An Oldham story is set to feature in a star-studded Netflix film which tells the true tale of how IVF was born.
Starring Bill Nighy, James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie, Joy will share how in 1978, Oldham made medical history when the world's first 'test tube baby' was born on July 25 at the then Oldham General Hospital, thanks to groundbreaking IVF treatment.
Louise Brown, who turned 46 this July, was the first baby born through the procedure, known as in-vitro fertilisation.
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Louise's conception didn't actually take place in a test tube - instead eggs were fertilised in a petri dish and then the two-and-a-half day old embryo was implanted in her mother, Lesley Brown.
Louise was successfully delivered early by caesarean section in Oldham.
The remarkable work was brought by pioneers Sir Robert Edwards (Norton), from Yorkshire, gynaecologist Patrick Steptoe (Nighy), from Oxfordshire, embryologist, Jean Purdy (McKenzi and Operating Theatre Superintendent, Sister Muriel Harris (Tanya Moodie).
However, the work of the women on the team was not recognised as prominently as the men, with their names left out of reports and commemorative plaques.
Dr Edwards had protested to the Oldham Area Health Authority in 1981, asking for Jean Purdy's name to be included.
However, it wasn't until 2022 when Royal Oldham Hospital unveiled a blue plaque which finally commemorated Purdy and Sister Harris.
Now, the true story has been brought to life in a new Netflix drama, Joy, starring Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Bill Nighy.
The film follows the three pioneering British scientists in the 1960s and 1970s as they struggled to develop IVF "against all odds".
The trailer immediately introduces Jean Purdy as a pivotal character as she applies for a lab manager post with Dr Edwards.
The film will also touch on some of the challenges the team faced at the time, as the public and press shunned the idea, finding the medical intervention controversial.
A newspaper headline read 'test tube hell' while Dr Kershaw's was vandalised with graffiti that read: 'Frankenstein lives here'.
The team also faced mounting pressure and disapproval from other scientists, the church and their own families.
Meanwhile, dozens of women lent their support to help with the incredible breakthrough.
The trailer ends with the revelation that their experiments had worked with one woman's positive pregnancy test.
Joy airs on Netflix on November 22.
Got a story? Email me Olivia.bridge@newsquest.co.uk
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