'The Salisbury Poisonings': Who is Tracy Daszkiewicz and how she successfully contained a lethal nerve agent
At the centre of 'The Salisbury Poisonings' is the name Tracy Daszkiewicz whose prompt action and decision-making proved vital for the containment of the highly lethal nerve agent Novichok. The BBC series, which is now available to watch on AMC+, follows an assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal, a former MI6 double agent at the heart of the Russian secret service, and his daughter Yulia.
While both of them had become critically ill eventually surviving the attack, the danger they posed to the rest of Salisbury was grave and had it not been nipped in the bud, the damage would have been far more critical.
Played by Anne-Marie Duff, Tracy Daszkiewicz finds herself at her wits' end when she is summoned to take over the matter — over the course of her career, there was nothing along these lines that she had seen before. In addition to that, given the nature of the crime, there was little information regarding the case available to begin with.
Despite all the shortcomings and the problems (including friction from fellow public health workers in the department, as is shown on the BBC series), Tracy stuck to her guns and ended up playing a critical role in the response to the mishap.
At the time of the Skripal poisonings, Tracy had only been in the post as Director of Public Health for three months although she was working for the Wiltshire Council for 10 years. The BBC series shows how overwhelmed she was upon first getting the job on hand. But putting the lives of others ahead of her, she instead picked up her pace. There were also instances where her seniors would disagree with her expertise (as is shown on the show), but that wasn't going to deter her.
Working on the public health crisis not only took a toll on her personal health but also strained her personal relationships. As she focussed all her energy behind the crisis, she could hardly give any time at home. Months after the Salisbury poisonings, the lethal chemical weapon makes a comeback in Amesbury, fatally injuring two citizens.
Tracy could not help but take it personally — constantly chastising herself for what it was that she had missed that led to the poisonings of the two innocent locals — Charlie Rowley (Johnny Harris) and Dawn Sturgess (MyAnna Buring). What made matters worse was that Tracy recalled meeting a "full of life" Dawn at a meeting to help alcoholics regain their life. And rued that she was unable to extend help to her in time.
The real-life Tracy was "interviewed extensively" by program-makers Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn. Lawrence Bowen, the series' executive producer, had said, "When we met her and spoke to her, we felt that we'd sort of found a core point of view that sort of made sense of all these multiple points of view that we'd discovered in the research."
The series ends with Tracy's family deeming her a hero, but Duff's character rushes to avoid taking the credit adding that it was all a joint effort. The real-life Daszkiewicz was reported saying that her character in the series is a composite of many different people who dealt with the aftermath. Her work earned her recognition — in June 2020, she joined Public Health England as Deputy Director of Population Health and Wellbeing for South-West England.
The four-part drama premieres on AMC+ on Thursday, October 1, 2020.
