HELP!

THIS IS DRAMA

And this is drama built from outrage. It may be crafted brilliantly and acted impeccably by a cast led by Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham, but there is real fury in Jack Thorne’s script for Help.

The feature-length Channel 4 drama is set in a fictional Liverpool care home during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. But although the characters are fictional, it is based on the real-life stories of those at the frontline of the pandemic. And these stories demand to be heard.

“The fact that we're all a part of this speaks to how we all collectively feel,” says Comer. And how they feel is that care home residents and workers deserved so much better.

“There was a huge collective consciousness,” agrees Graham. “We knew we were part of something that had a voice and it was our duty to give it everything. This was based on real experiences. So we had an obligation to get it right.

“It’s the injustice of what happened to these people – not just residents but also the workers being asked to put themselves in these vulnerable positions constantly.”

Graham, who made his name in Shane Meadows’ , and has since starred in everything from to , plays Tony – a man living with young on-set dementia. Comer, who found fame as Villanelle in , plays Sarah, who