmed a loving TV tribute to her, marking the anniversary of her death following her high-profile battle with cervical cancer. The star, who shot to fame as a Big Brother hopeful, died at her home in Upshire, Essex, on Mother's Day 2009. Jeff explained how he had the idea that the children could send their thoughts to Jade in a bottle. The three held their own ceremony on a beach. "I knew what I wanted to do. At the same time as the funeral I had the idea of sending some pictures and letters from the boys in a bottle up to, up to Mummy in heaven basically," he said. "They just trusted in what I said and they were happy that this bottle, even though there was no lid on it or anything, that it was going to go and reach its destination. So it brought them a lot of comfort." *Jade: A Year Without Her screens on Sunday, March 21 at 9pm on Living.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.