On Sunday night the BBC aired the first episode of new drama The Salisbury Poisonings which retells the story of the nerve agent attack on the Wiltshire town back in 2018. The three-part series, which stars Anne-Marie Duff, Rafe Spall and MyAnna Buring, certainly got viewers talking not only for its gripping portrayal of the crisis, but due to the relevant comparisons made to the current coronavirus pandemic.
WATCH: The Salisbury Poisonings official trailer
Taking to social media, viewers reacted to the first episode and commented on the timing of the drama. One person tweeted: "Odd timing the airing of #SalisburyPoisonings given #coronavirus all the talk we've had about contact/touch/spread," while another wrote: "Really interesting watching #SalisburyPoisonings tonight. How much we have learnt during lockdown - poor PPE, touching face, wrong way to take off gloves - and importance of public health officials standing up to Govt."
Other viewers also couldn't help but draw comparisons to coronavirus. "#SalisburyPoisonings was an amazing watch so far but also incredibly worrying with our current situation with contagious things on surfaces etc.… What a world we live in hey?!" commented a third user. While a fourth quipped: "Just what I needed to escape from horrid Covid19 - a drama/documentary about a deadly nerve virus #SalisburyPoisonings."
MORE: How true to life is new BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings?
© Photo: BBCThe three-part series focuses on the 2018 poisonings in Salisbury
The poisonings of 2018 first hit headlines after two Russian nationals Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent. Four months later, two Salisbury locals, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were admitted to hospital after being poisoned with same nerve agent.
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The drama also focuses on those working behind the scenes of the story, including detectives and authorities working for the local Public Health department. The show's co-writer Declan Lawn explained the reasons for focusing on this aspect of their story. "We felt with Salisbury there was an untold human story that should be told as soon as we started researching it. We found these incredible stories that no one had ever heard before about the response to what happened there."
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