There are shows that entertain and shows that challenge. Babies, the new drama starring Paapa Essiedu and Siobhán Cullen, is firmly in the second category. The series follows Lisa and Steven, a couple in their thirties navigating the emotional devastation of pregnancy loss and the toll it takes on their relationship. It is quiet, deliberate and unflinching, and that appears to be entirely by design.
For Essiedu, the measure of the show’s success has nothing to do with ratings or awards. It comes down to whether it can move even one person to speak about something they previously could not bring themselves to say. That is a modest-sounding goal that carries an enormous amount of weight.
Essiedu and the research behind the role
Essiedu came to the project without direct personal experience of pregnancy loss or parenthood, which made the preparation process both rigorous and revealing. He worked closely with medical professionals and midwives to develop a genuine understanding of what the characters were going through, and he described the experience as deeply informative in ways he had not anticipated.
His co-star Cullen approached the material differently, drawing on conversations with women in her own life who had been through similar experiences. Having midwives present on set provided a layer of clinical accuracy, but it was the personal accounts from friends and acquaintances that shaped her emotional understanding of Lisa’s journey. Those conversations, she has said, were offered with a generosity that stayed with her throughout filming.
Grief, stigma and the cost of silence
One of the show’s central arguments is that pregnancy loss is surrounded by a silence that does more harm than good. Essiedu has spoken about how a general cultural discomfort with grief feeds that silence, creating an environment where people feel they should not ask questions and, as a result, those experiencing loss end up feeling isolated and ashamed.
Writer and director Stefan Golaszewski, whose previous credits include the Bafta-winning BBC comedies Mum and Him and Her as well as the drama Marriage, has drawn on personal proximity to these experiences in crafting the series. He has been careful to note that the show is not autobiographical, which gave him the creative distance to shape something that feels dramatically honest rather than simply cathartic.
Golaszewski has also spoken about the tendency to over-medicalize pregnancy loss, which can create a disconnect between the clinical framing of an event and the raw grief that accompanies it. Babies resists that tendency at every turn.
Babies and the shared weight of loss
One of the more quietly powerful elements of the show is its insistence that pregnancy loss is not solely a woman’s experience. Steven’s storyline explores how men can struggle to locate or name their own grief in situations where the physical burden has been carried by their partner. The drama treats that emotional dislocation as something real and worthy of examination rather than a secondary concern.
Essiedu has reflected on how often miscarriage is framed purely in physical terms, overlooking the psychological and emotional dimensions that affect both partners. That imbalance, he suggests, is partly a result of grief being harder to see than physical pain.
Beyond Babies, into the Harry Potter storm
Essiedu has also been candid about the pressures that come with his other major upcoming role, playing Severus Snape in HBO’s Harry Potter series. The casting has drawn strong reactions in both directions, including death threats from a vocal minority. He has acknowledged that the negativity is not something he is entirely immune to, but he has also pointed to an overwhelming wave of supportive responses since the trailer’s release as a source of genuine excitement.
He has long maintained a careful distance from social media and public opinion, grounded in an understanding that no performer can satisfy every expectation. It is a philosophy that seems well suited to an actor increasingly being asked to carry the weight of beloved characters on his shoulders.
Babies is available now.
