Giving birth for the first time was a far from happy occasion for Coronation Street’s Dee-Dee Bailey, as it turned into a traumatic ordeal ending in emergency surgery that left her unable to carry any more children.
The storyline has drawn attention to racial injustice in maternity care, with the strong-willed solicitor so stung by her experience she’s on a crusade for accountability. Confronting hospital staff over negligence and unconscious bias may bring closure for Dee-Dee and highlight a wider issue, but it could also make it harder for the character to move on…
“Dee-Dee is very conflicted, she doesn’t know if she’s coming or going,” reveals Channique Sterling-Brown, speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about her alter ego’s plight. “She knows she wants some form of change so this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Confronting what happened is huge, but pursuing the negligence case is a way of avoiding the different trauma of having the baby adopted, which she has put in a box and is definitely not dealing with.
“She has spent the last year sacrificing so much for the people around her, and has ended up butchered and lonely. Trying to fix what happened to her in hospital means she doesn’t have to think about the pain of giving baby Laila away.”
Dee-Dee’s distressing childbirth last month saw her concerns of being in pain in the lead-up to her due date dismissed, only to later be diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and rushed in for an emergency delivery. After suffering a huge haemorrhage, surgeons had to perform a hysterectomy in order to save her life. Feeling mistakes were made that were avoidable, and linked to her ethnicity, Dee-Dee launched an official complaint of gross negligence. In powerful scenes on Friday 18 April, she finally confronted Zoe, the midwife on duty at the time, about the treatment she received.
Newsletter: Daily NewsletterTitle: Never miss a thing. Get the best of RadioTimes.com sent to your inbox.Description: For details on how we use your data, please see our privacy policy.Layout: horizontalEnvironment: live-likeLogged In Body Copy: Sign up to be the first to know about breaking stories and new series!Logged In Success Message: Thanks, you are now signed up to our daily TV and entertainment newsletters! We look forward to sending you our email updates.Logged In Preferences Hyperlink Text: To manage your email preferences, click here.Logged Out Body Copy: Sign up to be the first to know about breaking stories and new series!Logged Out Success Message: Thanks, you are now signed up to our daily TV and entertainment newsletters! We look forward to sending you our email updates.Logged Out Sign In Message: Sign in to/ register for a RadioTimes.com account to manage your email preferences“I think there is a sense of closure for Dee-Dee after that,” Sterling-Brown reflects. “It doesn’t necessarily make it right or that the story is over. I hope the scene makes it clear to the audience why Dee-Dee’s race is relevant in all this. Zoe taking a beat over how she acted and having that understanding with Dee-Dee was really important to show. To have it affirmed she wasn’t going crazy or was gaslit and left to get on with it, Dee-Dee needed that.
“Accepting what happened is one thing, to try and do it without a proper apology or acknowledgement of how it was avoidable is a really hard thing to ask of anyone. Dee-Dee hearing Zoe and understanding how it happened makes her realise it’s not a malicious thing, it’s a lack of training and guidance.”
The backdrop to Dee-Dee’s nightmare was a typically stretched NHS maternity ward, with stressed staff run ragged doing their best amidst the challenges to time and resource faced on a daily basis.
Sterling-Brown candidly admits Corrie were concerned the story would be misinterpreted as being anti-NHS, and is quick to explain why the attitudes her character encountered were portrayed the way they were.
“Obviously producers didn’t want the storyline to come across as bashing the NHS because it’s so fundamental. But it’s not about malicious racism, it’s about systemic racism, unconscious bias – these are things that are deeply ingrained into institutions, and that is not an individual malicious problem, but it is a problem we can all take a part in solving.”
The statistics are sobering, as evidence in an inquiry into racial injustice in maternity care carried out by human rights charity Birthrights: black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth than white women, and have an increased chance of suffering physical and psychological harm through pregnancy and birth. Birthrights findings also flagged consistent failure to identify medical conditions in hospitals due to skin colour, racial stereotyping and breaches of consent.
[image id="2239256" size="landscape_thumbnail" title="corrie-dee-dee-upset" alt="An upset Dee-Dee sitting up in a hospital bed in Coronation Street" classes=""] An upset Dee-Dee in Coronation Street.Despite this, the actress concedes there have still been some negative reactions with regard to the message Corrie is trying to communicate.
“No one is suggesting this only happens to black women. However, there is a huge disparity, and hopefully by opening conversations about that we will see an improvement in maternal care for all women. Discussing things that affect more communities will work its way through the system, hopefully. I encourage people to suspend themselves beyond their own reality, and have the perspective and empathy for others.
“I’ve also had many women of all colours and creeds sharing their experiences, which has been amazing, and lots of healthcare workers and midwives are thanking us for highlighting something they are very aware of.”
“I’m passionate about this subject,” continues Sterling-Brown. “Serena Williams and Beyonce both went public about their traumatic experiences in childbirth. If this can happen to two of the most influential and wealthiest black women in the world, then it’s a massive problem.”
Controversy shouldn’t detract from character, as Corrie is committed to telling a long-term story of Dee-Dee’s decision to have her child adopted which is only just beginning. Her unplanned pregnancy was a reminder of the doomed romance with dead ex-lover Joel Deering, who pretended he was the perfect man while he secretly groomed and abused young women. Dee-Dee only agreed to have the baby so it could be a stem cell donor for sickly half-sibling Frankie, the product of teenager Lauren Bolton’s toxic relationship with Joel.
With Frankie finding another donor, and Dee-Dee’s brother James’s plan to adopt Laila on ice while his partner recovers from a car crash, Ms Bailey has been left holding a baby she never even wanted. Does Sterling-Brown believe she now regrets giving away the only child she can ever have?
“Dee-Dee is a planner and is struggling to come to terms with this situation not going the way it was meant to. So it’s not necessarily regret and wanting her child back, more the regret of not factoring in the consequences of the plan falling apart. She was probably a bit naïve thinking this would be wrapped up in a bow so easily, now the adoption has fallen by the wayside, she must find a way to make good with what’s left.
“In other circumstances, I think Dee-Dee would make a great mum. When I found out about the hysterectomy I was sad for her, it was like Joel got the last laugh and took away the last glimmer of hope for her future. That was a brutal choice from the writers, but I get why and where the story leads.”
[image id="2242769" size="landscape_thumbnail" title="corrie-dee-dee-midwife" alt="Dee-Dee looking upset in Coronation Street" classes=""] Dee-Dee vows to make a change.Dee-Dee has been in the eye of the dramatic storm for last 18 months, since Joel’s true colours were revealed ending in a gruesome murder mystery, leading into the current hard-hitting plot. In just under three years the character, and the actress who plays her, have been elevated to leading lady status thanks to the steady stream of difficult plots. But where do we go from here?
“In the past, Dee-Dee may have martyred herself a bit too much, but she doesn’t need to do that now. We’re going to see Dee-Dee take stock and try to find herself again. What does she actually want and need from life after what she’s been through? Today I wore bright pink in a scene, and I thought ‘it’s been ages since Dee-Dee was in fun, vibrant colours’. I think there are happier times on the horizon.”
The women of Weatherfield have rallied around Dee-Dee during her darkest hours, and Sterling-Brown signs off by stressing she is as grateful to her co-stars for their support, as her character is to the fictional female fraternity. “The best thing about being a Corrie woman is the Corrie women,” she smiles. “My top three this last year have been Sair Khan (Alya Nazir), Tina O’Brien (Sarah Barlow) and Sue Devaney (Debbie Webster).
“Sue and I talk about the relationship between our characters all the time, Debbie never had kids and is like a mother figure to Dee-Dee, as her own mum isn’t on the scene. They’re both from male-dominated families and have gravitated towards each other.
“I love hearing all these women’s different lived experiences, like the scene where Audrey and Maria shared their birth stories with Dee-Dee. That’s what womanhood is about – learning how life shapes you and passing on the knowledge.”
For support on Dee-Dee’s story, you can visit Birthrights, Motivational Mums Club and FivexMore.
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