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24 September 2014
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Collins asÌý

GillianÌýÌý

Michelle Collins as Gillian

The Family Man comes to Â鶹ԼÅÄ ONE in March



Michelle Collins plays Gillian


At first glance Michelle Collins has much in common with her character Gillian.

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Both are successful, independent women, both in their early forties and both, as Gillian puts it: "able to get away with shopping at Topshop".

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But there the similarity ends abruptly.

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While Gillian is desperate to have a child and willing to go to almost any lengths to make her dream come true, Michelle is a happy and contented mother of one to nine-year old daughter, Maia.

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And, although she doesn't have any plans to extend her family, she admits that playing Gillian would make her think twice about trying IVF.

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"Because my age is similar to that of my character, in some ways it could be me going through that, so it has made me think about IVF a bit more," she says. "But I don't know if it's something that I would do.

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"If anything, this drama would put me off, but until you're in that situation yourself, it's difficult to say, so I wouldn't completely cross it out.

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"At least I couldn't pretend I didn't know what I was letting myself in for," she laughs. "I'm very lucky. I've got a daughter and I'm very happy as I am.

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"I can understand the lengths that someone might go to in order to have a child, but there are a lot of kids out there in homes or foster homes who desperately need parents and I think a lot of people dismiss that as they're so intent on having their own kids."

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Having starred in an earlier drama about IVF, Michelle already had a good idea of what the process involved from her research for that role.

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She visited a couple of clinics and met patients there, an experience which she describes as being "a real eye-opener".

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"I think we've become very used to thinking there's a solution to everything and we can have whatever we want – babies included.

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I didn't realise how painful IVF can be, physically, mentally and emotionally, and the strain it puts on couples," she says.

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"Women are really put through the mill. It's time-consuming and exhausting, for a lot of people it doesn't happen at all, and financially it's hugely expensive.

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"A lot of women have to give up work, because of the process they have to go through, injecting themselves and going back and forth to the clinic.

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"It's a long process and it's certainly not an easy option."

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As Gillian turns to the internet to find an egg donor, Michelle also decided to see how easy it would be to find information on egg donors via the web.

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"I was amazed at how easy it was. It only took a couple of clicks and I found pages and pages of women who were offering their eggs for sale under the heading 'Where dreams come true'.

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"The level of detail they gave about themselves was incredible and they all looked like they were TV presenters or models.

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"That particular site was American, where egg donation is legal, but I'm sure if you dug about a bit longer you'd find some for the UK. There was something quite unnerving about all these bright young women offering their genetic make-up for sale.

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"The Family Man is about modern life - can we really get what we want and what is the price we have to pay? It looks at the dilemmas that people have to go through with IVF and how far we should go," explains Michelle.

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"It presents the more sinister side of IVF. All the stories are linked through Patrick, the fertility expert, but he's become obsessive.

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"He plays God and it destroys him and his family. Once his patients are impregnated then, as far as he's concerned, it's job done but towards the end he realises there's more to it than that."

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At a time where you can hardly open a paper or magazine without reading something about women you have left it too late to have a baby, Gillian epitomises older women who are left feeling cheated when they decide it is time to have a baby, but their bodies won't play ball.

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"Gillian is financially independent, strong-willed and never wanted to settle for second best in a relationship.

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"She always felt that she could choose what she wanted and when. Then she meets Steve, realises he's 'the one' and decides that she wants a child, only it's not as easy as that," explains Michelle.

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"They've tried lots of different avenues, including a trip to Romania where things aren't as heavily regulated and Gillian's called a halt to things as the pressure's too much.

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"She could probably go on Mastermind and answer questions about IVF – she's gone into so much detail about it and tried every single avenue she possibly can.

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"But she can't get it off her mind and can't accept that fact that she can't have a child, and she goes on the internet to try and find an egg donor.

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"She knows it's not legal and they'll have to lie to the clinic about how they met, but she's thought it through, she knows what it involves, as much as anyone can who goes through the IVF process.

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"For her it's the last resort. Steve goes along with it because he adores her, and he wants her to be happy."

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Each couple's story in the drama is very different and Michelle says she can find some easier to relate to than others.

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"While Gillian is just desperate to have a child, Paul and Jane Jessop have another goal – they already have three girls but want a little boy to replace the one they lost in a car accident.

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"I think this drama will make people think about how far we should go when meddling with nature.

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"I can understand people who are childless and want a child, but while Paul and Jane's story is heartbreaking I find it quite hard to understand and a bit disturbing that they should be so determined to have another boy.

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"I think society is in danger of going too far. Should you be able to choose the sex of your child, or how intelligent you want it to be, or the colour of its hair? I think it's a bit immoral and I think we're meddling too much with nature," she concludes.

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Happily for Michelle, her next role will enable her to spend more time with daughter Maia, as she will be appearing taking to the stage at the Shaftesbury Theatre as Ma Baker in the upcoming musical Daddy Cool, about feuding London gangs set to the music of Boney M.

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"This is the first time I've done a West End musical, so I'm a bit nervous," she says. "But I think it's always good to try new things and I'm going to be surrounded by a lot of fantastic talent."


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