Story of IVF pioneers bringing Joy told through film and play

On her 46th birthday, Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’, and Bourn Hall ambassador says life can be stranger than fiction.

A child of science ….. and love

Being born as the world’s first IVF baby on July 25, 1978 in Oldham has meant a lot of exciting, interesting and strange things have happened to me throughout my life.

Most recently it was watching famous actors at the Bristol Old Vic re-enact my birth and raise a baby high in the air. The script read: “Patrick holds Louise Brown aloft. The sound of her cries fill the space. The sound echoes around the entire world”.

A new generation are now learning about the work of the pioneers of IVF: Patrick Steptoe, Bob Edwards and Jean Purdy through drama. The play A Child of Science depicted their struggle from the 1950s through to 1978 when they had the amazing breakthrough with my mother – resulting in me being born.

Bringing more joy at Bourn Hall 

Although the play deals with much of the opposition and controversy while they were developing the science it does not go on to cover all the struggles they had in setting up the world’s first IVF Clinic at Bourn Hall, Cambridgeshire.

They could have rested on their laurels having achieved just one baby but they wanted to bring the technique to as many people as possible – and they did that through Bourn Hall.

By the time Bob Edwards died in 2013 the technique had brought five million babies into the world – today it is over 12 million.

Fertility doctors and embryologists from all over the world gathered at Bourn Hall for the earliest ever IVF conventions, ensuring the science and knowledge they had was shared worldwide and helped other countries introduce fertility treatments.

My mum also had her second round of IVF at Bourn Hall, resulting in my sister Natalie, who was one of the earliest Bourn Hall babies.

Harry Potter generation wowed by play

I have vivid memories of Bourn Hall as a child when I went to parties with a growing band of Bourn Hall babies.

On my 46^th birthday it is good to know the dramatised account of the story of IVF in A Child of Science is keeping the memory of those pioneers alive.

As someone who loved the Harry Potter films it was thrilling to see Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, take on the role of Bob Edwards and he was keen to know what Bob was like and whether he did him justice when I met him at the show.

Meg Bellamy from The Crown was superb as Jean Purdy, and Jamie Glover was outstanding as Patrick Steptoe. I must also mention Adele Leonce who played Margaret, representing the women who my mother was friendly with at the clinic in Oldham for whom IVF did not work – but who played a vital role in making the science a reality.

Netflix choose James Norton as Bob!

Later this year there will be more excitement when Netflix release their film “Joy” which of course is my middle name given to me by Patrick Steptoe. I can’t wait to see that film which stars the amazing actor Bill Nighy as Steptoe and Happy Valley actor James Norton as Bob Edwards.

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