The Salisbury Poisonings

[JaneJeffer]

Why hasn't the police officer twigged he's been poisoned yet?

I hope they don't put too much emphasis on the characters' personal lives to the detriment of the story.

Did Mark Addy know or suspect that Sergei was a spy?

I'd love to read up about this - anyone recommend a well-written book?

I think they kind of have to show a bit of characterisation to avoid it just being a documentary. It must be really weird for the actual people to watch though!

I did think the portrayal of Dawn Sturgess might be a bit of a tv cliche. Must be really terrible for her family, as she was the only one who died, and now people can imply what they want about her.
www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/local-news/salisbury-poisonings-dawn-sturgess-novichok-4215328

I didn’t understand the relationship between Sergei and his friend. They were friends, but did he know more.

Mark Addy always plays the same sort of characters !

Does anyone know why they haven't tested the policeman's house or told the wife to wash all the bedding etc.
Surely if they believe he took it to the station they would think about his house too?

@Nighttimefreedom they didn't go back to the house, they had to leave behind all there possessions and start again

They were so lucky not to get poisoned. I was convinced the cat was going to be dead!

@The80sweregreat not always! He was King of the Iron Throne!

It was weird watching it post-Covid. People crammed into meeting rooms talking about the spread. Lock everything down!

What I didn’t understand was that if Sergei and Yulia were poisoned from the external door handle, as they left the house...that presumably means it was administered to their door handle when they were still inside?

Yes, I think so. The policeman contaminated the house, they only touched it on the way out.

What happened to them afterwards, presumably they have new identities and are safe.

I was discussing that very point earlier this evening BillStickers. I have family who all live in that area, so it's been of some interest to see this drama. We came to the conclusion that it must have been administered by someone posing as a delivery person or pretending to put something through letter boxes, if it was done in daylight and not undercover of darkness. I imagine there are some aspects of this case that can't be debated or haven't been revealed.

There's another aspect that always confuses me about this, I won't say what it is in case anyone isn't familiar with the details of the case and is waiting to watch it tomorrow, but knowing the area and considering the time delay between some of the events, I always wonder how it came about the way it did. Sorry, that's very vague, but I just think there are parts of this story that either aren't known or can't be revealed.

I am loving this programme. There are so many good things about it but my top two things are

1. the way it portrays Anne Marie Duff's character - she isn't flashy or grandstanding but just thinks things through and is not afraid to make all the right decisions; just a professional person doing her job really well in mad circumstances despite the personal cost (really pleased this is recognise her a real woman, too)
2. the way it shows the struggles and real life of Dawn, the lady who was killed by the poison - the real emotions and value of her life, not treating her as collateral damage or expendable because of her lifestyle; it looks like she and Charlie are going to be the focus of the third episode and be given equal weight to the police officer and his family, which is good.

How did Dawn get exposed? There are random people who are really confusing me.

Just placemarking to come back and read the comments when I've finished, enjoyed part 1 a lot.

@Binglebong I'm not sure if i should say if you don't know what happened, i don't want to if you haven't seen it.

I have live in Salisbury all my life (38 years) being a small quiet city to being world news was just so surreal

Watched the first two episodes and am really enjoying it.

I did look up the policeman who gets infected and he did say that he just thought he had a migraine/was rundown, and he did start hallucinating, and his daughter did find him collapsed about two days after he got infected. So actually sounds like there wasn't much artistic license.

There is an article on the BBC website by the screenwriters which is really interesting in terms of how they got to know the various people and families, how Dawn's family felt about her previous media portrayal etc. I won't link though as it could spoiler episode 3 for anyone who hadn't watched/doesn't know all the story already.

Just finished the last episode and I'm an emotional wreck.

Thanks WeMarchon. Thought I had missed it. I couldn't work out what the extra storyline was about!

I think it's quite easy in hindsight to wonder why the police didn't twig earlier that they had been poisoned etc, as we now know what happened. At the time a couple of people becoming very ill in Salisbury wouldn't have made anyone think they been deliberately poisoned with a hugely dangerous nerve agent. I remember at the time it was like watching a piece of fiction unfold and as someone who knows Salisbury well it just seemed unbelievable. It was a global news story. I still can't quite believe it happened.

The drama is very well done. Anne Marie Duff is excellent and it's refreshing to see someone different in the main role, rather than the usual actresses who seem to appear in everything.

I don't know if it's me, but I'm not getting much sense of a timeline.

I'm finding it too bogged down in personal stuff and very light on detail. Maybe there's lots of stuff that can't be included or isn't known.

They did a remarkable job to contain the damage.

So the consensus on here is that the door handle was contaminated from the outside, the Skripals became affected when they left the house and the police officer then contaminated the house after touching the handle and going in??

Hope Pippin was ok

I
Don't watch GOT but ds2 said Mark was good in it!
I watched part three late last night.
Very good drama. Good acting.

I watched part 3 last night. Very emotional.

Jumblebumblemess
I salute you being able to watch all three episodes together. I found it heavy enough going and could only watch one at a time. I had the second one recorded but couldn't face it- I needed a break. I'll watch part 2 tonight and part 3 tomorrow.
Anne Marie Duff was great in part 1.

This programme really gripped me. So good to see something different.
And interesting to watch it in our current situation.