James Norton: ‘I took IVF for granted until I learned the shocking truth’

On July 25, 1978, Louise Joy Brown made history as the first test-tube baby. But few know about the decade-long struggle that made this miracle possible – until now.

‘I’d known very little, embarrassingly,’ James Norton admits to Metro on the eve of the premiere of Netflix’s new historic drama Joy.

It tells the tale of three British pioneers who transformed the lives of millions of families around the world with the invention of in vitro fertilisation (conventionally known as IVF).

Like most people in their mid to late 30s, the Happy Valley actor has encountered couples going through the IVF process, which marked the beginning and end of his understanding.

‘I know some very beautiful children who have been gifted to us through this amazing science so that was my knowledge of it and I took it for granted,’ he continued.

But learning about IVF’s origin story, he said, was a ‘really lovely journey’. 

The lead stars knew very little about IVF before starring in this film (Picture: Netflix)

When you google ‘who invented IVF?’ two names appear in bold at the top of the search box. Dr Patrick Steptoe (played by Bill Nighy) and scientist Robert ‘Bob’ Edwards (portrayed by James). 

Yet this seemingly innocent answer reveals a gaping hole in the history of the creation of IVF – the vital contributions of nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie) who was only commemorated by the Royal Society of Biology in 2015. 

In the end, it was Jean who provided not only the ‘last piece of the puzzle that made IVF possible’ but also the voice desperately needed to bring this ‘incredible’ part of British history to the big screen. 

‘It’s a brilliant, huge, world-changing bit of British innovation and success… and we’d never made a film of it,’ filmmaker Ben Taylor said, despite it being an ‘incredible story ripe for the making.’

That is until screenwriting couple Jack Thorne and Rachel Mason decided to tell it through the perspective of Jean Purdy who has long been ‘marginalised and erased from history’.

The Sex Education director continued: ‘It opened up the only way to tell the story. A lot of people tried, and producers would say “Oh yeah we tried to do this 10 years ago and nobody cracked it”.

‘Doing it through Jean’s eyes adds this female perspective, which is essential. It takes it away from the test tubes of it all.’

What makes Jean’s character burn brightest on screen is the emotional conflict between her family and community (Catholic and conservative values) and her commitment to changing the lives of women, no matter the cost.

It creates a rich tension that fuels stunning scenes of genuine anguish and heartwarming redemption.

‘It’s admirable how much she sacrificed for this work,’ Thomasin, 24, shared.

‘She sacrificed her community [and] her relationship with her mother because she knew how important this technology was and how important it was to help people like herself who weren’t able to have kids.’

What’s more, the film ‘opened up a lot of conversations’ for the New Zealand actor in her own life.

‘Even just about having the right to choose if you want kids, don’t want kids and not having to feel judgment for whatever decision you make.

‘Feeling empowered in whatever you do [it] opened up a conversation around choice,’ she said, as well as giving her a ‘better understanding of her own anatomy’.

One scene in particular, where Patrick delivers the news to Jean that she is not able to have children, stayed with Thomasin long after the cameras stopped rolling. 

Especially around the ‘pressure that women carry all their lives to fulfil this role, the expectations society places on them’.

The Eileen star grew to prominence in the industry at a time when the tide was turning on how women are portrayed in cinema – jumping from one-dimensional caricatures to fleshed-out human beings. 

Both Bill Nighy and James Norton reflected on what they remembered of the first test-tube baby (Picture: Kerry Brown/Netflix)

‘Not all but a fair few of the scripts I have read, the female characters have been complex and nuanced which shouldn’t be unusual since every single person is complex and nuanced,’ she noted drily. 

‘There have been a few scripts I’ve read where I think, “Okay there’s not much going on there which is disappointing” but I have been really lucky with the roles I have been able to play.’

Perhaps Joy’s greatest asset is the deeply personal connection Ben, Jack and Rachel all had to the project as parents to their own IVF babies. 

After trying to start a family in their mid-30s, Ben and his wife went down the IVF route and got ‘very lucky’ with ‘two lovely boys’.

He explained: ‘You’ll know from anybody, it dominates your life – a huge, huge part of your life. It was something that I was and remain eternally grateful for and I heard about this script on a subject matter that meant a great deal to me.

‘It was one of those dream reads and I thought: “Okay, I have to do this.”’

It was a very different tale for the cast who, much like James, were coming with with completely fresh eyes. 

‘I lived through this, not that you would know it if you asked me anything about it before I made this film,’ Bill, 74, recalled.

‘I have no memory, I have a very bad memory. My father used to say “I wish I had a memory” and as a boy I used to think: “well how can you not have a memory?” and now I understand what he meant,’ he jokingly added. 

The core tension of the movie comes from the conflict between our trio of scientific trailblazers and the vitriolic opposition from the church, conservative groups, the media, and even the medical establishment. 

Ironically James, who was born a handful of years after Louise’s birth, retains some blurry memories from the era.

The amount of backlash the creation of IVF faced was a shock for many (Picture: Kerry Brown/Netflix)

‘I remember the talk of the first test-tube baby and even when I was really young I do remember people talking about it. People are wary of what they don’t know and I remember a wariness because of the ignorance around it,’ he shared.

But learning about the full truth all these years later was still a wake-up call.

‘It shocked me how comprehensive a pushback there was, how far-reaching and part of the establishment [it was] even the medical council denying them funding… that was really surprising to me.’

It also served as a ‘revelatory’ moment for Bill, who had not anticipated the ‘degree of opposition’ to IVF – but acknowledged it is not a sentiment ‘unfamiliar with all kinds of scientific and cultural developments.’

The Love Actually star continued: ‘We tend, as a species, to panic, and also because the media are in the business of scandalising and sensationalising they suggested the babies would be born deformed, that they would be mutants, that they would be monsters, that the work these three people were involved in was the work of the devil.

‘The church was deeply opposed to it.

‘So people’s first understanding of it would have been as a tabloid scandal and now that we have the film it’s a wonderful opportunity to see the science. There is no bad magic, it’s just good science.’

And his experience playing Dr Patrick Steptoe, a seasoned obstetrician, opened his eyes to the sexism pervasive in medicine at the time when entering women’s healthcare was seen as a ‘very bad career move’ and a ‘lesser form of medicine’. 

Plenty of previously overlooked players make an appearance (Picture: Kerry Brown/Netflix)

It was this attitude that led to Jean’s erasure from history as well, he posed.

‘It’s breathtaking. That’s part of it, the fact that Jean Purdy – who provided the last piece of the puzzle that made IVF possible – should have been airbrushed from the whole history of the development of IVF is predictable in those and these times (we haven’t cleaned up yet).

‘The fact that the film redresses that balance is a large part of its appeal for me,’ he concluded.

But this antagonism is not unique to 1970s Britain and, in an era where women’s reproductive rights are making an alarming u-turn, the film’s message of standing firm in the face of coordinated backlash has never felt more pertinent. 

Both Ben and James reflected that although Joy never set out to be ‘politically motivated’, there are still lessons that can be learnt. 

‘Coincidentally we are currently in a particularly fervent moment with reproductive rights, IVF and abortion with, of course, what is going on in America with Roe v. Wade,’ James said. 

‘This film is a reminder that the progress we have made has come at a cost. In regards to IVF the film is about the male scientists but mostly about Jean and the women [who were] part of the ovum club who didn’t have children but gave so much [to future generations]. That dedication to those women is extraordinary. 

‘To now feel how fragile that progress is in the current climate, how in America we’ve moved so far back from all that fight, all that sacrifice. 

Robert Edwards campaigned to have Jean’s contributions acknowledged (Picture: Kerry Brown/Netflix)

‘If this film is a reminder of the sacrifices that have been made by women, some good men, but mostly women, and how therefore we should protect that progress at every cost, then fantastic.’

Ben echoed that he hoped this film proved how ‘ludricrous, naive and selfish’ it is to be opposed to such joy and that it holds up a mirror to ‘moronic’ similar protests.

Meanwhile, Bill shared words of warning when it comes to repeating history. 

‘Take that phrase “Try and avoid contempt prior to investigation” and let’s look carefully at the information on offer. It’s difficult now because there’s so many people selling you all kinds of angles and stories and lies – but not to panic.’

Despite the ongoing struggle to ensure women’s reproductive rights, at the heart of Joy is a story of hope, and it is this that ultimately ‘shocked’ The Granchester actor most. 

‘For me, the real shock was reading about the 12 million IVF babies, that really made me gasp and knowing how every single one of those stories and the struggle and to then be gifted this child,’ he explained. 

Louise Joy Brown was born in July 1978 (Picture: Kerry Brown/Netflix)

‘That line Joanna [Scanlan] says: “There are many ugly things in the world but one thing which will always be beautiful is your children.” It brought it all home, the scale of this science.’

And the ‘boundless energy’ his character inhabits (the real Robert Edwards had five daughters and spent a decade travelling between Cambridge and Oldham to make this science possible) served as even more motivation to commit this tale to screen. 

In 2010, Robert won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, an achievement that seemed near impossible just decades earlier.

But the true legacy of this tireless work lives on in Louise, and the countless IVF babies thriving today.

As put by James: ‘It’s a very warm, positive story about celebrating good people doing good things for the greater good. It’s wonderful to watch these virtuosos excelling.’

Joy is now in select cinemas. It premieres on Netflix on November 22.

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