ITV orders Covid-19 drama from ‘Line Of Duty’ creator Jed Mercurio

Breathtaking

UK comcaster ITV has commissioned Breathtaking, a drama series from Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, based on NHS doctor and writer Rachel Clarke’s personal memoir written during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 3 x 60-minute series, which completed filming in Northern Ireland earlier this year, stars Joanne Froggatt as Dr Abbey Henderson, a frontline hospital consultant, with the series recounting the devastating impact of the pandemic through her eyes.

Clarke has adapted her memoir for TV herself, alongside Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah, who are also both former junior hospital doctors.
Craig Viveiros is directing the drama, which is produced by Mercurio’s HTM Television, with Brian J Falconer producing and Mercurio, Clarke and Puwanarajah also exec producing. The series has been produced in association with ITV Studios, which will handle international distribution.

“Everyone at HTM Television has felt privileged to dramatise Rachel Clarke’s hauntingly illuminating memoir of health workers struggling to cope with the extraordinary challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I’m honoured to have collaborated with Rachel and Prasanna on this important drama, and thrilled to be working with a cast led by Joanne Froggatt and crew led by director Craig Viveiros,” said Mercurio.

“Breathtaking is a heart-breaking account of life as an NHS doctor during the pandemic. It’s a chapter of recent history that should never be forgotten, and I can think of no-one better than Jed, Rachel and Prasanna to write this topical and unflinching drama for ITV,” addd ITV head of drama, Polly Hill, who commissioned the series for the broadcaster.