The Salisbury Poisonings- excellent TV.

The Salisbury Poisonings- excellent.

In complete contrast to all of the last three months of unrelenting misery and sombreness we were given yet another dose of the same medicine. The BBC do get it completely right with their thought -provoking dramatisations and for the last three nights they reminded us once again of the dark and very moody version of events relating to the Salisbury Poisonings two years ago.

Back then we were just shocked by one of those news stories that are supposed to be shocking. It was the spring of 2018 and England were about to embark on one of those helter skelter rides towards the summer's World Cup in Russia. Little were we to know it then but in the quiet and genteel city of Salisbury, mysterious events were beginning to unravel before almost frightening the life out of the nation.

On an otherwise ordinary Sunday lunchtime a father and daughter sat down on a bench in Salisbury having just eaten in a restaurant. What we didn't know at the time was that both were unwitting targets of some appalling poisoning attack from evil terrorists whose intention was to kill without any hint of remorse.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were, at the time, unwitting victims of the kind of incident that convulsed and paralysed almost the entire county of Wiltshire and quite possibly beyond. The opening sequence showed Sergei frothing at the mouth and fitting as his daughter slumped onto his lap, their world now thrown into turmoil and infirmity. Death could have been the most tragic outcomes for both but since then both father and daughter have made a full recovery or so it may be assumed.

But this was a gripping three night reconstruction of the events which unfolded with almost morbid rapidity. Slowly but surely we were introduced into the lives of Nick Bailey, the serious, dedicated and businesslike cop who was unintentionally drawn into this horrific vortex of potentially lethal toxicity, a man who just wanted to get on with his business of being the upright copper while ensuring the continued welfare of his doting family.

We were then given chapter and verse on the life of hard- bitten health officer Tracy Daszkieewicz, a plain-speaking, hard-working, ambitious and driven woman determined to get to the bottom of a nightmare that refuses to go away. We follow her keenly as she rushes hither and thither from one crime spot to the next, a woman of fierce convictions, moral purpose and hell- bent on bringing justice to those who may have found their lives under serious threat.

Attending endless meetings with police officers and impassioned encounters with outraged residents of the local neighbourhood, we saw her visibly crumpling under pressure while mum did her utmost to give positive reassurances to son Toby that she would never desert him and still loved Toby. It was acting of the highest order, a wonderful portrait of a character whose devotion of duty almost broke her at times.

And we then move back to Nick Bailey and his family. Bailey is seen accidentally picking up the nerve shot Novichok,  a potentially deadly poison which almost killed Bailey. Staring into the bathroom mirror, Bailey is initially seen checking his now dilated eyes and then sweating in bed wihout realising for a minute that things were wrong and unsavoury. After frequent  self examinations, Bailey eventually collapses during the night, falling onto the living room carpet and ending up in hospital clinging onto life desperately.

Nick 's wife Sarah continues to offer loving and compassionate support to a husband who now finds his own life hanging in the balance. The whole background story is now told in vivid and graphic detail with both wife and husband caught up in the most horrendous web of secrecy and ambiguity. Nobody can be sure what's happening because nobody knows anything but would like to know more.

Then there is Ross Cassidy with his wife Mo. Ross is a close friend of Sergei Skripal and once again a perfectly innocent member of the public who, through no fault of his own, is questioned by the police for his friendship with Sergei. Cassidy gives any relevant information that may help with the police's inquiries. Cassidy then gives a full explanation to the police and wonders whether he was being followed by one of President Putin's alleged henchmen on a trip back from the airport to meet up with his mate Sergei. All very cloak and dagger and clandestine, very much a case of not what you knew but who you knew.

Also there was the heart breaking case of Dawn Sturgess, impeccably played and the only death in the whole episode. Dawn is a hardened and incurable alcoholic who lives with her partner Charlie Rowley, both incorrigible addicts who were brought together by a strange twist of fate. Dawn loves to party and get completely drunk while Charlie just offers a sympathetic shoulder to lean on recognising sooner rather than later that both he and she might come to a sticky end.

In the most alarming scene, we see both Dawn and Charlie rummaging through a bin, searching for goodness knows what. Dawn picks out the spray bottle which would eventually kill her while Charlie digs a chair out which left him fighting for life but would not kill him. The story had now become so intriguing that you were left on tenterhooks about what fate would befall all the characters.

After seemingly indefinite investigations, numerous BBC News bulletins, searching post mortems and deeply probing discussions from all concerned we are now left to imagine what might have happened and what did actually happen. This was by turns both an extremely powerful, hard- hitting and compelling drama where you could hardly take your eyes away from the action. There were blazing arguments and disagreements from health officer and police alike, moving moments throughout when everything that could have gone wrong did. But the air of suspense kept you glued to your TV.

Then after spraying from her bottle Dawn dies, the family gather together in collective mourning, mum and dad reproach themselves for not doing enough to help their stricken and troubled daughter and the intensity of their grief takes its toll with dad Stan who confesses that he could have done more to save Dawn but couldn't because Dawn just couldn't stop herself. Charlie, Dawn's partner, naturally sobs his heart at Dawn's funeral but then Dawn's daughter remembers the good times she enjoyed with mum.  Mum Sturgess is equally as impressive as the helpless but doting mum who regularly tells her grand- daughter that mummy is sick but is being taken care of.

This was the BBC at its most professional, clever, accurate and perceptive, a play about raw human feelings, a play that hit all the right psychological and sociological buttons. It was about a TV dramatisation that got right under the surface of what makes a society ticks when somebody throws a ticking time bomb into a city that just wants to be left alone in peace. Sadly Salisbury may not be remembered now for its historic and beautiful cathedral. Rather it will always be synonymous with a bench in the shopping centre where two people minding their own business almost died at the same time.

Happily this story did have a happy ending although it could have been all so different. Nick and Sarah Bailey with their kids, are still living as the reunited family, Dawn Sturgess sadly died, Ross Cassidy and his wife Mo are doing all kinds of charitable work while some of us were left drooling with admiration at a brilliant TV script and eternally grateful to the BBC for another mini masterpiece. Thanks Auntie Beeb. You've done it again.