''The Salisbury Poisonings'' is a fact-based television drama, starring

Anne-Marie Duff Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an Irish actress and narrator. She is an accomplished theatre actress and has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. She has also received acclaim and awards for her television and film work. After ...

, Rafe Spall and

Annabel Scholey Annabel Scholey (born 10 January 1984) is an English actress. She played Lauren Drake in the BBC supernatural drama '' Being Human'' (2009) and the leading role of 'Maddie' in the musical feature film '' Walking on Sunshine'' (2014). Scholey ...

which portrays the 2018 Novichok poisonings and decontamination crisis in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, England, and the subsequent Amesbury poisonings. The series was broadcast in three parts on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

in June 2020, and has been shown in four parts elsewhere. It was created by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn for Dancing Ledge Productions.

Synopsis

On 4 March 2018, emergency services receive a call to attend to Sergei and Yulia Skripal who have been found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury city centre. Medical practitioners are initially puzzled by their illness, and police and the local public health department become involved. A national emergency is precipitated when it is learned that Skripal is a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

for the UK's

intelligence services An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security National security, or national defence, is the security and defence of ...

during the 1990s and early 2000s. It emerges that he and his daughter were poisoned with a highly potent

Novichok agent Novichok (russian: Новичо́к, lit=newcomer, novice, newbie) is a group of nerve agents, some of which are binary chemical weapons. The agents were developed at the GosNIIOKhT state chemical research institute by the Soviet Union and Ru ...

which was smeared on the front-door handle of their residence. The docudrama also deals with the incidental exposure of several other persons, including a police officer and an uninvolved couple who found a perfume bottle containing the nerve agent which they administered to themselves. At the end of the series, the real-life people involved in the story are pictured returning to the scene, and some film is shown of Dawn Sturgess, the only person to die from their exposure to the Novichok.

Cast

Tracy Daszkiewicz Tracy Daszkiewicz (born 17 November 1973) is a Deputy Director of Population Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England. She was formerly the Director of Public Health and Safety for the county of Wiltshire, England, where in 2018 she played ...

William Houston William Churchill Houston ( 1746 – August 12, 1788), a Founding Father of the United States, was a teacher, lawyer and statesman. Houston served as a delegate representing New Jersey in both the Continental Congress and Constitutional Conventio ...

as Ted Daszkiewicz * Rafe Spall as DS Nick Bailey *

as Sarah Bailey *

Darren Boyd Darren John Boyd (born 30 January 1971) is a British actor who starred in the Sky 1 series ''Spy'', for which he won a BAFTA Award. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama. Early life Boyd began acting at age 17 in amateur theat ...

as Supt Dave Minty *

Nigel Lindsay Nigel Lindsay (born 17 January 1969) is an English actor. He is best known on television for his roles as Sir Robert Peel in the first two seasons of ''Victoria'', Jo Jo Marshall in the Netflix series '' Safe'' and as Barry in the BAFTA-winnin ...

as DCC Paul Mills *

Amber Agar Amber Agha, also credited as Amber Agar or Amber Aga, is an English actress, best known for her role in the British television series ''Murder City'' and her supporting role in '' Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators''. Early life She ...

as DI Lata Mishra * Wayne Swann as

Sergei Skripal Sergei Viktorovich Skripal ( rus, Серге́й Ви́кторович Скрипáль, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈvʲiktərəvʲɪtɕ skrʲɪˈpalʲ; born 23 June 1951) is a former Russian military intelligence officer who acted as a double agent f ...

* Jill Winternitz as Yulia Skripal * Johnny Harris as Charlie Rowley * Barry Aird as Matthew Rowley *

MyAnna Buring MyAnna Buring (; born 22 September 1979 as Anna Margaretha My Rantapää) is a Swedish actress, known for her roles in ''The Descent'', ''Kill List'', '' The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1'' and '' Part 2'', ''Ripper Street'', ''The Witc ...

as Dawn Sturgess *

Stella Gonet Stella Gonet (born 8 May 1960) is a Scottish theatre, film and television actress. She is known for her roles in the BBC dramas ''The House of Eliott'' (1991–94) and ''Holby City'' (2007–09). Her stage credits include playing Ophelia in the ...

as Caroline Sturgess *

Melanie Gutteridge Melanie Gutteridge is an English actress, best known for playing PC Emma Keane in ''The Bill''. She made two appearances in ''Not Going Out'' playing Amy. Biography Gutteridge was born in Waltham Forest, Essex, and studied at the Webber Douglas A ...

as Claire Sturgess *

Ron Cook Ronald G. Cook (born 1948) is an English actor. He has been active in film, television and theatre since the 1970s. Early and personal life Cook was born in 1948 in South Shields, County Durham, England, the son of a school cook and a car wo ...

as Stan Sturgess *

Mark Addy Mark Ian Addy (born 14 January 1964) is an English actor. His roles in British television include Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the sitcom '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–1996) and Hercules in the fantasy drama series ''Atlantis'' (2013–2 ...

as Ross Cassidy *

Clare Burt Clare Burt is an English actress and singer, best known for her stage work and for her appearance on the television series ''The Bill''. Biography As a child she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Burt is a member of the National Theat ...

as Mo Cassidy *

Duncan Pow Duncan Pow (born October 8 1977) is a Scottish actor. He is known in the United Kingdom for television roles in the Sky 1 series ''Dream Team'', and the BBC One series ''Holby City''. He is known internationally for his role in the ''Star Wars ...

as Dr. James Haslam *

Emma Stansfield Emma Stansfield (born Emma Thompson on 7 January 1978 in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales) is a Welsh actress. Life Born Emma Thompson, her parents Colin and Gill Thompson trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, and run an amateur d ...

as Nurse Emma Black * Shereen Martin as Dr. Rebecca Jenner *

Jonathan Slinger Jonathan Charles Slinger (born 15 August 1972) is an English actor. Slinger was born in Accrington, Lancashire. He trained at RADA, graduating in 1994. From there, he went to work at the Royal National Theatre and Shakespeare's Globe. He has ...

as Prof. Tim Atkins * Andrew Brooke as Alistair Cunningham * Chris Wilson as Police Officer *

Kimberley Nixon Kimberley Nixon (born 24 September 1985) is a Welsh actor, actress. Nixon is known for her role as Sophy Hutton in the BBC One period drama ''Cranford (TV series), Cranford'', and appearances in various films such as ''Wild Child (film), Wild C ...

as Hannah Mitchell *

Michael Shaeffer Michael Shaeffer is an English actor, known for his roles as "Longcross" in the BBC political-thriller television series ''Bodyguard'' (2018), Sergeant Yelland in the BBC mystery thriller '' The ABC Murders'' (2018) and Stephen Kemp in the BBC ...

as Stephen Kemp *

Remy Beasley Remy Beasley is a Welsh actress best known for playing Beyoncé Evans in the Sky1 TV comedy drama series ''Stella''. She comes from Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border ...

as Georgia * Sophia Ally as Gracie Sturgess * Judah Cousin as Toby Daszkiewicz * Stephanie Gil as Ellie Bailey * Kiera Thompson as Annie Bailey

Episodes

Reception

Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Lucy Mangan Lucy Katherine Mangan''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian''. A major part of her writing is related t ...

praised the show's script and direction as being "admirably restrained", and compared the calm actions of its characters facing a "new normal" to the reactions of the public during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Release and distribution

Worldwide distribution is handled by

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. In June 2020 it was announced that

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** AM ...

signed an agreement with Fremantle to exclusively broadcast the show in the United States. The AMC broadcast is slated to premiere 25 January 2021. The series was shown over four nights on

SBS TV SBS may refer to: Broadcasting * SBS Broadcasting Group, Belgium, formerly many countries * Talpa TV, formerly SBS Broadcasting B.V., Netherlands ** SBS6, Dutch television channel ** SBS9, Dutch television channel * Special Broadcasting Service ...

in Australia from 24 August 2020. In December 2021 the series was re-released on Netflix and

Disney Plus Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television ser ...

References

External links

*
Adam Patterson – official website

United Agents – Adam Patterson & Declan Lawn

Dancing Ledge Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salisbury Poisonings, The 2020 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2020s British crime drama television series 2020s British television miniseries BBC crime drama television shows English-language television shows Russia–United Kingdom relations Salisbury Science docudramas Toxicology in the United Kingdom 2010s in Wiltshire Television shows set in Wiltshire