43-year old Richard Rudd (no relation) was so seriously injured in a 2009 motorbike accident that he was left completely paralysed and non-responsive.

Believing he would not want to live in such a state, his family reluctantly gave permission to doctors at Britain's leading brain injury unit at Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge to switch off his life support machine.

This heart wrenching event was to be the culmination of a BBC documentary that had been tracking Richard and two other patients also with profound brain injuries.

But as the cameras rolled and staff stepped up to throw the switch, Rudd began to move his eyes – something he had apparently not managed to do until then.

Asked by doctors if he wanted to live, he signalled 'yes' through his eye movements. Now, almost a year later Richard can move his head from side to side and smile at his family.

He will always need round-the-clock medical care, but is able to interact with his parents and teenage daughters.