anyone watching The Pandemic at No 47?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

Can't work out if this is real? They all seem like actors.

[WinterRobin]

I’m a bit 🙄 at him just ringing the neighbour as her husband is being put in an ambulance with his camera rolling! A bit insensitive!

[chocoholic2021]

Poor bugger reading his meter upside down. They must have got a terrible fright

For what it’s worth I don’t think they are actors just a rather eclectic mix of people some of whom are eccentric.

[29am]

@CurlyhairedAssassin
I’m the daughter of Mohammad who was on the programme and I’ve just been looking online at peoples thoughts and comments about the programme. I just want to confirm that everything filmed was completely real, no actors, just normal people living our day to day lives in the neighbourhood. All the actions, conversations, feelings and emotions were all real and the director Paddy Wivell done an excellent job of capturing it all.

[ApolloandDaphne]

I didn't see that but it sounds interesting. What channel was it on? Maybe I can see it on catch up.

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

It was channel 4. I honestly thought it was a mockumentary in the style of Louis Theroux for the first couple of minutes. My son did too. We looked it up and it seemed the guy has worked with Louis Theroux which explains the similarity.

I carried on watching it and some of them seemed like real people (even the eccentric ones) but a few seemed just a bit off. You know like when you watch one of those videos that come up on FB that are supposed be to make you gasp or laugh or cry or whatever and then you realise it was faked, with actors?

I came away still feeling that it was mainly real people with a couple of (good) actors thrown in to make it more interesting.

Thanks for replying, 29am. Perhaps i’ll rewatch it.

[AliceSprings123]

Oh, it won't load for me. Sick of watching that blue circle going round and round and going nowhere, bit like my life atm..

[Farthingale]

@29am I hope you are all still well and either didn't catch Corona or not too badly and will get your vaccines soon. I know your dad was worried. Is the shopkeeper Zekeriya OK? I know he was really worried working on the shop, especially after his best friend died at 47 of it. Hope he gets the vaccine soon. Hope the lady whose brother died of it is ok.
I really enjoyed this and thought it was all real as 29am has confirmed
I reckon if he filmed it in any neighbourhood it would be interesting as people have all sorts of anecdotes

[29am]

@Farthingale
I’m really glad to hear you enjoyed it, I’ll be telling everyone about your lovely comments. My dad has gotten his vaccine and I hope to get mine soon! The shopkeeper zekeriya has been well and open, I’ve known him for many years and during the first lockdown was the first time I’d ever seen him close his shop. I don’t personally know the lady who’s brother died but I’ve always seen her around and it was really sad to hear about her brother. I have an aunt and uncle who both died from covid after the programme was filmed which made my dad a lot more worried, unfortunately the vaccine came just after they had died.

Everyone is now just preparing for schools to open. Our neighbourhood like many others in the UK has people of different backgrounds and social classes so everyone has been affected by the pandemic in different ways all over the country. During the lockdowns, some people have just been bored and tried to enjoy the time off and some people have genuinely struggled a lot and I think that’s been presented really well.

[Farthingale]

Thanks so much for updating 29am. So sorry to hear about your Aunt and Uncle

[Farthingale]

PS. Just in case it's helpful for anyone, here is the vaccine booking link. Although it says age 56+, some areas are ahead of that so it's worth checking it regularly. It can be quicker than waiting to be contacted.
www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/book-coronavirus-vaccination/

[I8toys]

I loved it. Thought it was really interesting to see how extreme some of the people were early on when we knew little I suppose about the virus - the hat wearing etc. How lovely to discover all these interesting characters living in the street.