Joanne Froggatt speaks!

What was your reaction when you read the scripts for the first time? We heard you cried…

Yeah, I think very soon into the first script, I started shedding a tear or two. And that’s never happened to me before in 27 years of reading scripts. I’ve definitely welled up reading something, but nothing’s affected me in the way that this did. So, yeah, I knew from the off. I mean, what [the writers] Jed and Rachel and Prasanna created on the page was just so emotive, and it was expressed so well, that I could see everything in my mind, and I just desperately wanted to be a part of it, and be a part of telling this story.

Did filming this show give you an insight into what it must have been like for NHS staff to suddenly have their entire lives taken over by the pandemic?

Yeah, we were very much, as the actors, immersed in the process. Our set was a disused university building and we had three floors of actual hospital wards, so we were able to use the space in real time and run the scenes in real time. And from the start, everybody on the team, and all of us that then joined, were just so incredibly passionate about making it as truthful as we possibly could.

Why would you urge viewers to watch this series?

I would say, if you are able to watch, please do. Please don’t look away. We all know this is a story that needs to be told. This is the story that I was fortunate enough not to have experienced in the hospitals during COVID. We didn’t know. This is the story we weren’t told. And, also, it’s not just our NHS frontline workers who will hopefully feel seen by us telling this story, it’s also an insight into the humanity they gave to their patients. And, hopefully, that will give comfort to people, as well.