After the huge impact of Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, another social and political reckoning could be coming with the searing new three-part drama Breathtaking.  

Based on palliative care doctor and writer Rachel Clarke’s personal memoir about the Covid-19 crisis, the hard-hitting series is an account of the life of a frontline NHS doctor through the pandemic. 

“There is so much misinformation and rewriting of history around what really happened inside our hospitals during the pandemic,” says Clarke. “The truth is, NHS staff gave everything they had in impossible conditions that sometimes cost them their lives. 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.”

The drama stars Joanne Froggatt as Dr Abbey Henderson, a frontline hospital consultant dealing with the early days of Covid-19. Froggatt is best known for her roles in Downton Abbey, where she was nominated for an Emmy three times for her role as Anna Bates, and Sherwood.

Breaktaking is being produced by HTM Television and directed by Craig Viveiros, who has previously directed Angela Black, The Watch and The War Of The Worlds.

The series was developed by Rachel Clarke and former junior hospital doctors Jed Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah.

The three-part series is based on Rachel Clarke’s personal memoir, where she wrote about her own experience of working during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Set in a fictional big-city hospital, the drama narrates how frontline medical staff endured fear and frustration as they desperately tried to save the lives of coronavirus patients,” reads the show’s synopsis.

It recounts the devastating impact of the pandemic through the eyes of acute medicine consultant Dr Abbey Henderson (Froggatt). And you can watch the first trailer here…

The series will air on ITV1 over three consecutive nights on 19, 20 and 21 February at 9pm. 

Images: ITV