Help: Jodie Comer drama praised as ‘heartbreaking’ by Channel 4 viewers

Comer’s performance as a care home nurse is earning the ‘Killing Eve’ actor rave reviews

Maanya Sachdeva
Friday 17 September 2021 13:00 BST
Comments
‘Help’ trailer

Channel 4 viewers are praising the new Jodie Comer-Stephen Graham drama Help as “heartbreaking” and “f****ing amazing” on social media.

Set against the backdrop of a fictional care home in Liverpool, Help explores how Covid-19 ravaged the sector at the beginning of the still-ongoing pandemic.

Written by Jack Thorne, the two-hour film was released on Thursday (16 September) and is already being hailed as one of the most important Covid films for its commitment to the truth.

Comer plays Sarah, an employee at the care home, while Graham slips into the shoes of a 47-year-old care home resident with early onset Alzheimer’s.

In the trailer, Sarah’s boss tells her that the hospital is having patients brought to the care home, to which Comer’s character replies: “Is it safe?”

The Killing Eve star moved viewers with her performance as the young, empathetic care home worker.

While some fans are predicting Bafta wins for the Help co-stars, others are quick to point out that “awards can’t reward this drama highly enough”.

“Real change has to happen,” one person wrote.

Meanwhile, a 20-minute scene towards the end of Help is being dubbed the “performance of Comer’s career”.

Another audience member wrote: “Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham hit the nail on the head with Help. I train staff in dementia care homes all over the UK, and after Covid struck I started doing free grief sessions on Zoom for staff as they needed an outlet and no one was there for them.”

An outpouring of grief for care workers also flooded social media in the wake of the release. One fan called the show “a voice for the voiceless”.

Read The Independent’s review here.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in