Spanish Flu

Set against the background of the Armistice in November 1918, as millions of exhausted soldiers return home from the Great War, Dr James Niven (played by Bill Paterson), Manchester's Medical Officer of Health, had to fight hard and come up with novel and ingenious solutions to combat a wave of fatal influenza as it spread across the city of Manchester and the UK.

Dr Niven built his career by protecting the welfare of Manchester's most vulnerable people, from the factory workers to the slum dwellers. But, just as Manchester's fighting heroes were returning home and crowds of men, women and children gather to celebrate the end of the Great War, Niven realises that it will take all of his energy and expertise to limit the spread of this mysterious infection.

Facing resistance from both the city and his fellow medical officials, Dr Niven, statistician Ernest Dunks (Mark Gatiss) and their secretary Peggy Lytton (Charlotte Riley) struggle to understand the evolving virus; to communicate the urgent need for action to the establishment and the media; and to pull together scarce resources to alleviate its impact on the poorest in society. And as they battle against complacency, inertia and red tape, the gravity of the unfolding crisis hits home when Peggy's family start to succumb to the virus.

Inspired by Dr Niven's own accounts and documented facts, the film pays a rare tribute to the estimated 70 million forgotten fallen who died from Spanish influenza between 1918 and 1921 across the world. Niven's work against terrible odds continues to resonate today with many of his conclusions, instructions and discoveries echoed by modern advice and procedures for dealing with pandemic flu.

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