Help

The worst of all the mistakes of the COVID pandemic was surely the decision, taken in the UK and elsewhere, to discharge sufferers directly from hospital into unprotected care homes. That's the kind interpretation: the worse one is that, either consciously or subconsciously, the powers that be decided to write off the lives of the victims, their new co-residents, and the care workers, in the vain hope that this might isolate the problem. Jack Thorne's excellent drama 'Help' captures what it must have been like to live through this epidemic of death. A strong cast and some telling writing make for harrowing viewing; the care home owner is a particularly interesting role, although the focus is very much on Jodie Comer's and Stephen Graham's characters. What we don't see is the story from the point of view of the most vulnerable themselves; instead, Graham plays a younger man with a different (but less immediately lethal) weakness. But it's powerful stuff, and the best drama I've yet seen about the coronavirus crisis.

I worked in a care home at covid time so I know what it was like and it was just like this show portrays Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham play their parts so well well done had me in tears going back to a time when the elderly was seriously let down.

Wow! This drama is a little too close to the truth. As I watched it, in Canada, we are entering the 20th month of the pandemic and what they are now calling the 4th wave. The pandemic is now a new way of life but this movie takes us back to the ignorance of those initial months and, I confess, I cringed at every false move we watched play out and relived some of the trauma I underestimated when going through it. The story is tender and terrifying. The performances are brilliant. Jodie Comer deserves highest accolades and awards for her delivery (for those who have only seen her perform in borrowed accents, it will be a treat to hear her speak in her own native, Liverpudlian accent). For those viewing this in the UK, this seems to trigger political outrage, but, I think, worldwide, we were staggering in the dark and I'm not convinced any political party would have charted a better course. We simply didn't know and were ill prepared. I give this film a 9 (superb) out of 10. {Drama}

Just watched Help. Excellent. Thought it was a bit far fetched in the final third but the great acting by the ubiquitously brilliant Stephen Graham and Jodie Comer made up for that. Jodie Comer has earned Hollywood should she wish - I hope she doesn't go there... Think it would've been better as an hour long drama set in the care home only. Did not need the final third. Was enlightening though about the care profession and made me think. 8 out of ten.

A powerful film that shows the hard truth of how care homes were ignored and left to survive on their own.

Jodie Comer and Stephen Were phenomenal in their roles. The acting felt real. A true masterclass in acting and never sliding into over dramatic acting which I feel could have happened if they weren't these actors. Jodie and Stephen deserve all the awards.

Hard to watch but a must watch.

That one scene ( the night shift) that will stay with me for a long time.