Jamie Winstone
Jamie Winstone has had a great year starring in the hard hitting TV show Five Daughters as well as the critically acclaimed Made In Dagenham.
But she turns her attention to the documentary this week as asks Is Oral Sex Safe? The documentary is part of BBC Three’s Dangerous Pleasures season and investigates the link between oral sex and cancer.
I caught up with Jamie to talk about the documentary and the very successful year that she has had on the big screen and TV.
- You are fronting a new cancer documentary about the risks of oral sex so can you tell me a bit about it?
Basically it a personal journey of mine that I go on to discover what HPV is, the Human Papillomavirus, and how it a sexually transmitted disease - it’s caused by oral sex basically - and I ask the question is oral sex safe?
I then go on to meet all sorts of doctors and people who have suffered from cancer and go on a bit of a journey to educate and show my views on this particular form of cancer.
- And it’s one of the fastest rising forms of cancer, which is quite frightening given the fact that many of us know nothing about it, so can you give us the facts?
Eight per cent of us carry HPV cancer, HPV is sort of like a virus like flu - I mean it’s not a cold but if that’s how you want to look at it. One in ten of us don’t have the immune system to fight it and that is when it turns cancerous and it’s caused by oral sex.
Eight hundred are affected by this every year but the HPV vaccination, which I touch on in the documentary, is offered to girls in schools, the jab that they have in schools, but it’s not offered to young boys.
One of my arguments in the documentary is that they at risk also, actually thy are at a greater risk than women, HPV has increased 50% in men since the eighties - so for me that raised the question why aren’t they given the jab? Why aren’t they educated? Why aren’t they even given the option?
And for me this raised the question of money and, which was great because I got the opportunity to go and speak to the deputy of health; and it was amazing for me to even be able to have a conversation with him.
So he filled in the gaps for me and say why it isn’t offered to boys and men, a lot of money is spent on health care a year and they have to filter it out, but I don’t think that it’s fair that they offer it to girls and not boys because they are at the same risk, even more.
There is a lot more evidence that suggests that people are more likely to have HPV linked cancers if they have had more sexual partners - I think that we live in a highly sexually active world and for me I find the approach a bit… to say just don’t have oral sex is unrealistic.
And we live in a world where men have sex with men and women have sex with women and I think it rules out a lot of people by doing that.
My little sister is going to have the jab in a year and a half and I just want to why and what it’s for and to just educate myself a bit more. The jab costs about £400 and I don’t know any young boys who would fork out £400 instead of spending it on a Playstation. It’s not because they don’t care it’s because they are not educated and they don’t know.
So for me it’s a point that needs to be raised.
- So what made you get involved in the project in the first place?
Well they approached me, I have never really wanted to do a documentary before, but my friend Paul Nicholls was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the year, colon cancer, and I had never been affected that close to it, my mum’s friend had had cancer and I had seen her react, and for me this was very close to home.
When they approached me I was in heavy talks with Paul about his Music and My Disease blog so I was inspired by him and when Maninderpal (Sahota), the director, approached me to ask if this was something that I would do I and the moment that I heard about HPV and what do you mean you can catch cancer through oral sex? I was shocked.
I’m not exactly uneducated I definitely didn’t know what this meant, the Human Papillomavirus, so I was intrigued and I felt that it was personal and close to home. I wanted to do it for Paul, sadly he passed away during the filming so I couldn’t fulfil getting my interview with him but I felt like I had to continue and uncover all angles of it.
I just think that it’s a very important subject it’s about our health and our future and if it’s rising dramatically then it’s important to get this point across.
If it’s not going to be taught in schools and the vaccination offered to young boys then maybe we should take it into our own hands and show that this is quite important and they are at risk too.
- The documentary shows people such as Darren who has been diagnosed with cancer and it undergoing very painful treatment so how did you find meeting people like him?
I found it very hard. Darren is a young man and his case it shocking because he has been with the same woman since he was seventeen, he hadn’t had a lot of sexual partners, but he had this rare cancer, probably from his girlfriend, and for me it was really upsetting because it destroyed him for a couple of years.
The treatment that he went through, and we think chemotherapy and radiotherapy with fix it, but the pain that he went through - his whole neck was burnt away, the excruciating pain, the embarrassment of not being able to chew your food and not having saliva and the effects that has on your sexual life as well as you mentally - I found it so inspirational to talk to Darren he had never really opened up about it and I felt quite honoured that I could sit there and talk t o him about it.
I can’t imagine what it must be like going through something like that at such a young age. And this documentary allowed me to speak to people like Darren and also top doctors - and these are people that I would never get to talk to - so for me I felt like I should take it upon myself to educate myself about something that I wouldn’t normally know about.
- Away from the documentary you have had a very successful year - you must be delighted with the reaction to Made In Dagenham?
Yes I have. The response has been great and everyone really seemed to enjoy the movie so I’m really the happy.
- And what was it about the role of Sandra and the script that drew you to that project?
It was probably the fact that it was a great script; my Nan was a factory worker so I felt quite attached already. But I did love the role of Sandra she was fun and bubbly, wasn’t being changed by zombies so it was quite nice.
- You have mixed movies with TV this year, in particular Five Daughters. So was this the type of gritty role that you were looking for?
No I don’t really look for gritty roles. I just read the script and instantly was like wow I remember this and how if affected the nation and how outraged at the way the press had called these five girls not law abiding prostitutes and they forgot that they had drug problems and they were daughters.
So I found it very insensitive for the girls and their families so for me I found it a really important part to play. It was scary as well because you are playing someone real, she was my age and was murdered three or four years ago but I wanted to show their story
- Five Daughters was a very hard hitting and emotional piece so how much research did you do for the role - did you meet the family?
Yes we were in contact with the family and we knew what we knew from the press. But for me it was about being true to the script everything that I needed was on the paper and it was a very sensitive piece that was handled very carefully.
It wasn’t about how good my acting was or how good I was going to play this role it was about how right I was to Anneli.
- You are being tipped as an actress to very much keep an eye on so how does that make you feel - any pressure?
There’s always a certain amount of pressure to be good and be successful but I think that you deliver better under pressure; I know that I certainly have in some circumstances. You just have to get on with what you do and if you sit around thinking ‘oh my god the pressure is on me’ I think…
- That you will send yourself bit nuts?
Yeah (laughs)
- Finally what’s next for you?
I don’t know, I would love to do some theatre. I have just done a film with Dexter Fletcher; it’s his directorial debut, and this documentary. I think a bit of travelling and see what comes my way.
Is Oral Sex Safe is on BBC Three on the 10th January (Monday) at 9pm
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Jamie Winstone has had a great year starring in the hard hitting TV show Five Daughters as well as the critically acclaimed Made In Dagenham.
But she turns her attention to the documentary this week as asks Is Oral Sex Safe? The documentary is part of BBC Three’s Dangerous Pleasures season and investigates the link between oral sex and cancer.
I caught up with Jamie to talk about the documentary and the very successful year that she has had on the big screen and TV.
- You are fronting a new cancer documentary about the risks of oral sex so can you tell me a bit about it?
Basically it a personal journey of mine that I go on to discover what HPV is, the Human Papillomavirus, and how it a sexually transmitted disease - it’s caused by oral sex basically - and I ask the question is oral sex safe?
I then go on to meet all sorts of doctors and people who have suffered from cancer and go on a bit of a journey to educate and show my views on this particular form of cancer.
- And it’s one of the fastest rising forms of cancer, which is quite frightening given the fact that many of us know nothing about it, so can you give us the facts?
Eight per cent of us carry HPV cancer, HPV is sort of like a virus like flu - I mean it’s not a cold but if that’s how you want to look at it. One in ten of us don’t have the immune system to fight it and that is when it turns cancerous and it’s caused by oral sex.
Eight hundred are affected by this every year but the HPV vaccination, which I touch on in the documentary, is offered to girls in schools, the jab that they have in schools, but it’s not offered to young boys.
One of my arguments in the documentary is that they at risk also, actually thy are at a greater risk than women, HPV has increased 50% in men since the eighties - so for me that raised the question why aren’t they given the jab? Why aren’t they educated? Why aren’t they even given the option?
And for me this raised the question of money and, which was great because I got the opportunity to go and speak to the deputy of health; and it was amazing for me to even be able to have a conversation with him.
So he filled in the gaps for me and say why it isn’t offered to boys and men, a lot of money is spent on health care a year and they have to filter it out, but I don’t think that it’s fair that they offer it to girls and not boys because they are at the same risk, even more.
There is a lot more evidence that suggests that people are more likely to have HPV linked cancers if they have had more sexual partners - I think that we live in a highly sexually active world and for me I find the approach a bit… to say just don’t have oral sex is unrealistic.
And we live in a world where men have sex with men and women have sex with women and I think it rules out a lot of people by doing that.
My little sister is going to have the jab in a year and a half and I just want to why and what it’s for and to just educate myself a bit more. The jab costs about £400 and I don’t know any young boys who would fork out £400 instead of spending it on a Playstation. It’s not because they don’t care it’s because they are not educated and they don’t know.
So for me it’s a point that needs to be raised.
- So what made you get involved in the project in the first place?
Well they approached me, I have never really wanted to do a documentary before, but my friend Paul Nicholls was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the year, colon cancer, and I had never been affected that close to it, my mum’s friend had had cancer and I had seen her react, and for me this was very close to home.
When they approached me I was in heavy talks with Paul about his Music and My Disease blog so I was inspired by him and when Maninderpal (Sahota), the director, approached me to ask if this was something that I would do I and the moment that I heard about HPV and what do you mean you can catch cancer through oral sex? I was shocked.
I’m not exactly uneducated I definitely didn’t know what this meant, the Human Papillomavirus, so I was intrigued and I felt that it was personal and close to home. I wanted to do it for Paul, sadly he passed away during the filming so I couldn’t fulfil getting my interview with him but I felt like I had to continue and uncover all angles of it.
Tagged in Jaime Winstone