DS Nick Bailey in The Salisbury Poisonings 5
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The Salisbury Poisonings: DS Nick Bailey hits back at viewers who criticised his wife Sarah’s behaviour after episode two

Viewers took issue with her response to the crisis

By Nancy Brown

Policeman DS Nick Bailey, who is portrayed by Rafe Spall in new BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings, has hit back at viewers who complained about his wife Sarah’s behaviour.

Airing across consecutive nights on BBC One, the three-part drama is a retelling of the public health crisis that followed the nerve agent attacks in Salisbury, Wiltshire in 2018.

What happened in episode two?

The Salisbury Poisonings
The Salisbury Poisonings continued last night on BBC One (Credit: BBC)

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In the second episode, shown last night (Monday, June 15), Wiltshire Council’s director of public health, Tracy Daszkiewicz (Anne-Marie Duff) and Supt Dave Minty (Darren Boyd) watched bodycam footage of DS Bailey walking through the Skripal house. They realised he and the Skripals were poisoned by Novichok present on the property’s front door.

While Nick was left fighting for his life in hospital, his wife Sarah (Annabel Scholey) tried to remain calm for the sake of their two daughters.

In emotional scenes, Sarah desperately tried to calm her husband down as he deliriously shouted for his kids from his hospital bed.

The Salisbury Poisonings
The real-life Nick Bailey, played by Rafe Spall, hit back at viewers over their negative comments (Credit: BBC)

Later, the mum-of-two took the children to hospital to visit their dad. She was kept waiting, so she sent the girls home with their granddad.

Two people later arrived and told Sarah they were assigned as family liaison officers.

They insisted that Sarah and the kids couldn’t return to their home, telling her: “They have to test in there, Sarah. The stuff could be inside, on Nick’s clothes…”

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But Sarah told them no. “We’ve been living there for a week,” she argued.

The family liaison officers said they made arrangements for the Baileys to stay in a hotel but Sarah refused. She then rushed past them and the nurse in the hallway to see her husband, who pleaded with her to leave out of fear of contaminating her.

What did viewers say?

The Salisbury Poisonings
Sarah Bailey is played by Annabel Scholey (Credit: BBC)

On Twitter, one viewer said: “Why was the cop’s wife being such an idiot?”

Another tweeted: “The wife is a bit silly, did the real person act like this?”

A third wrote: “#TheSalisburyPoisonings policeman’s wife doesn’t seem very respectful of the potential danger of the nerve agent!”

“I hope it’s not how it really happened,” said a fourth. “But Sarah seems really stupid over this.”

How did Nick respond?

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The real-life Nick Bailey took to Twitter to hit back at the negative comments.

“I’ve seen quite a bit of negativity towards my wife regarding episode two and the way she handled it,” he said. “Those scenes with Sarah could never truly reflect the extreme emotion and trauma she went through that day. Cut her some slack and be kind.”

One Twitter user told him: “What you guys went through is my worst nightmare. You’re both incredible, don’t let anyone tell you any different.”

Someone else replied: “I’d hope also that reasonable people would realise that this is dramatised. [It’s] not a minute-by-minute reconstruction of every single event. But some people aren’t reasonable. Best wishes.”

https://twitter.com/DSNickBailey/status/1272637378977546241

– The Salisbury Poisonings concludes tonight (Tuesday, June 16) at 9pm on BBC One

What do you think of the series so far? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.

Nancy Brown
Associate Editor

Related Topics

BBC BBC Drama BBC One Drama The Salisbury Poisonings