A new drama series set in Manchester is likely to strike a chord with every parent, especially working mums.
The six part series is about three female doctors returning to post-pandemic frontline medicine after maternity leave and having to heroically balance the intense demands of the NHS and motherhood.
Inspired by writer Jacqui Honess-Martin's own experience of returning to work after maternity leave with her first child, she admits she found the whole thing 'really, really hard' and struggled to comprehend how female medics could cope with such 'life and death decisions'.
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"I wanted to investigate how returning to work as a young mother just throws your complete sense of self and your self confidence," she said. "And that's such a huge part of being a medic: trusting in your instincts when you walk into a room."
Maternal tells the stories of Maryam, a paediatric registrar, Catherine, a general and trauma surgeon, and Helen, a registrar in acute medicine, as they each attempt to balance their increasingly demanding jobs in post-pandemic frontline medicine with their lives as new mothers.
As expected, things are far from plain sailing and the show tackles a number of taboos regarding motherhood, including one of the women reluctant to have more children and another questioning whether she even wants to be a mother.
"I think, honestly, all mothers have that moment where they go, ‘What have I done? I can't do it,’ said Jacqui.
"I think motherhood puts a bomb under who you are and your relationships; it changes everything. And nobody can really tell you what it's going to be like for you.
"We are told a lot how we should feel about having children, and my experience is that very little of that is helpful. We should be able to go, ‘Really? This is my life now?’."
The medical specialities she chose for the trio highlight some of the many issues mums in their positions face.
She said: "I chose paediatrics because I found that after having had a baby, I can’t watch stuff on TV anymore where kids go missing or get hurt. So the idea that, as a doctor, you could treat children when you’d had just had a child, that spoke to me – that would require such a recalibration of your professional and personal boundaries.
"I chose acute medicine because it’s so fascinating. It's a cross between emergency medicine and ICU – you look after people whose ailments can cover anything from Covid to tropical diseases, a suspected heart attack, somebody with a headache you suspect might be a brain tumour. It’s very much about problem solving.
"The third specialty, surgery, chose itself because it's the most sexist and misogynist field of medicine. It's really hard and brutal, being a female surgeon – only 15% of surgeons are women, something like one in seven consultants. The statistics are horrific. There is also the massive issue of sexual assaults by male surgeons against female surgeons. Surgery is in the Dark Ages."
For the actors themselves, juggling children and work was something they were doing in real life as well as on screen.
Asked if she could relate to her character Dr Maryam Afridi's predicament, actor Parminder Nagra said: "A hundred percent! And we were all doing it in real time on that show, making sure our kids were taken care of and making sure that we were still able to do our work, and then feeling guilty if we weren't there.
"But one thing that’s come out of doing this job is this: there's a moment where Maryam’s mum, played by Shaheen Kahn – who played my mum in Bend It Like Beckham –says, ‘Have you ever considered that one feeds the other?’ That Maryam’s not just a mum, not just a doctor and that they both inform each other. And I think that's exactly what it is for me. I like being at work, and that makes me a better mother, because I'm basically just in a better mood. Otherwise, where's my identity gone?"
Maternal is on ITV at 9pm on Monday, January 16.
Have you returned to work from maternity leave? How was your experience juggling home life and the workplace? Does the writer's experience resonate with you? Let us know in the comments here.
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