The Salisbury Poisonings
BBC1/BBC iplayer
When I first heard the BBC was making a drama out of the nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018, I assumed it would focus on the hapless Russian agents accused of carrying out the extraordinary plot. But those perpetrators are nowhere to be seen in this stunning three-part serial. Instead, writers Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, who have, until now, worked as journalists and documentary makers, focus on the ordinary people affected, like, for example, Tracy Daszkiewicz, the director of public health for Wiltshire. Played with the utmost naturalism by Anne-marie Duff, this is an unassuming woman whose daily work usually involves health concerns like an outbreak of nits.
The drama shows us how Daszkiewicz was thrust into this startling emergency and had to take charge of a situation that was instant global news. It’s fascinating to watch her making huge decisions in such tense circumstances, while powerful government and official figures look to her for guidance and expertise. Indeed, the series is an object lesson in how to dramatise a real-life crisis, as the writers, along with director Saul Dibb, show us how the emergency developed, and at the same time create fully realised versions of the real people involved, from policeman Nick Bailey (Rafe Spall) to Dawn Burgess (Myanna Buring) a tragic random victim of the novichok poison. There isn’t a false note in these three gripping hours of TV. When the current pandemic story is eventually turned into a drama, as it surely will, these guys would be the perfect choice to make it.