Call The Midwife stars tease "sad" storyline to come in season 13
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Call the Midwife stars Renee Bailey and Natalie Quarry have teased "sad" storylines to come in season 13 of the show.
The pair are joining the cast for the upcoming series in the roles of pupil midwives Joyce Highland and Rosalind Clifford, and spoke exclusively to Digital Spy about storylines in the new episodes that particularly got to them.
"What comes to mind is episode 4," Bailey explained. "No spoilers but that is a sad episode. It’s funny, because you get the script a couple of days before, and you’re having a read, and you’re like, 'OK, what am in? Cool.' So you prep that.
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"And then you read the actual script, and you’re like, 'This is fine. It’s going to… oh.' There’s a lot in this season that is quite sad, to be fair, but I think that that one stands out as, I remember, the first time I had a proper visceral reaction of sadness to it. I was like, 'Oh my God, this is really tough.'
"I think it’s always hard as well, because there’s always two stories happening alongside each other in each episode," she added. "There’s an A and B story. I feel like both are pretty sad."
Opening up about her most emotional moment, Quarry revealed: "I have a different episode. I think it’s either 6 or 7. I can’t actually remember which one it is, because they’ve all kind of blurred into one.
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"I can’t say but I found that one to be really hard to… There were scenes where Rosalind was not supposed to be upset that I was finding hard to sit through without crying. It was making me cry. So that one was quite a tough episode to film because it was just really sad."
During the chat, the two stars also opened up about how they recover from emotional days on set, Quarry revealing she watches familiar comfort shows such as Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.
"It’s to let your brain switch off," she explained. "You have a cup of tea. Because it kind of stays in you, especially if you’ve had to do the prep on the day, and you’re in a very difficult, upsetting scene.
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"You finish the scene, and you’re like: 'Do-do-do.' But it does stay with you for a while," Quarry further admitted, adding she had taken advice from an interview with The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey.
"You create fake trauma in your own body. Your body doesn’t know the difference," she recalled. "I’m completely stealing this off Bella, so this is not me. They said this, not me. But your body doesn’t know the difference between real trauma and fake trauma.
"Your brain does but your body doesn’t. You’re creating this fake trauma in your body. And when you get home, your body still feels it. You have to do what you would do if you were actually upset.
"I spend time with my loved ones, and watch TV, and eat something nice. Me and my neighbour will chit-chat about rubbish. That’s what I do, anyway – just really relax."
Bailey went on to reveal that there are some "sad turns for Joyce" in the episodes, saying that the preparation is key for her.
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"Getting to these places – I’m not someone that’s like, 'I’ll cry on cue.' That’s not me. I’m not that person in real life, let alone as an actor. Doing the prep and the research and talking to people – some of that experience is, unfortunately, very relatable. Not for me, thank God, but for a lot of people that I know or have met. There’s lots of stories about.
"When you’re talking to people, and you’re having these conversations, I think you forget that that weighs on you after a while. In the moment, it’s fine, but after a while you’re like, 'Damn, this is quite sad.' And then you do the scene, and it’s sad. But I don’t know.
"One, there’s the beauty of the fact that, well, you’re fortunate enough that this isn’t your life," Bailey continued. "So there’s that. There’s the attitude of like, 'OK, I get to feel this for a moment, and let go, and not have to deal with the consequences.'
"But also I think, similar to that, it’s chatting, and having a good chat. The next thing you know, we’re talking about – I don’t know – something random or something we’ve watched. And it’s like, 'OK, that’s gone.' And you’re talking to loved ones, or watching TV. I think it’s being really able to separate from that after."
Call the Midwife season 13 premieres on Sunday, January 7 at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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