EASTENDERS BBC1, 7.35pm
SOMEONE is coughing on the streets of Wuhan in China. Recently married food video blogger Xie, has decided to head out with her husband into the deserted city and film lockdown and the few people they can find.
They want to show their future children the pandemic.
This is January 2020, when this poignant three-part series begins its intimate look at the first year of the global pandemic.
Meanwhile, in Leamington Spa, England, it’s a very different story as we see British doctor and mum Amie enjoying a karaoke birthday party.
She says: “Sometime in January we jokingly were talking about Covid and it just didn’t seem real. It was thousands of miles away so it didn’t seem relevant to us.”
Elsewhere, a woman whose mother fell victim in a nursing home, says: “This wasn’t a thing that could come to Iceland. We’re just on this tiny island in the middle of nowhere.”
Frankie is absolutely devastated that Mick, below, wasn’t able to tell a bunch of bullies in the pub that she’s his daughter. Linda tries to reassure her that things will be better.
Meanwhile, when Mick, pictured, finds out that other abuse survivors have come forward, he feels like he’s going to have a panic attack. Will he be able to give evidence?
Elsewhere, Kathy and Kim quiz Bobby as he waits for his second date. And Stacey and Jean are frantic after Lily’s accident.
Accordion player Valery in Belarus, where there was no lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic
tribesman from the Amazon, it’s still shocking that absolutely everyone has been affected.
In this episode, Vladimir, who works in the Mayor’s Office in Bogota, Colombia, begins to lock down the city.
And Valery, an accordion player from Minsk, recalls how everything there was ordered to stay open, as the authorities believed that the coronavirus would never reach them.