Cherry Healey cringes when she thinks about her first time
You've got your new documentary - Like A Virgin - airing tonight (Jan 12th), do you want to tell us a little bit about it?
This documentary is really looking at peoples experiences of their first time and seeing how it has affected them later on, because it's very hard to make generalisations later on, what we're trying to do is take their stories and the audience can kind of conclude what they like. I suppose what we were pointing towards was - does your first time affect your sexual self later on? How much of an impact does your first time have on your sexual journey afterwards? And each of the people that we spoke to had really different experiences. We had a couple of people who had really romantic first times, and for the rest of the people they had really classic first-time stories - as you might expect. We asked them how that has influenced or made them feel about their sexual journey, it was really interesting.
And also, can you actually have a good first-time? And what are the key points that people think make up having a really good first-time experience. Basically, it's just a really weird thing to do that first time.
What made you want to cover this topic?
The channel are currently doing a sex season and that's where it all begins, the first time. It's such a nice question. I think that the question of losing your virginity is a real leveller, it's something that makes most people blush, it's very funny sitting in a group of people asking them to recount their first time, suddenly everyone is transported back to their teenage self. I just thought that it is a really lovely topic to do and it is always lovely talking to people when they're being really open and honest and something like losing your virginity is a really intimate subject. I found that people really enjoyed telling their story because it was a walk down memory lane. A lot of people don't think about it, they might tell it in the pub for a bit of a laugh, well, I hadn't really thought about how it affected me later on - did it knock my confidence later on? Did it encourage me to behave in a certain way? How has it affected me now? Does it still have an imprint on my life now? It's been really interesting because it's made the people that we have spoken to really think about it in a way that they haven't before and that was really nice to get on camera.
Like you said, not a lot of people speak about it. Do you think that maybe it's something that society needs to discuss more?
I think it's really interesting, sex is such a massive part of our culture, I personally think it's blown way out of proportion. Sex is a very powerful and a very prominent thing, so, I think thinking about how you play a part in that is really important and I think if you're a parent you can't really honestly help your child to be aware of things that are important sexually if you haven't spoke about them. It's very easy as an adult to forget what it's like to be a teenager, to forget what that feeling is like when you really just want to lose your virginity but if you're confused, you're a bit scared, maybe you should just wait. I think it's really good for young people to think about it so they're aware of the fun and the pitfalls. I think, as adults, we need to think about it to remind ourselves what it's really like to be a teenager - and that really tricky moment.
Do you think that people will be shocked by what you've reported?
I think that some of the stories are quite shocking, I think that some methods of educating - I'm thinking of one in particular, the parents had chosen to educate their child in quite an unusual way, which I was really shocked about, but it did make me think because I come from a family that never talked about sex, ever. And this girl comes from a family that talked about sex more than I have ever imagined possible, but she seemed quite confident when talking about it and it did make me think.
As you were doing the documentary, did you discover things about yourself?
With the nature of the programme I talked about how it's affected me and my life and I was talking to the director about one of my firsts fumbles and I've told the story quite a few times, just to friends - it's just a classic teenage story of drunkuness and actually when I was telling him I was really embarrassed and I was surprised at how embarrassed I was about telling the story. I realised that it's a very funny story to tell down the pub but actually now that I'm a mum and I'm so much further away from it I now cringe at the story and I wasn't really expecting that.
You have another documentary that has yet to be confirmed, expecting to be January 25th, Britain's Favourite Supermarket Foods, do you want to tell us a little about that?
This is a really nice programme, it's a bit of a departure of the stuff I've done before, the other stuff I've done has been lifestyle documentaries. This is a look at what is in our kitchen, the foods that we buy every single day and we really take for granted, what is in them? What we found from this specific research can slightly make us value them again. I don't want to spend £10 on a tiny packet of Goji berries, yes they're super foods, but actually what are the foods in my fridge that I should be using better and using more of and understanding how they affect my body.
We addressed certain questions like, do you really have to restrict how many eggs you eat a week because of the cholesterol? How long did you brew a tea bag to get the best out of the antioxidants? Are the salt in crisps really that bad for us? That sort of thing.
Obviously it's a very topical subject, diets and health, and you've managed to put it into context with food that we eat everyday. Do you think it will affect positively on people's lives?
I think people will be surprised to see jsut how much goodness their is in their own kitchen. The foods we eat everyday and often disregard but they're actually really good for us.
Do you think that watching the show will effect on more people than reading about it in a magazine/newspaper?
That's hard to say because people consume the media differently. Some people may prefer the print medium so that they can cut it out and stick somewhere that they are going to see everyday. But others when they see the evidence right there in front of their eyes, that can be quite compelling.
Do you think that people will be surprised by what you've found?
Yes. I think it's the fact it's those everyday products that we disregard. Especially milk, I found some great things out about milk and its health benefits - I think everyone will be surprised by that, it's jam packed with nutrients.
So, what's next for you then?
I can't really say much about them but there's going to be a new six-part series called, Cherry Wants Answers. There's going to a be a new twist on them.
Watch Like A Virgin tonight on BBC 3 9pm. Britian's Favourite Supermarket Foods is airing on January 25.
Femalefirst Taryn Davies
You've got your new documentary - Like A Virgin - airing tonight (Jan 12th), do you want to tell us a little bit about it?
This documentary is really looking at peoples experiences of their first time and seeing how it has affected them later on, because it's very hard to make generalisations later on, what we're trying to do is take their stories and the audience can kind of conclude what they like. I suppose what we were pointing towards was - does your first time affect your sexual self later on? How much of an impact does your first time have on your sexual journey afterwards? And each of the people that we spoke to had really different experiences. We had a couple of people who had really romantic first times, and for the rest of the people they had really classic first-time stories - as you might expect. We asked them how that has influenced or made them feel about their sexual journey, it was really interesting.
And also, can you actually have a good first-time? And what are the key points that people think make up having a really good first-time experience. Basically, it's just a really weird thing to do that first time.
What made you want to cover this topic?
The channel are currently doing a sex season and that's where it all begins, the first time. It's such a nice question. I think that the question of losing your virginity is a real leveller, it's something that makes most people blush, it's very funny sitting in a group of people asking them to recount their first time, suddenly everyone is transported back to their teenage self. I just thought that it is a really lovely topic to do and it is always lovely talking to people when they're being really open and honest and something like losing your virginity is a really intimate subject. I found that people really enjoyed telling their story because it was a walk down memory lane. A lot of people don't think about it, they might tell it in the pub for a bit of a laugh, well, I hadn't really thought about how it affected me later on - did it knock my confidence later on? Did it encourage me to behave in a certain way? How has it affected me now? Does it still have an imprint on my life now? It's been really interesting because it's made the people that we have spoken to really think about it in a way that they haven't before and that was really nice to get on camera.
Like you said, not a lot of people speak about it. Do you think that maybe it's something that society needs to discuss more?
I think it's really interesting, sex is such a massive part of our culture, I personally think it's blown way out of proportion. Sex is a very powerful and a very prominent thing, so, I think thinking about how you play a part in that is really important and I think if you're a parent you can't really honestly help your child to be aware of things that are important sexually if you haven't spoke about them. It's very easy as an adult to forget what it's like to be a teenager, to forget what that feeling is like when you really just want to lose your virginity but if you're confused, you're a bit scared, maybe you should just wait. I think it's really good for young people to think about it so they're aware of the fun and the pitfalls. I think, as adults, we need to think about it to remind ourselves what it's really like to be a teenager - and that really tricky moment.
Do you think that people will be shocked by what you've reported?
I think that some of the stories are quite shocking, I think that some methods of educating - I'm thinking of one in particular, the parents had chosen to educate their child in quite an unusual way, which I was really shocked about, but it did make me think because I come from a family that never talked about sex, ever. And this girl comes from a family that talked about sex more than I have ever imagined possible, but she seemed quite confident when talking about it and it did make me think.
As you were doing the documentary, did you discover things about yourself?
With the nature of the programme I talked about how it's affected me and my life and I was talking to the director about one of my firsts fumbles and I've told the story quite a few times, just to friends - it's just a classic teenage story of drunkuness and actually when I was telling him I was really embarrassed and I was surprised at how embarrassed I was about telling the story. I realised that it's a very funny story to tell down the pub but actually now that I'm a mum and I'm so much further away from it I now cringe at the story and I wasn't really expecting that.
You have another documentary that has yet to be confirmed, expecting to be January 25th, Britain's Favourite Supermarket Foods, do you want to tell us a little about that?
This is a really nice programme, it's a bit of a departure of the stuff I've done before, the other stuff I've done has been lifestyle documentaries. This is a look at what is in our kitchen, the foods that we buy every single day and we really take for granted, what is in them? What we found from this specific research can slightly make us value them again. I don't want to spend £10 on a tiny packet of Goji berries, yes they're super foods, but actually what are the foods in my fridge that I should be using better and using more of and understanding how they affect my body.
We addressed certain questions like, do you really have to restrict how many eggs you eat a week because of the cholesterol? How long did you brew a tea bag to get the best out of the antioxidants? Are the salt in crisps really that bad for us? That sort of thing.