ITV has announced a gripping new COVID-19 drama, Breathtaking.
The upcoming three-part series has been described as “a searing, thought-provoking and poignant account of an NHS doctor in the eye of the storm during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Breathtaking recalls the horrors of the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of frontline hospital consultant and mum-of-two Dr Abbey Henderson.
She will be played by Golden Globe award-winning and three times Emmy-nominated actress Joanne Froggatt.
New ITV drama: Breathtaking
The drama chronicles the struggles of staff in a fictional city hospital against the backdrop of real-life news footage from 2020.
Based upon the real memoirs of writer Rachel Clarke, who worked as a doctor during the pandemic, the miniseries is sure to be hard-hitting. Rachel adapted her accounts for screen alongside former junior hospital doctors Jed Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah.
She said: “It is an honour to try and depict the courage and decency of my NHS colleagues on screen, and I’m so grateful to ITV and HTM Television for giving me the chance to show the public the truth.”
Joanne Froggatt moved to tears reading script
Director Craig Viveiros, who also worked on previous ITV hit Angela Black, has praised Rachel’s “unique, bold and unflinching take on life on the front line during the pandemic”.
Unique, bold and unflinching take on life on the frontline during the pandemic
Similarly, lead-actress Joanne has said: “When I first read the incredible scripts, they moved me to tears on many occasions. I felt so passionately that I had to be a part of telling this story, the real story, of what was really happening behind the closed doors of the hospitals during the pandemic.”
Filming for Breathtaking concluded in Northern Ireland back in May. It’s due to air in early 2024.
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Breathtaking airs on ITV1 in early 2024.
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