Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
The transgender trap
Anna Friel, star of a harrowing new drama about a young boy who wants to live as a girl, says the real stories that inspired it shocked her to the core
Being a responsible parent is hugely important to Anna Friel. Determined not to separate her daughter from her father when she split with actor David Thewlis, she put her blossoming Hollywood career on hold and came back to England so Gracie was near him.
That parental commitment was evident too when deciding whether to accept the role of Vicky Duffy in ITV’s new three-part drama Butterfly, the story of Vicky’s 11-year-old boy Max who wants to be a girl called Maxine. Anna was intrigued by the subject matter but shocked that, from a mother’s perspective, she had little knowledge of the subject.
‘I kept thinking, “What if this were Gracie’s story?”’ says Anna, 42. ‘I have no idea how I’d deal with it, I’ve no idea what kind of conversations I’d have with her, and that worried me. I didn’t even know what my views on transgender were. I was so ignorant so I wanted to know more.’
Anna’s voyage of discovery was eye- opening. When she visited Mermaids UK, a charity for children and families dealing with transgender issues, an extraordinary world of pain and suffering was revealed. ‘We heard stories of bullying, of transgender youngsters coming home from school with the outline of a size-eight boot on their bodies. Children having abuse screamed at them, by other children and by the parents of those children. One in ten transgender youngsters have had death threats while at school.’ There are terrible consequences for those who suffer such abuse. A staggering 45 per cent of young transgender people try to take their own lives, and over 80 per cent self-harm.
These issues have come to the fore as the number of children identifying as transgender increases. Apart from the emotional issues involved, it’s sparked a national debate about how schools should handle day-to-day dilemmas ranging from how these children are addressed to which loos they can use – some schools now have unisex toilets – and who can share tents on camping trips.
Anna quickly realised Max’s was a story that had to be told, if only to counter the ignorance surrounding people who want to change gender. ‘Nobody should have to put up with the suffering endured by those whose cases I was told about. I hope Butterfly makes people less ignorant, more tolerant and more able to talk about it. Butterfly has the power to inform and change attitudes – it’s airing on ITV and should reach a large audience that will hopefully include lots of children. I watched it with Gracie, who’s 13, and she thought it was amazing.’
Anna knows all about controversial drama. When she was in soap opera Brookside 24 years ago and her character Beth Jordache puckered up for that kiss with nanny Margaret Clemence, she prompted a remarkable public reac t ion tha t makes her shudder still. ‘ I got abuse in the street but it broke a taboo,’ says Anna. ‘It became more acceptable, better understood. I hope the same can be achieved by Butterfly.’
The intolerance endured by Anna is echoed in Butterfly by Max’s father Stephen, played by Irish actor Emmett J Scanlan. The 39-year-old shot to fame as Brendan Brady in Hollyoaks before starring as DC Glen Martin in BBC2’s The Fall. Stephen talks about needing to fix Max and put him back on track. In one sickening scene, he strikes the boy, knocking him to the floor. ‘Stephen’s far less tolerant than his wife or daughter, but I’ve tried to understand the fact that Max is his only son and he has plans for him,’ says Emmett. ‘He wants to be a male role model and encourage him to do “manly” things such as video gaming, martial arts and football. He’s no saint, but it’s a difficult situation for Stephen to navigate.’
We first meet Vicky and her family as Max, played by 11-year-old Callum Booth-Ford from Warrington in Cheshire, prepares to begin his secondary education after happy years at primary school. A loner and dreamer – there’s one fantasy sequence where he meets a mermaid on a trip to an aquarium – Max sticks out from the crowd and is picked on by two classroom bullies. As puberty kicks in and gender issues dominate his life, he starts cutting himself. Vicky and Stephen meet a child psychologist and go to a gender clinic, but they’re hardly presenting a united front. Stephen has moved out – for reasons explained in the first episode – and has a new, younger girlfriend.
The older generation complicate matters further. Vicky’s mum Barbara, played by Alison Steadman, has little sympathy for Max and the problems he faces. She talks about his ‘funny ways’ and reckons Vicky is being too indulgent when she lets him dress up as a girl at home. Stephen’s father Peter (Sean McGinley) is the opposite and totally supportive of his grandson.
There were challenges during filming when Emmett broke his leg playing five-a-side football. But he carried on filming, in great pain. ‘I snapped my fibula trying to stop a goal being scored,’ says Emmett. ‘The worst time was waiting in hospital to see if the leg needed operating on and a cast – that would’ve halted filming.
‘Thankfully that wasn’t necessary and I had the kind of strapping they use on horses when they break a leg, that tightens around the bones. I used that when we weren’t filming and gritted my teeth when we were. I didn’t use painkillers because that masks the pain and I wouldn’t know when I was inflicting more damage on the leg.
‘But it was important to finish the work. I’m proud I completed a drama that I think will make an impact. Like Anna, I really hope it does.’
Butterfly will begin on ITV later this month.
‘These young children get death threats at school’