Preneur World March 2024

working in incredibly difficult circumstances
physically as well as emotionally and medically. It
was an added challenge just acting that so I can’t
really comprehend how difficult it must have been to
do it for real.
We also show how our NHS workers were left
completely vulnerable at the beginning. With little or
no PPE. We see Abbey angry and upset. And it made
me so angry on their behalf. But they carried on.
They put their own lives at risk and the lives of their
loved ones to care for us as a nation. And with not
just inadequate but sometimes no PPE. It’s amazing.
They really are heroes to me. They carried on and did
their job and put their patients first above everything
else.
We first meet Abbey and her colleagues when they
are already overstretched and seeing very vulnerable
patients who should be in ITU coming in to the
Emergency Department and having to put them in
a store cupboard area because there’s nowhere for
them to go. And that’s before the pandemic hit. So
you imagine being that stretched and then somehow
having to deal with not just tripling but quadrupling
- and some - your capacity and the number of ITU
beds. How do you do that?
P
You filmed scenes where Abbey faces abuse
from people who say Covid is a hoax?
That really did shock me. If you think of what
J these NHS staff go through on a day to day
basis. In November and December 2020 they
were seeing an influx of patients and much younger
patients than before. Suffering and dying from Covid.
Having to deal with death on that level every day and
be so overstretched that you’re making impossible
decisions. Then walking out of the hospital having to
face abuse from Covid deniers who maintained it was
all a hoax. Going back to a grim hotel room, going
to bed, getting up and doing it all again in extreme
circumstances. It doesn’t take much to imagine what
that would do to your mental health. The fury that
would ignite in you.
Filming those scenes of Abbey facing abuse, people
calling you a liar, makes you feel so angry and
betrayed on behalf of the NHS workers. I feel the
government betrayed our NHS workers. But they
carried on, fought through it and they are still doing
that today. And, of course, the impact of what they
went through during the pandemic still lives with
them today.
P
What does it mean to you to have been involved
in Breathtaking?
It has changed my views on death… and life.
J It’s not something that I’d never thought of or
had never crossed my mind before but I came
away from filming Breathtaking feeling incredibly
grateful for my life and for life in general. For every
morning we wake up and get to have another day.
And how you just never know what’s around the
corner. Good or bad. The great moments in life we
have to absolutely make the most of. There will be
difficult moments in life for every single human
being. Nobody lives a life without pain or difficulty,
no matter what their situation.
It did give me a great belief in people’s humanity.
Yes, there are people who are selfish and do bad
things. But there are also people that are unselfish
and do incredibly great things for other humans all of
the time. That is really beautiful and something to be
celebrated.
I’m filled with gratitude to have been involved with
Breathtaking. That I was trusted to play Abbey. I feel
really honoured to be able to be a small part of telling
this story that I think is so important. It has given me
a real renewed sense of gratitude for life.
Watch every episode of Breathtaking on ITVX
PRENEUR WORLD 17