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The Leader podcast: ITV’s Maternal creator on the ‘people’ behind the NHS

Maternal writer and creator Jacqui Honess-Martin discusses ‘political statements’ and the struggles new mums face on their return to work.

The Leader podcast: ITV’s Maternal creator on the ‘people’ behind the NHS
The Leader podcast: ITV’s Maternal creator on the ‘people’ behind the NHSMaternal writer and creator Jacqui Honess-Martin discusses ‘political statements’ and the struggles new mums face on their return to work.ITV

The writer of ITV’s new drama Maternal has told The Leader Podcast she hopes the series will bring women together to talk about their struggles when returning to work post-maternity leave.

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The drama follows three women going back to their jobs on the NHS’s frontline, having spent between nine months and two years on maternity leave.

Jacqui Honess-Martin discusses her decision to focus on both the struggles of working in the health service in the present day, and the real challenges of returning to work as a mother for the first time.

She told The Leader Podcast there is a need to make the ‘system’ of returning to work easier to navigate for new mums.

Jacqui said she wanted to portray the NHS ‘as realistically as possible’ and described her ‘bewildered awe’ of those who work in the health service.

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