The medical researchers behind IVF are the focus of Netflix’s Joy

A commonly cited quotation from science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke — “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” — often follows news of monumental scientific discovery.

That certainly applies to Joy, a new Netflix movie dramatizing the remarkable work of three medical pioneers, who conceived the everyday magic of in vitro fertilization.

Thomasin McKenzie (Eileen) stars as British nurse and embryologist Jean Purdy, who, along with scientist Robert Edwards (James Norton, Happy Valley) and surgeon Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy, Love, Actually), developed IVF technology and helped welcome the world’s first “test-tube baby,” Louise Joy Brown, in 1978.

In the film, the team is seen uniting, buoyed by enthusiasm for its cutting-edge work and the selfless contributions of women experiencing infertility who were willing to take every potentially heartbreaking chance they could to grow their families and help with the research. When the insulting moniker “Dr. Frankenstein” defaces the lab — and even lobbed at the scientists face-to-face — they remain steadfast in their mission.

Purdy, Edwards and Steptoe appear to be thinking light years ahead of anyone standing in their way, with McKenzie’s Purdy righteously scoffing at a board member’s insistence that infertility “only affects a very small number of women.” Armed with countless confessional letters from women they obtained through their research, they know that the assumption could not be further from the truth.

Director Ben Taylor (Sex Education) shared his excitement about the upcoming film’s release with The Guardian, saying, “[Joy] can’t come out soon enough for me because it hopefully shines a light on how simple and how essential this process is and how widely people are affected by infertility.”

Also speaking to The Guardian , Nighy, a father and grandfather himself, described having children as “like science fiction,” illustrating the pursuit of raising a family with reverence. “Human beings make decisions and have ideas and choose their partner and it’s all reckless and marvelous,” he mused. “It’s such an extraordinary thing to attempt.”

The scientist subjects of the film, whose work was based at the University of Cambridge and in Oldham, England, worked nearly ceaselessly for a decade to achieve a medical miracle that innumerable families had been waiting for. And while IVF is commonplace today, at time of its invention, Purdy, Edwards and Steptoe faced criticism from both the public and the greater medical community — even having their funding refused by the Medical Research Council.

However, following Brown’s birth, the floodgates opened as infertile couples finally had an option to have babies of their own. In 1980, the three IVF pioneers founded Bourne Hall Clinic, which has assisted in the conception of more than 10,000 babies since it started welcoming patients.

While Purdy was instrumental in the development of IVF technology, cited as the first person to witness the cell division of the embryo that would become Brown, news about the discovery and even memorials to the achievement largely excluded her from history, naming only Edwards and Steptoe as innovators. Joy reframes this narrative of their work by putting Purdy at the centre, following her through the journey of their discoveries. Though Purdy lived a tragically short life — she died of cancer in 1985 at just 39 years old — her memory has lived on in the millions of babies born by IVF around the world.

A project at Cambridge University’s Churchill Archives Centre to document Edwards’ papers found letters from the scientist to the Oldham Area Health Authority in 1981, requesting Purdy’s name be included on a commemorative plaque. “I feel strongly about the inclusion of the names of the people who helped with the conception of Louise Brown. I feel this especially about Jean Purdy, who travelled to Oldham with me for 10 years and contributed as much as I did to the project,” wrote Edwards.

Edwards clarified even further, “Indeed, I regard her as an equal contributor to Patrick Steptoe and myself.” But in the end, Purdy’s name was not included on the plaque. In a 2019 article in The Guardian about the Edwards project, archivist Madelin Evans opined that the regular omission of Purdy’s name likely, “had quite a bit to do with the fact that she was a nurse, an embryologist and a woman.”

Joy begins streaming on Friday, November 22 on Netflix