Channel 4 has shared its first look at the one-off pandemic-drama Help.
Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) and Stephen Graham (The Irishman) lead the drama Help for Channel 4. The actors, both from Liverpool, will finally feature together on-screen in the one-off, two-hour film.
Help is created by Bafta-winning writer Jack Thorne and Bafta-winning director Marc Munden, who previously collaborated on the mini-series National Treasure in 2016.
Comer and Graham previously worked together on Good Cop, which led to Graham introducing Comer to his agent Jane Epstein, ultimately kicking off Comer’s career. Comer thanked the actor for his support when she received a Bafta for her performance in Killing Eve, back in 2019.
Based in a care home in their hometown of Liverpool, the drama aims to depict how lives were changed throughout the pandemic in spring 2020. It will explore the relationship between a young care home worker, Sarah (Comer), and a patient with Young Onset Alzheimer’s, Tony (Graham). As the drama unfolds, we will see how their lives are impacted by the pandemic and the bond they build during it.
For Sarah, as the coronavirus pandemic hits in March 2020, the staff deal with being ill-equipped, poorly prepared and feeling helpless as they battle to care for everyone. She works to protect those in her care whose conditions make it all the more difficult in isolation, which is where she meets and forms a very special bond with Tony.
Tony’s Alzheimer’s has left him living in the care home, where he is due to spend the rest of his days as his mind continues to deteriorate. His illness causes confusion and violent outbursts that staff struggle to handle, with the exception of Sarah. As the pandemic throws everything Sarah has achieved and she believed in into chaos, her success at managing Tony and the other patients helps rebuild her confidence and self-belief.
Help is coming soon to Channel 4 and All 4.
Words by Ellen Smith
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