Great Ormond Street is a very uplifting place... that surprised me
THEY SAY NEVER WORK WITH CHILDREN OR ANIMALS, BUT PAUL O’GRADY, 63, HAS DONE BOTH. MARION MCMULLEN FINDS OUT WHY THE BIRKENHEAD-BORN TV PRESENTER IS HAPPY TO PROVIDE A LITTLE OF HIS OWN LAUGHTER THERAPY TO PAUL O’GRADY’S LITTLE HEROES
What inspired Paul O’grady’s Little Heroes at Great Ormond Street Hospital?
WE WERE filming For the Love of Dogs Christmas Special and we went to the hospital and we took a load of dogs from Battersea for the kids to meet, and I knew the minute I stepped foot in the hospital that I’d make a series there. I just knew.
We hear a lot about the National Health Service, but this is different, this is children. It’s a world-famous hospital, and you can see why when you go in there. It’s not the least bit intimidating.
It’s all geared for kids. There are bright colours and animals everywhere, Disney stuff and all sorts of things.
You used to work as a children’s social worker. What did the work involve?
I WORKED in a children’s home up North. I was only 19 when I worked there. We used to work 14 hours a day and have 12 kids with various disabilities to look after.
It was quite a regimented home they used to run. That was hard work.
I did three years there and then I went back to London and got a job being a peripatetic care officer, which meant I provided respite care.
If a parent went into hospital, to prevent the kid going into care, I’d go into the home and look after them. There’d often be five or six kids and the homes I’m talking about, I’d spend the first week cleaning up and doing washing.
I still hear from some of the kids. They’re all in their 40s now.
One kid told me they used to love it. It was like Mary Poppins arriving.
I’d come in and say, ‘Come on, we’re going to the pictures.’ And off we’d go. Or we’d go and have an ice cream. Things that they didn’t normally have.
What was it like filming at the hospital?
IT WAS tough at times. You put the shutters down when you’re in there and just get on with it.
I just acted the fool for the kids, to keep them amused. At times I wondered if I was in the way. I spoke to one of the nurses and she said, ‘No, far from it, you’re a diversion for them, to take their mind off things.’
The children really are amazing the way they deal with it. Some come in three times a week for their dialysis, no moaning, it’s just part of their life, they just deal with it.
And the parents are saints, they’re just incredible. I was talking to one mother and she said, ‘Oh, I don’t want pity.’ I said, ‘You’re not getting pity, you’re getting admiration.’
Were there any particular children or stories that really got to you?
THERE were loads. There was a little girl in there on a thing called the Berlin Heart, which is a huge machine that she’s attached to while she’s waiting for a heart transplant. She’s a delicate little tot, a baby, and her parents basically live in the hospital and they just wait and wait and wait for a heart to come. They’re remarkable people. You go in there and it’s like a life lesson. You come out and you think, ‘My God. Such brave people.’ The thing for me was to get them laughing and take their mind off it, and the parents as well.
All the children wanted to talk to me about was animals. ‘How many dogs have you got? What happened to that elephant? Do you remember that baby vulture?’ It was a real treat.
Was it challenging to stay so upbeat when some of them are so poorly?
YES, sometimes I’d go and see a little kid and I’d come out and just think, ‘This is not right, it’s not fair, it really isn’t.’ It does get to you. You go home and worry.
Malcolm, my producer on Radio Two, said, ‘It’s not like Battersea, Paul, you can’t take one home with you at the end of the series.’ But it’s not a depressing place, it’s a bright and an uplifting place. Did anything surprise you about the hospital or the staff?
IT’S a very positive, uplifting place and that surprised me, it’s not what I expected when I went in there.
But you see all the bed covers and all the play rooms and everything is catered to them, the little seats and everything.
It’s not a gloomy place to go and for the parents and the kids, it’s not the least bit intimidating when they go in there. The staff are amazing. I used to say to the children as they went for an operation, ‘These people aren’t ordinary people, they’re magicians.’ And I meant it.
You go in to theatre and you watch
the operation and see what they do and you think, ‘God, this is incredible.’ The staff really care. It’s a vocation for them. They don’t just go in, clock on, deal with it and go.
They really, really care. It’s humbling. It is, it’s really, really humbling. You come out and you think, ‘God, I’ve had a wasted life.’
Any other highlights for you during filming?
ALL the kids were wonderful. They were just a joy to be with, all of them. I really looked forward to going in to see them.
I said I wouldn’t get attached, but you can’t help it. You get to know the parents, you’re having a cup of tea with them, you’re having your dinner with them and you get to know the kids.
So even if you’re not filming with the kids that day they go past and say, ‘Hi Paul,’ and you get chatting.
By the end of the two months filming I felt like part of the furniture. All the mums and dads knew me, I’ve never chatted so much. I’d get home at night and sit in silence.
I was always asking, ‘How are you getting on?’ because it was important to me how the parents were getting on because they’re really bearing the brunt of all this.
Imagine watching your child, a little baby, attached to a huge machine, waiting for a heart transplant; living in hospital, putting your life on hold.
They deserve a medal. They deserve more than a medal.
What impact do you hope the series will have on viewers?
THERE has been a lot about the NHS in the press recently, but making this series, it makes you realise what a vital service it is and how important it is and how we have to protect it and look after it and maintain it and support it.
Otherwise, those children wouldn’t be with us now, if it wasn’t for the staff in the hospital. They’d have just died without the treatment they are getting.
From the minute you walk into the reception, past the statue of Peter Pan you know it’s a great place. It’s bright, friendly, welcoming and not in the least bit scary.
■ Paul O’grady’s Little Heroes continues on ITV on Wednesdays at 8pm and you can catch up on the series so far on the ITV Hub.