Ralph And Katie | Interview with Genevieve Barr (Writer Episode 4)

Why did you take up the invitation to pitch for the series? What most excited you about an A Word spin-off focusing on Ralph and Katie?

The invitation to pitch for Ralph & Katie started with a quote from Pooky Quesnel aka Louise – ‘they’re like any married couple, except they’re happy all the time’. They’re irresistible performers – Sarah and Leon – and as a couple with Down’s syndrome brought to life by Pete Bowker in The A Word – a family drama set in the Lakes that embraces how disability shifts a community – it was an identifiable drama with a big heart. To say no would have been daft.

What sorts of things inspired the story idea that you pitched? What aspects of Ralph and Katie’s life were you keen to explore?

Growing up, my best friend’s brother has Down’s and they have the most hilarious and lovely relationship. We were teenagers at the same time and (my) being deaf and attending parties in their garage, sometimes I felt like I was experiencing things differently. I wondered if he was too. So pitching this felt like a homage to growing up together and growing up different, I guess.

The second thing is, the story I pitched died in the flames of the writersroom. So this was one we all came up with. The story of Episode 4 is about leaving home and how it affects parents. It’s a recognition for Katie that, though she has moved in with Ralph and made a life for herself, she has also left parents behind who are impacted by her choices. It feels like a moment to press pause and reflect on when relationships change – for the better or worse – and Sarah Gordy does something really beautiful and adult with it. Far more adult than I was when I came home to discover my parents had changed my bedroom whilst I was away in my first term of university.

How did you feel when you learned you were one of the five episode writers alongside Pete Bowker?

Scared. I’d heard all sorts of stuff about Pete… thankfully all good. Thrilled, excited, apprehensive because it was a room of super writers and that’s really frankly intimidating. The opportunity to learn from Pete was something special.

What is this series about? Which themes / questions does it explore?

The first year of married life. The joys, the slumps, the unexpected, the zany. The series explores how Ralph and Katie navigate it the same as any other married couple would, how they do it different. How this community in the Lakes respond to them. There’s some very interesting characters to meet. We could repackage this series and make it the new Neighbours.

Can you talk about the new characters that were created collectively in the writers room? How did you develop them?

The writersroom was a real circle of support. It was during lockdown so marmite, crumpets, RSPB magazines and Gavin and Stacey provided unfettered amusement amongst the work. I think Pete, Kat and Ollie already had a sense of these characters coming – particularly Emma and Danny – but the writers having lived experience of disability meant that there were so many stories to tell about PAs, support workers, brothers and kindly meant people. Also thanks to having the backbone of The A Word – we could work from who or what could unseat Louise, bring something new in to challenge Ralph and Katie.

Inclusivity and disability set against a backdrop of real lives, loves, family and life’s daily challenges is a theme dealt with in the series: how does the series approach it?

By putting it at the centre. The whole show was about Sarah Gordy and Leon Harrop bringing the relationship of Ralph and Katie to the screen. I wouldn’t say it’s a theme, I’d say it’s the living experience of the series. Inclusivity is (I think) about everybody being able to bring their best selves to a project, whoever you are, whatever job you do, and this show was process and story melded into one.

What makes this show special? Why is it important to tell this story?

I think Pete once said that whilst this felt like a very natural and ordinary thing to do, a couple with Down’s getting married and living together is a fairly radical act. In the sense that it isn’t an everyday occurrence. So in TV terms, it felt special because we were recognising that disabled people living together and being married is everywhere in society, but rarely do we get to explore it in a limelight. I know that doesn’t translate in a neat analogy but it’s the best I got.

Can you talk about your experience working on Ralph & Katie? Anything you’ve learned that you will take forwards?

Television has been doing a lot of work of late with improving access for disabled people in the industry. There has been a historic lack of attention to it. At the Edinburgh TV Festival, TAP – the TV Access Project – was announced, after a cross-industry roundtable chaired by the BBC’s Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore earlier this year. It will look at production spaces, guidelines as well as embedding access into budgets and teams. Making access a broad expectation industry wide, from top to bottom, start to finish will make sure there’s no excuse for representation not to emerge. Brilliantly, Ralph & Katie had already set a high bar on inclusion and shifting the way production teams and production spaces work, so it’s really exciting to see this show come to screen as a demonstration of that. There is a need for more disabled-led content.

What can the audience expect from Ralph & Katie?

Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy are very good actors. They deserve more work. This show is all them and I hope the audience enjoy it as much as we did writing it.

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