‘The poison was traced to a counterfeit Nina Ricci perfume bottle used by the assassins’
years after the terror attack. “I heard an interview with Paul Greengrass where he talked about how that’s exactly the time we should be telling it, whilst we’re steeped in that story,” she says.
Tracy’s toughest moment came weeks after the initial poisoning when all traces of the novichok in public areas were believed to be contained, and shops in affected zones had started to reopen.
She received a telephone call on June 30 to say two Salisbury residents, Dawn Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley, had been rushed to hospital with suspected novichok poisoning. “My husband,Ted, was watching the England match against Colombia,” she recalled. “I told him I had to pop into work. I went outside and just broke down.”
The poison was eventually traced to a discarded perfume bottle, a counterfeit of the Premier Jour scent by designer brand Nina Ricci used by the assassins to carry their deadly nerve agent. Tragically, Dawn, died in hospital on July 8, 2018. Charlie survived after spending two weeks in hospital. MyAnna Buring, who plays Dawn, says she was depicted in the aftermath as a homeless drug user but the drama presents a “threedimensional character” rather than a “simplistic and dismissive” version. “The most important thing was not to exactly replicate Dawn,” MyAnna says. “She had highs and lows, she was struggling, but she was trying to make her life good and be a better mother, better daughter and better person. That was the journey she was on.”
Unlike other cast members, she could not meet her namesake but she sat down with Charlie and Dawn’s family to prepare for the part. Charlie has recovered but still bears the physical and mental scars of what happened. Nick Bailey continues to work for the police but not in the role he once proudly served. Inevitably, Salisbury is still suffering the aftermath. “Ordinary heroism is how we came to think of it,” adds Declan Lawn. “Ordinary people in an extraordinary situation, who did remarkable things, under enormous pressure, and saved a lot of lives.”
●The Salisbury Poisonings, 9pm tomorrow on BBC One