{"id":46171,"date":"2024-02-19T16:27:49","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T15:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1994596"},"modified":"2024-02-19T18:15:06","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T17:15:06","slug":"breathtaking-creator-explains-why-itv-drama-is-a-largely-untold-story","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/breathtaking-creator-explains-why-itv-drama-is-a-largely-untold-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Breathtaking creator explains why ITV drama is a \u201clargely untold story\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

ITV’s new COVID-19 drama shifts the focus for a more accurate representation of the pandemic’s impact. <\/p>

By Lidia Molina-Whyte\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 19 February 2024 at 15:27 PM<\/p>

\n\n

ITV\u2019s COVID-19 drama Breathtaking<\/a> arrives on ITV1 and ITVX today (Monday 19th February), with Joanne Froggatt leading the cast as Dr Abbey Henderson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Froggatt\u2019s character may be fictional, but the scenes depicted in the drama are based on very real experiences, adapted from Dr Rachel Clarke\u2019s personal memoir<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the series, Dr Clarke explained how it tackles uncharted territory when it comes to depicting the pandemic on screen, and why that was important.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted this drama to be located not primarily in intensive care but on the ordinary medical wards of the hospital. Because that is actually where the vast majority of people had died from COVID inside the NHS and it is a largely untold story,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Abbey\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Joanne Froggatt as Abbey in Breathtaking.<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

She added: \u201cPeople are very familiar with the idea that the epicentre of COVID inside our hospitals was intensive care. I would argue it wasn\u2019t. There were many more patients with COVID on ordinary medical wards where they\u2019d had very insubstantial PPE and often not the same degree of support that perhaps intensive care teams had.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I wanted Abbey to be plunged into this much less well-known, much less talked about, part of the hospital. The ordinary medical wards where she actually had almost nothing with which to treat the patients. She had oxygen, a paper mask, a plastic pinny and a pair of gloves. That is not much to face a deadly virus.\u201d<\/p>\n