'My dad got Covid in hospital - ITV drama Breathtaking is our harrowing reality'
"It's not a drama really, it's real life," says Sharon Collins of the new ITV show Breathtaking.
The three-part series follows NHS doctor Abbey Henderson, played by actress Joanne Froggatt, who is pushed to her limit on the frontline as the coronavirus pandemic quickly unfolds. Distressing scenes show the sheer panic on the character's face as she watches hospital corridors fill up with dying patients while oxygen and PPE supplies run out and their life-saving attempts are stymied by Government guidance.
The whole nation, and most of the world, was affected by the pandemic in some form or another, but the drama hits closer to home for Sharon Collins, whose dad died after contracting the deadly virus in hospital.
'Happy go lucky' dad John Collins was 68 when he died alone, never having the chance to say goodbye to his family. "It's funny to call it a drama because it's not really a drama," Sharon told The Mirror. "It is real life, just played by actors. Everything that happens in the drama, I've physically seen."
Joanne Froggatt as Dr Abbey in Breathtaking (ITV/HTM TELEVISION/REX/Shutterstock)
John Collins died in November 2020 after contracting coronavirus (Sharon Collins)Her father, an electrical engineer, was admitted to A&E after suffering from a bad chest infection, and it was found that he had, in fact, survived a mild heart attack. He was tested for coronavirus when admitted, but was negative. It transpired that a heart valve he had replaced eight years prior was failing, and he needed an operation to fix it. Staying in a regular cardiac ward, he remained in the hospital for a fortnight as they waited for him to be transferred for surgery.
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But on the day of the transfer, he tested positive for the virus, along with the rest of the ward. His breathing severely deteriorated and he was moved between the 'hot zone', as seen in the drama, and ITU, and lost three and a half stone.
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Due to social distancing rules, Sharon, 37, and her mum Grace, 69, were prohibited from being at his bedside. They kept in touch on the phone, when he was fit enough to speak, and the pair dropped off hot, home-cooked meals for him every lunchtime.
It was during these trips that she saw first-hand the chaos and nurses fitted with plastic gowns, masks and visors. Before her dad tested positive, she saw 12 people pile into a lift, when warning signs stated only three people were allowed due to social distancing.
She and her mum were forced to report certain patients for walking into the hospital despite having high temperatures that registered on the scanners. "The measures that were happening just weren't good enough," Sharon, from Watford, reflected.
Breathtaking depicts the horrifying reality for health professionals on the frontline amid the pandemic (ITV)"Public Health England was advising the hospitals like we've seen later on in the series as well, but it just wasn't good enough, the PPE wasn't good enough. The hand sanitiser machines always ran out, paper masks were always gone so people were reusing masks.
"[Breathtaking] is a very accurate account of what happened. I heard doctors and nurses saying that there isn't enough PPE. I know that my dad had to wait for a ventilator as well. Matt Hancock said that he could absolutely confirm that there were enough ventilators for all hospitals. So that wasn't the case.
"Vulnerable people like my dad, that go into hospital for care and to be made better but ended up, so much worse." When her father was initially admitted, they were concerned about the possibility of him picking up the virus, with thousands of deaths already reported in the UK.
His family felt an immense sense of dread each time they entered the building, worrying what state they would find it in. "Like how it comes across with Joanne's character, the deep breaths. Obviously, I didn't go into any hot zones but it was the feeling all the workers had of being in that environment and knowing they weren't protected well enough.
"There were then members of the public that just thought it wasn't real, that thought that they could just walk in without the mask, or with a temperature that I saw happening or multiple, multiple times. They didn't realise how important their job was to protect people like my dad."
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Sharon FaceTimed her father, who was in a mask and on oxygen, the evening before his death from a cardiac arrest on November 21, 2020. He seemed to be doing well, but took a sudden turn in the night.
Sharon is heartbroken from the loss of her dad (Sharon Collins)
She and her mum Grace delivered hot meals to the hospital for their beloved John, where they saw the crisis the hospital was in (Sharon Collins)A phone call from a doctor at 11.30am the next morning explained that he had to be placed onto his front to help clear his lungs. John sent a text to Sharon saying he was sat up again for his lunch and that he was set to go back onto his front.
But tragically, he then suffered a massive heart attack, and a second fatal attack at 4.30pm. "It was a massive shock," Sharon, who is a member of the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice group, recalled, tearing up. "I think the show is harrowing for people like me and in the Covid-19 Justice group, we've lived these moments. These are all real moments that we're seeing in this drama.
"And if anything, I think the message that we really, really want people to understand and take on board is that this was a real pandemic. Covid was real. And then the Government and political parties need to be listening to the advice that's going to come from the Covid inquiry so that if another pandemic does happen again, we don't lose another 234,000 lives."
Due to the virus, they weren't able to have a final moment with John. And the day they buried him on December 10 - when Boris Johnson partied at No 10 - they were restricted to set rules, which also forbid an open coffin, which is typical in Irish culture.
"My dad was a very happy-go-lucky guy. He loved his family. He loved being with people. So the thought that he was robbed and we were robbed of that very sensitive and precious time as a family is just utterly heartbreaking and something that we'll never forget," Sharon said.
The last time she was able to see him was in the second week he had Covid, when a kind nurse allowed her into the corridor. Dressed in PPE, she watched her beloved dad on the other side of the glass.
"I was able to put my hand up on the glass, and my dad was able to put his hand up on the other side," she remembered. "And that's really the last physical time I saw my dad. But it was it was comforting, even if it was through a pane of glass."
More than four years on from the outbreak, the circumstances around their father's untimely passing remain "extremely raw" for their family, who want the Government to learn from the destruction caused by the pandemic to hundreds of thousands of lives.
While what happened to them was a living "nightmare", Sharon, a TV producer herself, cannot commend ITV enough for Breathtaking. Praising author Dr Rachel Clarke, she says the nuanced production is well-researched, and the hard work put into the show with the help of medical professionals is visibly clear.
The drama incorporates clips from the daily Downing Street press briefings, with then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson making light of shaking hands with patients in hospital, and false promises from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock. Sharon argues these real-life clips add to its realism but she can't help but feel angry.
"It will always anger anybody that has lost somebody from Covid or had a very traumatic experience from Covid," she began. "In some ways we put our livelihood, our trust, our faith, everything into these people running our country to the best way it can be and to protect us as human beings," she explained.
"But they were able to just bare-face lie to us in these briefings. We took reassurance from them that it was going to be okay, but for my family and so many other hundreds of thousands of families, it clearly wasn't. The drama is putting our families' stories to the forefront, along with the truth of how the government handled the situation and the disgusting way they approached things.
Breathtaking author Dr Rachel Clarke at the Covid memorial wall in London (Daily Mirror/Ian Vogler)"A bit like with the Post Office scandal, serious lessons are to be learned. I think that's the important message that they themselves and all future politicians need to sit up and listen and realise that we need to take this advice from the Covid Inquiry and take action.
"I also hope it reflects on the fact that we need to save our NHS - what a wonderful job the doctors and nurses do." Following the third anniversary of John's death, it's no easier for the Collins. As an only child, Sharon, John, and Grace were a tight family unit.
She still goes to ring her dad when she comes across changes in life, such as work news, before realising she can't. "My mum's heart's broken, mine is broken. There is an empty chair at Christmas, his favourite reclining chair is still at home that he isn't in yet I still expect him to be in it," she admitted.
"It's the hardest thing that he isn't here anymore but I know he would be so delighted that we're fighting for justice for him and so many others like him. I think he'd be very pleased to see how hard the people have worked on the drama. And a credit to ITV, the drama is."
During the Covid Inquiry, the findings of which are set to be released in the summer, those in power at the time of the pandemic were examined, including Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock. As he was heckled at his hearing, Mr Johnson said he could "understand the feelings of these victims and their families" and said he was "deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and suffering of those victims and their families."
He paid tribute to the "hundreds of thousands of health care workers and many other public servants and people in all walks of life who helped protect our country throughout a dreadful pandemic" before adding: "I do hope that this inquiry will help to get beyond this to the very difficult questions that those victims and those families are rightly asking, so that we can protect ourselves better, [and] … protect ourselves better in the future."
Breathtaking returns tonight on ITV at 9pm. All episodes are available to stream on ITVPlayer now.
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