BBC's Casualty explores importance of friends, family and colleagues spotting the signs of PP

Fans of BBC's Casualty will have no doubt been following Nicole's dramatic postpartum psychosis storyline, the peak of which aired earlier this month.

The storyline is something that we've all been following at APP too - for several months in fact - as we were delighted to be approached by the Casualty team to work with them as they developed the scripts in 2024.

Nicole's story is a little bit different, as she gave birth as a surrogate, so returned to work very quickly, and it was while she was working in the Casualty department that she first developed symptoms of PP. To watch the build up scenes where Nicole's partner and colleague, Ngozi, starts to notice that something is wrong, you can check out the episode that aired on 25th January by clicking here.

The story progressed as Nicole became acutely unwell, making mistakes, becoming confused and suffering from hallucinations and delusions. Eventually, her colleagues spotted the signs of PP and knew immediately that Nicole needed urgent help.

The story is so well done and we're really pleased with how the team handled everything so sensitively. There's a link to watch Nicole's main episode below, but please take care when watching as it is such a strong and powerful portrayal.

Watch Nicole's episode here

Our wonderful fundraiser and storyteller, Juliette Mackenzie, also wrote a fabulous response piece to the story which was published in metro. Juliette is herself a midwife who experienced PP and, much in the same vein as Nicole's storyline, found herself being supported and diagnosed by colleagues.

Read Juliette's response piece here.

We're always keen to hear from producers and programme teams who are working on postpartum psychosis storylines. Should you wish to discuss this with us, please contact our media team by emailing media@app-network.org