Broadcaster Stacey Dooley will tonight be tackling the eternally difficult topic of death, by throwing herself into work at a family-run funeral service. While filming her documentary Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers, the BBC presenter learned how to arrange funerals, make coffins, and, of course, how to embalm a dead body.
For Stacey, and indeed for many of those tuning in, this behind-the-scenes look will offer a glimpse an at industry so often shrouded in mystery and fear. For professional embalmers Olivia Cotterill Wilson and Isabel Walton however, it's just another day at the office. As two stylish young women in their early twenties, Olivia and Isabel often encounter complete shock from strangers whenever they reveal their profession, who will then either fire off "a million questions" or become too nervous to even broach the topic.
Spending all day, every day among the dead isn't for everyone, but for Olivia and Isabel, aged just 22 and 23 respectively, they wouldn't have it any other way. The two women are keenly aware of just how important their role is at the Nottingham-based A.W. Lymn The Family Funeral Service, with a good, lifelike embalming job often making all the difference to bereaved families.
Their working day begins at 8 am sharp, at which point they begin making their way down a list of deceased individuals who require preparing, embalming, dressing, and encoffining, and every case is different. Sometimes bodies won't need embalming ahead of a viewing, while others won't be viewed at all.
Isabel told the Mirror: "Every day is different. Obviously, we get a list every day, but everyone on there is different, and everyone's case has different requirements." According to Isabel, as new embalmers, they were pretty much "chucked in the deep end" by Lymns, given the busy nature of the business. She reckons this helped with any fears they had in terms of "messing up", knowing full well that grieving families would be viewing bodies they'd embalmed.
Fortunately, when they first set foot in the mortuary, two qualified embalmers were on hand to support them. The pair, who are both originally from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, say they don't really get "unnerved" by their work, but admit they do see things that can make them feel "uncomfortable" at times.
Olivia revealed: "It's not what you'd expect to see at this age I suppose, and I would say it perhaps makes you a little bit paranoid because you're seeing things, and thinking, 'that could be anybody' or 'that could be your mum', so I think it makes you check in on people a lot more., because you never know what's around the corner."
When it comes to the attributes that make a good embalmer, the duo expressed the importance of "being caring, empathetic, and passionate about what you do", as well as paying close "attention to detail". You also, naturally, have to have a steady nerve when it comes to thinking about death, meaning jumpy sorts might want to consider a different path. Neither Olivia nor Isabel believes in ghosts, which surely helps, with Olivia quipping, "I'm sure if there were real, we'd have seen one by now, they'd be following us or something."
Although such cases can be difficult, Olivia and Isabel both enjoy a challenge when it comes to embalming, which allows them to learn and develop their existing skill sets, whether that be in the field of reconstruction or "special makeup".
According to Olivia: "I think reconstruction is probably the most challenging part of the job, just because you need to try and make that deceased look as alive as you can, but you could spend hours and hours on someone can't you? It's finding that line between making somebody look really done up and almost not real, and then trying to make them look how they were, even if they've got injuries to the face and things that the family wasn't expecting to be seeing, in accidents, or something like that, so that's probably the most challenging."
There's also the time factor to consider. Olivia and Isabel sometimes will have to set aside "three, four, five hours" if the deceased had suffered facial injuries or displaced bones in more violent incidents, for example, a road traffic accident, using wax and cosmetics to try and put everything back in place as best they can. The two young embalmers get job satisfaction from knowing how important their job is to the families of the deceased, but the nature of their work means they don't always get feedback after the bodies are moved on elsewhere.
Isabel reflected: "We've got a viewing room in our mortuary, mostly used for washings and dressings for cultural reasons. I would say, as we don't see families very often now, because we're more in the background, it's nice when families come in and we hear from them first-hand how what we've done has made a difference for them, [...] and listen about the person and things like that."
Both Olivia and Isabel were enrolled in a general training scheme at Lymn's, getting to understand every aspect of the funeral industry, but didn't know which specific part of the company they wanted to work in until they entered the mortuary. They both enjoy putting all their concentration into one task for hours, rather than feeling as though they're "scattered" throughout the business, and so being based in the mortuary just made sense.
In order to qualify as professional embalmers, Olivia and Isabel had to enroll in a three-year-long course, before sitting their British Institute of Embalming (BIE) examinations. This involved studying for five theory exam papers, as well as one none-autopsy and one autopsy practical exam on a part-time basis, all while working in full-time embalming roles.
Through their classes, Olivia and Isabel, who successfully passed their all-important exams back in April, learned "everything about the body" and how it functions, from organ systems to vessel links, to bones - vital knowledge for embalmers.
Olivia explained: "Embalming is about presentation, preservation, and sanitation. And the difference that it makes brings a lot more colour to the features, it will plump hands and faces. That's the presentation. side of things. [In terms of] preservation, a deceased can last for months if you embalm them to last for that duration. And obviously, sanitation, it kind of speaks for itself. The chemicals that we use then sanitise the deceased, and it makes a massive difference for the families, definitely."
She continued: "So you raise a vessel, in the area, and what you do is pump chemicals such as formaldehyde into the vascular system, and what it does is pushes that round and saturates the skin. And then you remove the fluids, old fluids, and then it's basically you're replacing old blood with embalming fluids, which then preserve."
Olivia and Isabel have luckily had plenty of support from their families when it comes to their chosen profession, but they have naturally had to field quite a few questions from pals. When it comes to the stereotypical idea of what an embalmer looks like, many will still imagine an older man, not two young twentysomething women, who like to look presentable in their roles.
Isabel remarked: "I think the majority of people are quite interested, so we seem to get a lot of questions. With us being two young women as well, they don't expect it."
The pair will sometimes encounter other young embalmers at BIE conferences - usually one or two - but they tend to be the youngest in the room. Things are changing in the industry, however, and they are seeing more female embalmers coming through. For Olivia and Isabel, embalming is more than just a job, it's a "life-long" vocation, and something that "becomes everything". They do however try to leave everything behind them when they clock off, making sure to do plenty of the things they love outside of work, such as socialising, walking, and gardening.
Although their work revolves around death, the women have also learned a lot about life along the way, with Isabel reflecting: "I think life lessons wise, I cherish people around me a lot more, and I don't like to live with regrets. You know, if you want to contact somebody, you contact them. It sounds really cliche, but tomorrow is never promised, and we see that every day, so I'd just say live each day like it's your last in that sense, do what you enjoy, and if you don't enjoy it, don't do it!"
Stacey Dooley: Inside the Undertakers will air 9pm, November 9 on BBC One, and can also be streamed on BBC iPlayer
Do you have an interesting story to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch