A year after I had cast her in a supporting role in my short advocacy drama ‘Who’s Counting?’ for Tommy’s, Rosie Chappel shared a picture of herself in her scrubs, proud that she had only five weeks to go until she qualified as a midwife. Soon after seeing the picture, I messaged Rosie about an idea for a project called DELIVERY.

Together, over the following year, via countless Zoom and phone calls, Google docs, voice notes and text messages, we developed a story using Rosie’s lived experience of life and death pregnancy cases on an NHS maternity ward to craft the story of Mary, a newly-qualified midwife undertaking the most challenging night shift of her career. DELIVERY is the result, a scripted 25 minute short that focuses on the incredible physical and psychological strain on midwives as they witness the long-lasting impact of childbirth related trauma, a subject so rarely spoken about.

DELIVERY won Best Short Film at the British Short Film Awards and was nominated for Best British Short at the British Independent Film Awards. The film also picked up, among other prizes, Best Debut Short at Tirana International Film Festival, Best British Film at Norwich International Film Festival, Best UK Short at Manchester International Film Festival, Best British Director at the European Short Awards, Best Casting in a Short Film at the CDA Awards, the Jury Award for Best Drama and the Audience Award at This is England Film Festival, and two Golds and the Grand Prix at the Kinsale Shark Awards.

The short served as a proof of concept for my debut narrative feature, which is currently in development with Portobello Productions.

I spoke to Directors Notes about the making of the film. Read the interview here.

You can watch the film via Short of the Week on YouTube here.