Holding Time Podcast Series Surpasses Half a Million Views, Amplifying Mothers’ Voices Across the UK
The Holding Time YouTube channel has reached a major milestone, recording more than 517,000 views in just six months, demonstrating an extraordinary public appetite for authentic stories about pregnancy, birth, neonatal care and early parenthood. During the same period the channel generated 2,000 hours of watch time and attracted 568 new subscribers, taking the channel to almost 1,500 subscribers.
The most successful films have come from the Cheshire and Merseyside Holding Time project, funded through NHS partners to improve understanding of maternal wellbeing and infant feeding. The standout film, Ellen’s story, received 164,000 views in the last six months, making it the project’s most watched interview to date.
Created by artist and producer Lisa Creagh, Holding Time combines portrait photography, long-form interviews and creative storytelling to create a permanent archive of lived maternal experience. Rather than focusing on celebrity voices, the series gives ordinary parents the opportunity to tell their own stories in depth, covering subjects including neonatal intensive care, breastfeeding, birth trauma, infant loss, maternal mental health and family life.
The success of the Cheshire and Merseyside series demonstrates the power of creative storytelling to reach audiences far beyond traditional public health campaigns. Hundreds of thousands of viewers have engaged with stories that are rarely represented in mainstream media, helping to increase understanding, reduce stigma and celebrate the diversity of contemporary parenthood.
Lisa Creagh said:
“The response has been extraordinary. These films show there is a huge appetite for honest conversations about becoming a parent. Mothers are not simply looking for advice—they want to hear real experiences from other families. Every view represents another opportunity to reduce isolation and build understanding.”
The channel’s rapid growth is helping shape the next phase of Holding Time, which will explore new forms of creative health through immersive technologies, AI-assisted portraiture and expanded digital storytelling, while continuing to place parents’ lived experience at the centre of public conversation.
With over half a million views in six months, Holding Time has become one of the UK’s fastest-growing independent platforms for maternal storytelling, demonstrating the growing role of arts and culture in improving public understanding of women’s health and family life.
ENDS