Joy star Bill Nighy hopes film fixes "bewildering" lack of recognition for Jean Purdy

Scripted by Jack Thorne and Rachel Mason – who have a personal connection to the material having been through the IVF procedure themselves – the new film aims to correct that by finally giving Purdy her due.

And that's something Bill Nighy, who plays Steptoe in the film, reckons couldn't come soon enough.

"As much as anything, if the film... well, the film does restore Jean Purdy to her rightful place in the whole development of IVF, then that's enough," he explained an exclusive interview with RadioTimes.com.

"And that's one of the things that drew me to the film, because that phenomenon of men dismissing women's work because they don't have a penis – which is basically all they lack – is bewildering and bizarre, and we've only really just started to kind of try and redress the balance."

Purdy is played in the film by Last Night in Soho and Jojo Rabbit star Thomasin McKenzie, who explained that she had "so much admiration" for Purdy and the various obstacles she had to overcome – including opposition from the Church, the press and even her own family, who were initially aghast at the very idea of IVF.

"I honestly don't know that I would have been able to do the same – the thought of being ostracised by a community that was your family, that you gave so much to, is terrifying," she explained.

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"For Jean to have sacrificed her relationship with her mother is huge. It just really goes to show how much Jean sacrificed, and how much she believed in the work and the impact she knew that it could could have."

Meanwhile, speaking about how he and Mason came to put Purdy at the centre of the story, Thorne explained how he had previously started developing a play about IVF that was more focused on Edwards.

"I had pitched to the Royal Exchange," he said. "They didn't like it. And it was a story about Bob, really, and it was a lot about mice, and I had this whole thing about the stage and mice, and what we could do with mice on stage. It was terrible. It's a terrible idea.

"And then when [producers] Finola [Dwyer], Amanda [Posey] and Cameron [McCracken] brought us this, the story that they were most interested was Jean's. And I'd read about Jean, but I'd never really considered her at the centre at all.

"And then when they set out how she is at the centre, suddenly everything just sort of exploded for me. And I was just like, 'OK, now I see how to do this.' And then I managed to wrangle Rachel to get involved too!"

Joy is now showing in select UK cinemas and will be released on Netflix on Friday 22nd November 2024 – sign up from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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