Cuckoo actress Esther Smith has said she hopes her new TV series about a couple struggling with fertility will open up more conversations about the struggles that many go through to conceive.
She stars along Rafe Spall in the new Apple series Trying, in which they play a couple who go through the adoption process when they learn they are unable to get pregnant.
Smith told the PA news agency: “I feel like I’ve read a lot of things recently or I’ve come across a lot of people who are talking about it – I don’t know whether it sticks with me because it’s unusual to see people talk about it or hear stories about it.
“But when people do talk about it, it’s such a kind of beautiful openness and you appreciate that because it’s so many people’s stories.
“So many people go through it.
“I wonder why it’s not explored so much.
“I think people are getting better exploring it.
“But I think something like this maybe will open up that up a little bit more or maybe I am just more aware of it now because I am in my 30s and that’s obviously something that plays on my mind.”
She added: “I think this will open up more channels for people to talk about it, to think about it more, and that can only be a positive thing, as I think people do need to be aware of it.”
Spall, who is a father to three children with wife Elize du Toit, said he brought a different perspective to it, adding: “I can definitely identify with the characters, so much as I know what it’s like to get to a point in your life where you feel like something is missing.
“In my case, I felt like I wanted to have children.
“I think that’s the same with these characters, but for different people that can mean different things.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be children; the name of the show is Trying.
“We’re all trying to figure it out.
“And that might be getting to your early 30s and realising your career isn’t where you want it to be or your relationships aren’t or education, whatever it might be.
“I know what it’s like to feel that and to feel like there’s something missing, and I was lucky enough to be able to naturally conceive.
“But I had kids quite early; I had kids before my 30s.
“I know what it’s like to want children, but I don’t know what it’s like to want them and then to not be able to naturally conceive them, so that was an interesting thing to investigate.”
Trying will be available on Apple TV+ on May 1.