Little Disasters star Jo Joyner: 'I've never seen post-natal OCD represented on TV before'

Heading up the cast as doctor Liz, Jo Joyner admitted that this kind of storytelling is something that not only inspired her in taking on the role, but is something she hasn't seen on TV before.

Chatting to RadioTimes.com and other press on a set visit of the series last year, Joyner said: “I know somebody who suffered with post-natal OCD and I had only recently found out about it myself. So, I thought it was a really great topic to explore actually.

"Any kind of post-natal depression must be horrendous, I was lucky I didn’t suffer from it myself. I can’t imagine having such intrusive thoughts about your own child and I think that was another brilliant thing to bring up but also serves well for a thriller, doesn’t it?"

When asked about the representation of post-natal OCD on TV, Joyner continued: “It hasn’t, not at all [been represented on TV]. That imbalance of hormones has got a lot of things to be blamed for.

"I’ve never seen it [on TV] and before I’d met this friend, I’d never really heard of it. I’d heard of post-natal psychosis, which is probably verging on that which just must be terrifying. I’d known a couple who had been through that – I say couple because both of you go through it, not just the mum, and we can see that in this show as well.

"It’s not just Jess that suffers, the fallout is big. That was another reason that drew me to it.”

The new six-part series is based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Vaughan, who has been forthright about the fact that her own experiences of post-natal anxiety influenced the writing of the original book.

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Speaking at a screening of the series ahead of its release, Vaughan said: "It's also quite – just like Anatomy [of a Scandal] – personal to me because I've got two children who are now 20 and 17 but after the second one, I had sort of quite a tricky time.

"A perfect storm of circumstances meant that I had to give up my job with the Guardian, I couldn't walk and I was suddenly isolated, had to move away from my support group, my NCT group, in Chiswick to a village.

"I started having intrusive thoughts after having my second child and what's known as postnatal anxiety. And I thought, when I got around to writing this, ‘Actually that's the perfect setup for a psychological thriller’.

"You're not being gaslit by a horrible husband in a domestic setting, you're actually gaslighting yourself by your own thoughts. That was the other form of inspiration here.”

The woman in question that is struggling with intrusive thoughts is Jess, played by Diane Kruger. While she already has two sons and a newborn daughter, Jess is seen to be the archetypal perfect mother until that fateful night in the hospital reveals there could be more at play.

Joyner's character Liz has to make the decision between her friendship or notifying social services, which only causes a domino effect of emotions to ripple through their once tight-knit friendship group.

Little Disasters is now streaming on Paramount Plus.

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