Harry Potter Star Paapa Essiedu Wants BBC Drama Babies to End Pregnancy Loss Silence

More than one in five pregnancies in the UK ends in miscarriage, yet for most people who live through that loss, the grief is carried quietly and often alone. Paapa Essiedu, the Shakespearean stage actor set to play Severus Snape in HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series, hopes his BBC drama Babies can change that.

The series follows a couple in their 30s as they try for a baby and navigate the complexities of pregnancy loss, a storyline that reflects an experience far more widespread than public conversation suggests. Tommy's, the UK pregnancy research charity, estimates that half of all adults in the country know someone who has experienced pregnancy or baby loss, and England and Wales recorded between 110,000 and 156,000 miscarriages in 2022 alone.

The silence surrounding those numbers is partly structural. The convention of waiting until 12 weeks before sharing a pregnancy means many losses are mourned privately before they have ever been acknowledged publicly. Cultural discomfort and a lack of confident language around grief compound the problem. The Miscarriage Association has noted that people often instinctively give bereaved parents space and privacy, which can leave them feeling more isolated rather than supported.

Acknowledgment, rather than minimisation, is what support charities consistently identify as most helpful. Asking "Do you want to chat?" or simply saying "I'm thinking of you" tends to land better than well-intentioned reassurances that sidestep the loss entirely. Giving someone agency over how they want to be supported, whether that is company, distraction, or quiet space, matters at a moment when everything can feel out of their control.

People seeking support can call Tommy's midwives helpline on 0800 0147 800, or contact the Miscarriage Association for information, peer support, and referrals to local counselling services. The Samaritans are available around the clock on 116 123.

Essiedu's candour extends beyond the subject matter of Babies. Since being cast as Snape, the role the late Alan Rickman held across eight films, he has faced a wave of racist online abuse and explicit death threats. In an interview with The Times of London published March 21, he described checking Instagram and seeing a message that read: "I'm going to come to your house and kill you." He met the threat with characteristic directness: "So, while I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be murdered—that could age badly!"

He did not treat the emotional toll as minor. "Many people put their lives on the line in their work," he said. "I'm playing a wizard in Harry Potter. And I'd be lying if I said it doesn't affect me emotionally." He added that stepping away from the internet offers no real escape from the abuse.

The through-line connecting both parts of Essiedu's current public life is a willingness to sit with subjects that most people prefer to leave unspoken. In Babies, that subject is pregnancy loss. The conversation he hopes the BBC drama starts is one that more than a hundred thousand families in England and Wales navigate each year without nearly enough support.