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PARMINDER NAGRA
The actress talks balancing motherhood with a busy career and how her best friend helped her land a new role
‘I like being at work and that makes me a better mother because I’m in a better mood’
Parminder came to prominence alongside Keira Knightley in 2002 film Bend It Like Beckham.
She is no stranger to playing the roles of powerful women after starring in hits such as US FBI drama The Blacklist, cinema classic Bend It Like Beckham and police procedural DI Ray, but actress Parminder Nagra compares her latest part, in ITV’s new medical drama Maternal, to “an Alton Towers ride” filled with emotion.
Starring as paediatric registrar Dr Maryam Afridi in the six-part series, the story follows the character and her fellow frontline medical workers Catherine and Helen (played by The Split’s Lara Pulver and Mum star Lisa McGrillis) as they return to the NHS after maternity leave. Struggling to balance the demands of their hectic home lives and allconsuming jobs, the trio must learn how to deal with working motherhood.