The Salisbury Poisonings Review

The Novichok Attack was one of the most shocking international events in recent years. The BBC’s dramatization focus on the impact of this event had on the city of Salisbury.

The Salisbury Poisonings on three main sets of characters. DS Nick Bailey (Rafe Spall) was one of the first police officers to investigate the Skripals’ poisoning and ends up getting poisoned when he searches their house. Tracy Daszkiewicz (Anne-Marie Duff) was the Director of Public Health and Safety in Wiltshire and plays a pivotal role in planning the local response. Dawn Sturgess (MyAnna Buring) was a woman trying to rebuild but ends becoming a victim of the Novichok Attack.

The BBC does have a solid record of dramatizing real events. Miniseries like Five Daughters, Three Girls, and The Moorside are prime examples of this. The Salisbury Poisonings opens with a statement that the show was based on extensive interviews and research and ends by showing the real people that were portrayed in the miniseries. The BBC wanted the miniseries to be as factual as possible.

The miniseries opens in a similar way to Five Daughters because the real events had already started as the programme begins. In Five Daughters Steve Wright had killed his first victim early on, and she wasn’t shown onscreen. The Salisbury Poisonings opened with the Skripals on a park bench as Novichock took effect. The miniseries was focused on the characters and the impact the event had on them and their families.

Tracy was a woman who was thrown into an extraordinary situation and thought she was out of her depth. She has to attend high-level, confidential meetings with senior police officers, scientists, and civil servants. It takes a toll on her and strains her relationship with her son (Judah Cousin). The majority of DS Bailey’s story focused on his wife (Annabel Scholey). She had to face the possibility that her husband might die and has the added stress that her home might be contaminated. When DS Bailey does recover, he still suffers psychologically. Dawn’s story was about her troubled relationship with family, particularly her mother to point that they estranged. So, it was even more tragic when Dawn got affected by Novichock.

The other focus of the series was the investigation. In The Salisbury Poisonings, the investigation was trying to find the source of the Novichok and trait the movements of anyone who had been in contact with the substance. Even though the Attack only happened two years this part of the series came off as even more relevant because of the Coronavirus Outbreak.

The BBC put a lot of effort into the series. They assembled a cast of acclaimed actors like Duff, Spall, and Mark Abby (Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones), and Saul Dibb, a man with a lot of historical dramas, was hired to direct. The series was shot on location mostly in Salisbury with places like The Maltings and Market Place being used.  The acting was the best feature of the series because of the high calibre of the talent and they were mostly playing ordinary people who got caught up in an extraordinary scenario.

I come from the South-West, so the Novichok Attack was especially big news in my part of the world, let alone in Britain and the rest of the Globe. The official response made Salisbury look like the location for a sci-fi film. The attack was reckless because of the risk to the public. When Tracy got access to the report about Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov’s movements they sound like the worst spies in the world. When they arrived in London they went to a hotel to smoke marijuana and hired prostitutes before spending half a day in Salisbury. It would be comedic if the consequences weren’t so dire.

Whilst The Salisbury Poisonings told an important story and was well acted it wasn’t told in the most compelling way. It didn’t need to be a three-hour-long experience. It could have been a two-part drama or a TV movie. Tracy having to act as an investigator who happened to trace the Novichock trail was a good hook for the show and it would have worked better if it focused more on her effects.

The Salisbury Poisonings was a great showcase for the actors and due to the events being so recent the BBC couldn’t alter the facts. But this miniseries wasn’t as interesting as other BBC dramatizations.