Through the Eyes of Bairns

From Colne Life to Emmerdale and Corrie – writer and storyliner Chloe McLaughlin has gone from filing features for me back in 2017 to dreaming up murders, weddings and moral disasters on the telly. Now she’s turned her pen to Through the Eyes of Bairns – a short film starring Emmerdale’s Michelle Hardwick and newcomer, Coronation Street’s Sydney Martin. I sat down with Chloe, Michelle and Sydney to talk healing, humour, and how Chloe’s managed to rope in half of Yorkshire and Lancashire’s acting royalty. Typical Chloe – she never does things by halves. And she’s managed to bridge the Lancashire–Yorkshire divide – proving once again that the North does it best on both sides of the Pennines.

I’ve known Chloe McLaughlin long enough to know that when she starts a sentence with, “I was just sorting my Google Drive with a bottle of wine,” something memorable is about to happen. This time, it wasn’t chaos — it was catharsis.
Hidden in a folder called ‘ABCDEF’ were 16 letters she’d written years earlier — unsent confessions about processing complicated family dynamics. “I read them and thought, maybe there’s something here,” she says, eyes sparkling the way they used to when she’d pitch me story ideas that were ‘just a quick one, promise.’
That something became Through the Eyes of Bairns — a short film about what it’s like to grow up as the child of a domestically abusive parent. It’s unflinching, intimate, and deeply northern.
“We always see domestic abuse through the partner’s eyes,” Chloe tells me. “But what about the children who grow up in that environment? Who don’t realise it’s abuse? To a child, it’s normality.”

“I wanted to write something that might help someone else recognise their own story.”

The story follows Rose, a woman estranged from her violent father for 20 years, who’s now summoned back to his deathbed. Through flashbacks and present-day confrontation, Rose finally faces the man who shaped — and nearly broke — her. “I’d been thinking about estrangement,” Chloe says. “That question of, if someone who’d caused me pain was dying, would I go to their death bed? So one night, armed with a bottle of wine and probably some misplaced confidence, I wrote this short film. Then sent it straight to a script editor. Bad idea!” Chloe laughs, “Thankfully, they liked it – they just said ‘maybe do a sober pass!’”

Chloe’s writing style hasn’t changed much since her Colne Life days — still witty, still fearless, still capable of making you laugh out loud in one sentence and tear up in the next. The only difference now is that instead of writing about other people’s lives, she’s mining lived experiences to help others make sense of theirs.
“This story is about reclamation. It’s not an autobiography or anything like that – it’s very much fictional and about Rose the character – but I wanted to write something that might help someone else recognise their own story.”

“Rose has seen the worst of love through her parents.”

Chloe explains that Rose isn’t a victim – she’s a survivor. “As a kid, Rose idolised her dad,” says Chloe. “He was the fun one. But then the scales fell from her eyes and she realised the fun came with fear.”
That mix of humour and heartbreak is pure Chloe. When she tells me about the moment Emmerdale actress Michelle Hardwick joined the cast, she’s laughing before she finishes the story.
“It wasn’t glamorous at all,” she says. “We were at netball training, all sweaty!”
Michelle carries on the story. “She just went, ‘erm, Michelle, I’ve written a short film, will you read it?’”
Chloe feared that Michelle might run a mile but she didn’t. “I read it and thought, wow,” Michelle says. “It’s heartbreaking but stunning.”

Michelle plays the adult Rose — a Detective Sergeant with a steady moral compass and a past that’s anything but. “Having her wife, Becs, there as her safe space — that’s everything,” she says. “Rose has seen the worst of love through her parents, but she’s built something real. You’re not what’s happened to you. By the end, Rose is empowered — she’s taken her power back. That’s what drew me to her. We all need to be reminded of that sometimes.”

Playing young Rose is newcomer Sydney Martin — one of those bright, fearless northern talents who seem to hold equal parts grit and gold in their veins.
“It’s such a privilege,” she says. “It’s heavy, yeah, but it’s beautiful. The writing, the humanity — it’s the kind of story that stays with you.”
Sydney’s portrayal of young Rose is delicate and devastating all at once. “It’s about carrying heartbreak and still finding strength,” she adds. “Rose is human before she’s anything else. You see her innocence shift into awareness — that moment when she realises what love isn’t. That’s where the power is.”

Both Michelle and Sydney talk about Chloe with that same mix of admiration and affection, and it’s easy to see why. There’s a rare honesty in her — the kind that invites people in rather than keeping them out.
And the rest of the cast? Equally formidable. Emmerdale’s John Middleton stars as Ivan — Rose’s father, a man of charm and cruelty in equal measure. Marc Baylis plays the younger Ivan, showing how patterns of control take root over generations. Isabel Ford plays Lesley, Rose’s mother — gentle, loyal and heartbreakingly trapped. And Krissi Bohn brings warmth, wit and levity as Becs, Rose’s wife and emotional anchor.
“It’s a dream cast,” Chloe says. “Every one of them understood the story straight away — that it’s not just about abuse, it’s about survival. It’s about finding love that doesn’t hurt.”

It’s funny really — a few years ago, Chloe was the one chasing down interviews for Colne Life. Now she’s the one making headlines.
These days, Chloe spends her working week storylining for Emmerdale and is about to go do a stint on Coronation Street, which, as she puts it, means “thinking up disasters, weddings, murders and moral dilemmas — usually all before 11 a.m.”

“I’ve been really lucky,” she says. “Everyone knows everyone in soap and everyone’s been really rooting for us. There’s a lot of talent – and so much kindness. Honestly, we couldn’t do any of this without all our mates we’ve met through work, they’ve been incredible!”
She pauses, then grins. “Though I think a few of them might regret giving me their numbers — me and Katie (the director) have been roping everyone in!”

“I just hope people see themselves in it,” Chloe says. “Not just the pain — the hope too.”

The film is set to premiere in spring/summer 2026 with initial screenings planned in Manchester and Leeds, bringing its message of resilience and hope right back to the heart of the North — exactly where it belongs. Shot around Leeds and Bradford, Through the Eyes of Bairns will wear its northern roots proudly — brick terraces, corner shops, and the quiet dignity of working-class life.
When I ask why Yorkshire, not Lancashire, Chloe rolls her eyes. “Honestly? The crew all live there. No money, no time — just a lot of talented northerners with big hearts. It’s a very northern production!”
That scrappy spirit is its backbone. “We’ve come second in every funding round,” Chloe says. “So we’re crowdfunding, borrowing, begging, blagging. Everyone’s doing it for love. If you wait for permission, you’ll never start.”

Director Katie Fenton-Green — another Emmerdale alumna — is bringing her visual flair to the film, framing Rose’s emotional journey through shifting camera angles. “At first, Rose is small in the frame,” explains Chloe. “By the end, she fills it. That’s her reclaiming her space.” It’s an elegant metaphor for what Through the Eyes of Bairns represents — a woman stepping back into her own story, this time on her terms.

Before we wrap, I ask what she’d tell her younger self — the girl who once wrote those unsent letters.

“Walk away from what holds you back sooner,” she says softly. “Stop worrying what people think. I spent years terrified I wasn’t good enough to write the things I wanted to write. You’ve just got to do it. Crack on.”
Then she flashes that familiar grin. “And maybe just take a deep breath — things have a way of working themselves out.”

That’s Chloe all over — heart on sleeve, humour as armour, storytelling as survival.
Through the Eyes of Bairns may explore the darkest corners of love and family, but it shines brightest in its hope. “I just hope people see themselves in it,” Chloe says. “Not just the pain — the hope too. Because you can always start again.”

And maybe that’s the truth at the heart of it: forgiveness doesn’t always come from others. Sometimes, it’s the gift you give yourself.
When I close my notebook, I feel it — that slow-burn hum you get when something matters. Through the Eyes of Bairns isn’t just a film. It’s a reckoning. A reclamation. A reminder that the stories we fear to tell are often the ones that set us free.

“It’s not just the film I wanted to see,” Chloe says again, smiling. “It’s the film I needed to see.”

To support Through the Eyes of Bairns go to: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/through-the-eyes-of-bairns
Or to enter a prize draw to win a signed script: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/win-a-signed-through-the-eyes-of-bairns-script

Instagram: @eyesofbairnsfilm
Email: eyesofbairnsfilm@gmail.com
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