The true story behind Netflix’s 'Joy': how IVF came to be in the UK
If you’re looking for a warming offering to fight off the winter chills this month, look no further than Netflix’s Joy, which observes the astonishing true story of the world’s first IVF baby.
An almost miraculous endeavour of innovation, science and hope, Joy walks through the work of the scientist Robert Edwards (James Norton) and the surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy), who wanted to unlock the puzzle of infertility – and the numerous challenges they faced from church and state. However, the main focus of Joy is the work of Jean Purdy, the oft-forgotten third party in making IVF a reality for millions across the world. Initially hired as Edwards’ lab assistant, Purdy became an integral part of the process – to the extent that Edwards claimed that Purdy was “the third original pioneer of IVF”.
Paired with the screenwriter Jack Thorne’s heart-wrenching penmanship, it is Thomasin McKenzie’s emotional performance as Purdy, who works painstakingly on research despite opposition from her increasingly ailing mother, that gives Joy its warmth. The film comes at a particularly poignant time, when issues surrounding women’s rights and healthcare – particularly in the US, following Donald Trump’s election victory – are becoming increasingly fraught. In a time of such uncertainty, Joy is a powerful look at a genuinely revolutionary breakthrough – and gives a glimmer of optimism at a time where we may be feeling a little hopeless about what the future may hold.
Here’s the true story behind the first 'test-tube baby', and how IVF has since helped more than 10 million births in the last four decades.
When was IVF created?
As Joy shows, the first IVF baby, Louise Joy Brown, was born in 1978, but it took a decade of painstaking research to get to that stage.
In 1968, embryologist Robert Edwards started collaborating with gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe, who introduced laparoscopy (a minimally invasive surgical procedure to observe the abdomen, also known as ‘keyhole surgery’) to try and fertilise eggs outside of the womb and place them back in the womb afterwards. This was to try and rectify the medical issue of blocked fallopian tubes.
Purdy, a qualified nurse, was just 23 when she was hired by Edwards as a lab technician to help with the endeavour.
As we see in Joy, there was a huge amount of moral outrage towards the research; religious leaders thought it could interfere with ‘God’s plans for creating life’, there were worries that it would result in the mass destruction of embryos (which some religious groups consider to be ‘human life’ in and of themselves), and fears that it could lead to abnormalities and birth defects. Elsewhere, other scientific researchers did not think the studies were worth investment, claiming that infertility impacted 'a small amount of women', and expressed concerns around overpopulation.
Because of this, both Edwards and Steptoe had to continue with their full-time work – Edwards was based in the University of Cambridge as an academic, while Steptoe was a NHS consultant in Oldham in Greater Manchester – and fund the research themselves.
The team was given a small lab space at Kershaw’s Cottage Hospital in Oldham and permission to do their research in their spare time, and they had to finance the equipment themselves. It meant Edwards and Purdy had to regularly travel up to Manchester, often taking them away from their family for days at a time.
As a lab technician, Purdy’s role was to manage the laboratory, record the data, and reassure and look after the often-vulnerable patients. Over 10 years, hundreds of women volunteered their eggs. Purdy proved so indispensable during the research that work was forced to stop when she had to look after her mother, who became ill during the research.
Speaking about Purdy’s efforts at the time, Edwards recalled: “Jean’s cooperation had become crucial. It was no longer just Patrick and me. We had become a threesome.”
Purdy also contributed significantly to the scientific papers written at the time, cited as a co-author on papers written by Edwards between 1970 and 1985. Purdy was also cited as the first person to witness the successful cell division of the embryo that eventually became Louise Joy Brown, the first IVF baby. Purdy also oversaw the birth of Alistair MacDonald, the first IVF baby boy, born in 1979.
In spite of the team’s successes with IVF, the NHS refused to support the service and the team made urgent attempts to fund a private clinic close to Cambridge. It was Purdy that found a manor in the area, which became Bourn Hall, the world’s first IVF clinic. In 1980, she helped to launch fertility services there as the Technical Director.
Purdy sadly passed away in 1985 from malignant melanoma, with her contribution to IVF often overlooked in favour of Edwards and Steptoe. While Steptoe passed away in 1988, Edwards often campaigned for Purdy’s contributions to be recognised. He unsuccessfully lobbied for her name to be added to the commemorative plaque placed at the site of their original clinic. At a lecture to an audience of specialists on the 20th anniversary of clinical IVF, Edwards announced, “There were three original pioneers in IVF, not just two”.
It wasn’t until 2015, five years after Edwards won a Nobel Prize for his work on IVF, that a new plaque was unveiled in Oldham, finally honouring Purdy and her work.
What happened to Louise Joy Brown?
Brown grew up to live an effectively normal life, despite her birth being lauded among "the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th century”. Her younger sister, Natalie Brown, was also conceived through IVF four years later, and became the world's 40th child born after conception by IVF.
Brown herself has two children, both conceived naturally. When asked about her status as the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’, she told The Independent in 2004: “I don't feel any more special than anyone else.”
Joy is available to watch on Netflix now.
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