The Salisbury Poisonings

[JaneJeffer]

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

Just watched the last one. Jesus. That was hard

Just finished this. I loved that the way the stories 'ordinary' people who were affected by this were put at the centre of the story. I felt the news at the time really didn't do justice to the suffering and sacrifices they went through. I also don't think I appreciated at the time how dangerous the situation was.

I'm from Salisbury so followed when it was all unfolding. Can any other Salisbury people shed light on this - I remember the news reporting that the bottle had been found in Elizabeth Gardens not in a charity bin? So I was surprised when I watched the drama!

@BuffaloMozzerella Yes I'm sure they said Lizzy Gardens

I am not local but I distinctly remember them saying it was found in a bin in the park which always confused me regarding the time lapse.

I thought it was a fantastic portrayal. I wept at the end.

Yes I'm sure they said Lizzy Gardens too. In my mind he had found it under a bush or something which helped explain the time delay.

Article from the Guardian at the time www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/aug/24/salisbury-park-to-reopen-after-novichok-search-ends

According to a piece I've just read dating from the time of the attack, Charlie can't remember exactly where he found the perfume and changed his story later.

He could've found it anywhere - we've only got his word for it.

Charlie was also affected by novichok so I suppose it's possible his memory was impacted.

The real people at the end nearly finished me off! I thought it was telling that both the Sergeant and Charlie were described as still 'recovering from the effects of Novichok'. I can only imagine the damage its wreaked on their bodies and minds.

It's absolutely appalling what the Russians did. They undoubtedly knew ordinary people could be contaminated. I remember the two suspects appearing on Russian tv laughing and making fun of it all. The situation could have been so much worse. It's scary.

Those posters criticising the human side of the Public Health lead - I can only assume you don't work in jobs where you hold people's lives in your hands when you make decisions.
I work on the frontline - it is beyond emotionally draining and we are only human, doing the best we can in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. We cry because it is sad and horrific and stressful - I have watched 6ft+ policemen break down in tears at the trauma they see and experience. If we didn't let those emotions out somewhere we wouldn't survive!

Her norm, I can only assume, was an office based job looking at high level strategies - I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been to be thrown into something so dangerous and important like that with no warning!

I thought she was amazing. I think we could have done with her being in charge of the corona virus response!

'can't imagine how terrifying it must have been to be thrown into something so dangerous and important like that with no warning!'

I wasn't criticising her so much as just saying how surprised and shocked I was that someone who seemed so out if her depth was in such a leading role in a really serious major incident. I would have thought an experienced team who could at least organise the school run would have been in charge. If it happened again I hope it will be better organised with more professional people. I hope when she went for coffee with Dawn's mother she ran it past her seniors, that seemed odd and not her role really.

Re-read your post. If that wasn't criticism, I don't know what is. And you've put the boot in again with this post.

I am 'putting the boot' into the system, not her personally, I felt sorry for her she was clearly struggling. I'm sure she does her day to day job excellently. In an unprecedented major incident, ie not an outbreak of noravirus at the local school, when a nerve agent is released I would have expected a more expert group of people to lead, that is all.

I hope when she went for coffee with Dawn's mother she ran it past her seniors, that seemed odd and not her role really.
I think it was human decency in extraordinary circumstances and I'm sure Dawn's mother would have appreciated it.

The experts did come to take over though- you can read about it on Wiki.

Tracy was considered competent enough to have a leading role in Salisbury's response, and has since had a leading role in Wiltshire's response to Covid.

Presumably they are trying to show the intense pressure people were suddenly put under as well as how it affected day to day lives. People were grappling to understand what had happened and the implications.

I saw Tracy to be portrayed to be the only one making the decisions needed to protect the public. That couple who came from the government were only interested in the budget and image, not saving lives.

It was interesting to see that they didn't focus at all on the two Russians, but I guess it wasn't a whodunnit.

I remember seeing them being interviewed and being quite bemused at how obvious they were. If you'd gone to Central Casting and asked for "two Russian thugs", you couldn't have picked better.

Fantastic portrayal of what happened, really enjoyed watching it. Remember watching it on the news at the time and felt a bit close for comfort being the neighbouring county.

I can’t beleive the Russians are now untouchable. Find it shocking to beleive in 2020 that countries can ban extraditions, they’ve killed one, attempted to kill two and seriously injured 2 and got away with it Scot free, no disincentive there for Russia to send others over to assinate people, I find it hard to beleive that government don’t have the powers to ban Russian nationals from entering Britain.

The blurb at the end said that Tracey had been promoted to Regional director - presumably GetOffYourHighHorse wasn’t on the interview panel.

I thought that Charley had found the perfume bottle near the time of the incident and had just kept it for a while before giving it to Dawn, hence the delay in the second incident. I also thought that it would have been in the perpetrators’ interests to seal up the bottle before disposing of it, firstly to prevent themselves being contaminated and secondly because if disposed of carelessly it could have caused many more casualties, which obviously wasn’t the plan.

'The blurb at the end said that Tracey had been promoted to Regional director - presumably GetOffYourHighHorse wasn’t on the interview panel.:

Yes I'd have asked her what support she had at home for doing the school run, just in case she faced anther unprecedented major incident involving a toxin she had no experience of.

I thought that Tracey's husband was useless underwhelming in her time of need.
Could he not have sat their son down and explained the seriousness of her job in hand. He wasn't a toddler.
Imagine she had 3 children when she was 20 and a single mother. Shows her determination and drive. to her.

Poor poor Dawn spraying that "perfume" over herself :(

No-one here seems to be very angry about the fact that Russia let a chemical weapon off in our country.

No-one here seems to be very angry about the fact that Russia let a chemical weapon off in our country. I think that probably goes without saying. One of the senior police officers, I think, said they weren't there to find out who'd done it but to ensure public safety and that's what the drama was about.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/23/skripal-salisbury-poisoning-decline-of-russia-spy-agencies-gru