‘It breaks my heart'

Amy Walsh talks to TV Times about new mum Tracy’s moving postnatal depression storyline

- ALISON SLADE

The Dale’s Tracy Metcalfe was all smiles when she gave birth to daughter Frankie in February. But four months on, the new mum is riddled with anxiety as she tries to do her best for her little girl – and all too often feels like a failure.

‘We wanted to tell a heartbreaking but very real story about postnatal depression,’ explains Emmerdale’s producer Kate Brooks, who has worked with the charity APNI (Association for Post Natal Illness) on the plot. ‘It’s a really sad statistic, but up to one in every 10 women will develop postnatal depression within the first 12 months of having a baby.’

We caught up with star Amy Walsh, 34, to talk about Tracy’s turmoil, and her hopes that her character’s plight will provoke some much-needed conversations…

Did you know that Tracy’s story would go in this direction?

Yes, I knew it was going to be a tough thing to play, but that excited me because I wanted the challenge of playing something that hadn’t happened to me directly – often with my storylines, I can rely on my own experiences.

This week, Tracy has encounters with Faith and Wendy that leave her fretting about Frankie catching germs. Is anxiety the overriding issue for her?

That’s exactly it. It could be misconstrued that she has an OCD-type germs obsession, but it’s not that. This is another thing that she feels she needs to worry about. She’s telling herself, ‘I’m the only one who can protect Frankie.’

Believing that only she can protect Frankie, how does Tracy feel when she then accidentally scratches Frankie’s face?