Breathtaking, a new drama about the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic filmed in Belfast in the spring, starring Joanne Froggatt as a frontline NHS hospital consultant. 
 

Jed Mercurio’s HTM Television produced the three-part series that was adapted for television by doctor-writer Rachel Clarke – from her own personal memoir of the public health crisis – alongside Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah.

Craig Viveiros directed; Brian J Falconer produced. The drama was produced in association with Northern Ireland Screen. 
 

Mercurio said during filming: “Everyone at HTM Television has felt privileged to dramatise Rachel Clarke’s hauntingly illuminating memoir of health workers struggling to cope with the extraordinary challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m honoured to have collaborated with Rachel and Prasanna on this important drama, and thrilled to be working with a cast led by Joanne Froggatt and crew led by director Craig Viveiros.”  
 

Clarke remarked: “There is so much misinformation and rewriting of history around what really happened inside our hospitals during the pandemic. The truth is, NHS staff gave everything they had in impossible conditions that sometimes cost them their lives. It is an honour to try and depict the courage and decency of my NHS colleagues on screen, and I’m so grateful to ITV and HTM Television for giving me the chance to show the public the truth.” 
 

Froggatt added, as filming was completed: “Our NHS staff are nothing less than absolute heroes in my eyes, and I hope telling this story goes a little way towards us understanding their truth, their lived experience and honouring their unbelievable commitment and sacrifice on behalf of us all.” 

Image via Christopher Barr.