Skip to content
Breathtaking gets deep into the heart of how the COVID19 pandemic hit the UK, with Joanne Froggatt in the lead role of Dr Abbey Henderson.
COVID19 took hold in the UK when the most corrupt bunch of bastards ever in the UK were in power, and – for the time being – they’re still there. They partied while everyone else suffered and died – including my mother, and if I could have the chance, you can imagine what I’d happily do to Boris Johnson from the inside out.
And that would be a walk in the park compared to what I’d like to do to some of the others, and I hope this drama does for the pandemic what Mr Bates Vs The Post Office did for the Post Office scandal.
The Tories let the country burn, and over 1500 NHS members of staff die during the first year of this alone. I was born with a co-arctation of the aorta, leading to an aortic valve replacement at the age of 22, and from all of that to the ongoing medical care I have for this, including taking warfarin, every member of staff should be given the highest honours possible, along with pay to match it. And they haven’t asked for a “35% pay rise”, they haven’t even asked for A pay rise! Just “pay restoration”, given that their wage has dropped 35% since the Tories took over in 2010.
Early in March 2020 – during a time I’ll never forget, we see how the masks supplied don’t fit female staff because they only have the right ones that fit men, and any other live-saving equipment is few and far between, if not out of stock altogther; and if you do want some, you’ll have to buy it on Amazon. Or, as a lot of NHS staff ended up having to do, they made their own out of bin bags. Fucking bin bags. I don’t think I’ve ever been more angry with a government than this one.
Meanwhile, the Tories’ lead physician Jenny Harries was lying to us, telling us how the PPE supplies have been resolved, and was later given a Damehood. You couldn’t make this shit up!
Written by Dr Rachel Clarke, and both Jed Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah are also former doctors, Jed already having made Cardiac Arrest and Bodies, as well as notable police drama Line of Duty, of course.
Taking everything in from March 3rd 2020, seeing a very ill man of 81 years of age, who was previously walking 3 miles a day, to lying in bed and struggling to breathe is a chilling moment, but before long, other COVID victims will start dying, and relatives would not be allowed a chance to say goodbye.
Meanwhile, doctors are working 18-20 hours per shift, they’re running out of oxygen, ventilators and everything else, leading to the biggest crisis ever, while those at the top do sweet fuck all about it (other than the parties we now know about, as shown in Partygate). If we protested like they do in certain other countries, we’d have stormed Number 10 a long time ago!
I saw the first episode prior to it going live, and the dialogue isn’t always 100% clear amongst the melee (and with people wearing masks, a lot of the time), so I’ll check it out on ITVX again when that goes live, as I’m fascinated with the level of medical detail.
There are also comments from Jeremy Corbyn in the House of Commons. If the mainstream media (you know who you oare) hadn’t fucked his chances of winning, by gaslighting the public towards the Tories, it would’ve been a lot different from 2019 onwards. As Corbyn is heard saying, other countries in Europe did not restrict the supply of PPE, like the Tories did.
If you’re still critical of Corbyn, for no apparent reason other than what the media told you, remember that the day after the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, he turned up to comfort the bereaved families of the 72 victims. Then-Prime Minister Theresa May didn’t turn up until the day after him… and then dodged crowds and disappeared into a nearby building.
Breathtaking is essential viewing, Joanne Froggatt is one of our national treasures, and you just need to get this watched right now.
UPDATE: I’ve now seen the whole series, and it continues to pack one hell of a punch right until the end. If only it delivered the same punch to those Tories who partied while people died.
Breathtaking begins on ITV tonight at 9pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
However, you can buy Rachel Clarke’s novel in Paperback, Kindle and Hardcover.
However, the whole series is all online on ITVX now.
Director: Craig Viveiros
Producer: Brian J. Falconer
Novel: Rachel Clarke
Writers: Jed Mercurio, Prasanna Puwanarajah
Cast:
Dr Abbey Henderson: Joanne Froggatt
Dr Ant Vyas: Bhav Joshi
HCA June: Stacey Gregg
Emma Mutamba Irungu: Donna Banya
Archie Williams: Joseph Charles
Divina Aquino: Georgina Goodman
Dr Joanne Alba: Stephanie Street
Dr Neil Westland: Thom Petty
Chantelle Gregory: Naomi Denny
Dr Rossi: Afro Parise
Dr Metin Ozkul: Philip Arditti
Yussuf Ahmad: Tamer Doghem
Clare Boxall: Lucy Montgomery
Mrs Ahmad: Roxanne Scrimshaw
Fit tester: Amber Muldoon
Nick Henderson: Christopher Hatherall
Tommy Henderson: Henry Meredith
Robyn Henderson: Eleanore-Beatriz Viveiros
Dr Mike Prentiss: Mark Dexter
Alison Frampton: Tammy Heath
Cressida Frost: Mary Woodvine
ITU Junior Doctor: Tadgh Snodgrass
Ambulance Paramedics: Alice McCarthy, Gerard Gilroy
ED Nurse: Mark Weinman
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.