After seven rounds of IVF, we ended up with not only a son - but a Netflix hit! Creators of test tube baby drama Joy reveal their OWN infertility struggle

Rachel Mason volition ne'er hide the agony of having to marque that telephone telephone implicit and implicit again.

A telephone she came to dread when, six times successful 2 years, it delivered the aforesaid heart-breaking news: you are not pregnant.

'Every time, I felt similar I'd failed,' she says. 'I hatred the connection failure, but I wasn't capable to bash the cardinal happening that we each presume we tin do.'

Rachel, 52, and her hubby Jack Thorne, 45, the Bafta award-winning writer down TV's His Dark Materials and the West End play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, had started trying for a household successful 2013.

But by 2015 – aft six progressively hopeless rounds of IVF – they were nary person to what they longed for.

'When you commencement IVF, you conscionable presume it volition happen,' she says. 'I thought: 'I'm not overweight, I'm steadfast enough, surely it's got to work?'

'But past it didn't happen, again and again. I kept failing. We kept failing.'

It was, she admits, a acheronian and lonely clip for them both, fraught with rows and searing emotion.

At 1 point, Rachel adjacent considered leaving Jack, fearing that she – who had the fertility issues that led them to IVF successful the archetypal spot – was stopping him from having a family.

'I felt similar I was letting him down,' she says. 'He wanted a family, and if helium was with idiosyncratic other past they could beryllium popping them out. But helium was stuck, struggling, with me.'

Worst of each was the two-week play betwixt the fertilised embryos being transferred and the gestation test, the results of which Rachel would observe by calling her advisor astatine the clinic, who would present the news.

'That hold was appalling,' recalls Rachel. 'You've got truthful galore things connected hold. It was the lone happening successful crisp focus; everything other paled into the background.'

But then, 1 time successful August 2015, Rachel and Jack yet got the quality they'd imagined since the time they met.

This clip their advisor delivered a antithetic message: you are pregnant.

Their son, Elliott, a specified speck connected a scan astatine the time, was calved the pursuing April astatine University College Hospital, London.

He is present eight-and-half and, says Rachel, 'absolutely glorious'.

'He is simply a mini Jack. He's got six oregon 7 scripts connected the go; helium wants to beryllium a writer. He is the joyousness of some our lives.'

Elliott is besides the inspiration down the aptly named Joy, a caller movie starring James Norton and Bill Nighy, which she and Jack co-created and which has soared to the apical of the Netflix movie charts aft enthusiastic reviews.

It's the singular communicative of the trio who pioneered in-vitro fertilisation, and the untold communicative of Jean Purdy, the young caregiver and embryologist whose ground-breaking relation has gone mostly unrecognised. Joy holds heavy idiosyncratic resonance for the mates – and marked their archetypal clip moving together.

It was, says Rachel, a existent labour of love.

As a drama agent, Rachel usually works down the scenes and the mates are precise private, truthful it's retired of quality for them to stock specified a idiosyncratic experience. But some she and Jack felt compelled to archer the communicative of the process that changed their lives.

'I consciousness strongly, having been done IVF, that I privation to beryllium determination for different people, and propulsion distant the connection of what it's like,' Rachel explains. 'I privation radical to recognize the acheronian of the experience, the isolation.

'I unopen down a bit, and I became obsessed. Everyone astir america was large oregon had children of their own.

'There were days I could speech astir it, and different days I'd beryllium furious, and jealous of radical with babies.'

She adds: 'I couldn't bash thing without worrying astir the implications. I retrieve moving for a autobus and thinking, 'Well, that's ruined it.' I went down to moving 4 days a week.'

Set successful the precocious Sixties and Seventies, Joy traces the enactment of visionary physiologist Bob Edwards (played by Norton), apical surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Nighy) and Jean Purdy (New Zealand-born histrion Thomasin McKenzie), who, aged 23, applied for a occupation astatine an IVF probe laboratory successful Cambridge.

Over a decade, the trio worked tirelessly — successful the look of scepticism from their peers, disapproval from the Press and condemnation from the Church, who compared their enactment to that of Dr Frankenstein — towards what they dubbed 'curing childlessness'.

In 1978, they yet achieved it. Louise Brown, the world's archetypal test-tube baby, was born astatine Oldham General Hospital; by coincidence, the spot Rachel was born.

Forty-six years later, 12 cardinal babies worldwide beryllium their precise beingness to that squad of British scientists, moving against the odds.

Rachel and Jack got progressive successful the task during lockdown successful 2020, alternating probe for the movie and digging done archives with home-schooling Elliott astatine their location successful North London.

Finding retired astir Jean, who died from a malignant melanoma aged conscionable 39, with nary household of her own, was the toughest part. 'She was truthful private, which intrigued me,' Rachel explains. 'None of her relatives are astir to talk to. She was truly hard to crack.

'I recovered immoderate letters which gave an thought of her consciousness of humour. There were details successful a publication that Edwards and Steptoe wrote. And we chatted with Grace MacDonald, who gave commencement to Alastair, the archetypal IVF boy, successful 1979. She felt we did Jean proud, which meant a lot.'

Rachel's probe besides progressive speaking to surviving members of 'The Ovum Club', the sanction fixed to the radical of women who were progressive successful aboriginal attraction trials of ovum harvesting and implantation – each hopeless to person a baby, immoderate it took.

Jean oversaw these trials, but ne'er took portion herself. Nor did she marry, nor let herself to imagination of having children.

For she had terrible endometriosis, a information successful which insubstantial akin to the lining of the uterus grows extracurricular it, causing pelvic symptom and making it hard to autumn pregnant.

In 1 peculiarly poignant infinitesimal successful the film, portion sitting successful a car with different pistillate trying to conceive, some of them watching an expectant parent person blessed news, Jean admits: 'I'm jealous of her, too.'

Like Jean, Rachel has endometriosis, thing she lone discovered aft undergoing tests erstwhile she and Jack were incapable to conceive naturally.

'I've besides lone got 1 ovary,' she says. 'So determination were respective complications, which each laic with me, but I didn't cognize astir them beforehand.'

Rachel had ne'er truly thought astir having children until she met Jack. Then successful a semipermanent narration with idiosyncratic else, she entered her 40s without a household – and was perfectly happy.

It was lone seeing her sister Cath, whose spouse is comedian Frank Skinner, go a parent to their son, Buzz, present 12, that changed her mind. 'I fell successful emotion with him, and with their relationship. And past I met Jack and abruptly it each made sense.'

The brace met connected a bid from London to Cornwall successful 2011 and, similar a country from 1 of Jack's scripts, kept bumping into 1 different astatine parties and events.

Once, Rachel watched Jack starring a unsighted pistillate crossed a assemblage astatine the Baftas – and knew she had started falling for him.

It was a whirlwind romance: they had their archetypal day aboriginal that year; Jack projected successful 2012 (using a treasure hunt comprising boxes of clues and, eventually, a ring); and they were joined a twelvemonth later.

Rachel started trying for a babe consecutive away. When it wasn't moving people and tests revealed it was improbable to bash so, they didn't hesitate successful seeking retired IVF.

'In airy of my age, I wanted to get connected with it quickly,' she explains. 'We were successful the fortunate presumption to person the prime to spell privately.'

The mates ne'er dreamed it would instrumentality 7 rounds – entailing months of back-to-back hormone injections, ovum collection, fertilisation, transportation and that dreaded gestation trial – for it to work.

During that time, Rachel admits, she became 'hell-bent' connected having a child. While Jack focused connected the statistic to support her spirits up, she recovered herself weighed down by the emotion of it all, often lashing retired successful anger.

'At 1 constituent we had an astonishing vacation to Ireland booked, and we ended up having a immense enactment due to the fact that I said we had to cancel it. I wanted to spell consecutive into different round,' she says.

'But Jack said: 'I deliberation we request a break. We, arsenic a couple, request immoderate clip distant from this.'

'I was furious. I thought, what could beryllium much important? I was rabid astir it. So we didn't go.'

Round fig 7 successful the summertime of 2015, she suspects, whitethorn good person been their past effort astatine IVF.

'I consciousness similar I couldn't person taken overmuch more. But who knows? Maybe I could person gone further.

'Financially, you tin lone bash truthful much, though I'd person lived successful a structure to support going.'

After that longed-for affirmative result, Rachel had a worrying bleed astatine 5 weeks, aft which she was prescribed furniture remainder for a fortnight. 'They told maine the bleed was bigger than the pregnancy, truthful it wasn't looking good,' she recalls. 'I conscionable laic there, frantically hoping it would beryllium OK.'

To their large relief, it was. Doctors recovered a steadfast heartbeat and the remainder of her gestation went smoothly.

Elliott was owed connected April Fool's Day 2016, and came six days later, calved by Caesarean conception to the strains of the Stereophonics.

Rachel and Jack named him aft the main quality successful ET, a movie they some emotion – and testament to the other-worldly marvel of his conception.

Being an IVF mother, Rachel believes, impacted her parenting.

'Subconsciously, erstwhile you've fought for it, I deliberation you bask it more,' she says.

'Sure, you person the 2am wake-ups and the relentlessness of having a tiny baby, but you think: 'I'm knackered, but this was what I wanted each along.'

'I accidental the antagonistic broadside is that if you are super-tired, you don't consciousness you tin moan excessively much. You deliberation of each the women who haven't been truthful lucky.'

After Elliott was born, Rachel and Jack didn't effort again.

'I don't cognize if we could person gone backmost there, really,' she admits. 'There was a consciousness of, we've got 1 beauteous kid and we mightiness ne'er person had him. Let's beryllium blessed with that.'

As Elliott has grown up, his parents haven't shied distant from the taxable of IVF, an indelible portion of each their lives.

Today, Rachel volunteers for the nationalist foundation Fertility Network UK and runs a monthly enactment group, and they've been unfastened with Elliott astir however helium came into the world.

Joy's release, and the solemnisation of this milestone successful reproductive health, is surely a timely one.

In America, Donald Trump's predicted clamp-down connected termination services is expected to person far-reaching repercussions for women's rights, including issues astir fertility treatments, portion successful Britain the NHS is backing less IVF cycles than ever – arsenic waiting lists proceed to grow.

Despite going privately for her treatment, Rachel believes each couples struggling with fertility should beryllium capable to entree IVF arsenic a 'fundamental right'.

'The NHS is truthful stretched, and I don't cognize the solution, but it is not just that it's based connected wherever you unrecorded oregon however overmuch wealth you have.

'I cognize truthful galore couples who can't spend it, who person to crowd-fund oregon merchantability their houses to bash it.

'I deliberation Bob, Jean and Patrick – who opened the archetypal IVF session astatine Bourn Hall successful Cambridge, and tried truthful hard to get NHS backing for it – would beryllium utterly disappointed with the information that it's not much accessible today.'

To them, this bonzer trio who made past by engineering the wonderment of life, Rachel feels a profound consciousness of gratitude.

'What they did was miraculous,' she says.

'They made that baby, each those babies – and my babe – possible. I can't enactment my acknowledgment into words.'

Joy is streaming connected Netflix and successful prime UK cinemas now.