Spanish Flu - The Forgotten Fallen
SPANISH FLU - THE FORGOTTEN FALLEN (Hardy Pictures) tells the story of one doctor's pioneering efforts to protect the people of Manchester from the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic. Locations included Saltaire Village near Bradford, Armley Mills Museum in Leeds and Dewsbury Town Hall. The two-part drama screened on BBC4 in 2009.Screen Yorkshire worked with Hardy Pictures to bring the production to the region and provided locations and crewing support for the shoot, which took place in May 2009. It's the second time the production company has filmed in the region recently - they shot 1066 at Bolton Abbey and Flamborough Head for Channel 4 in 2008.
Adrian Kelly, Line Producer at Hardy Pictures says:
''We had a terrific shoot on Forgotten Fallen. Screen Yorkshire provided consistent and useful support with fantastic locations and local crewing. The diversity of locations within reach of each other is what brought us to the area. It was an absolute pleasure. I hope to come again soon.'' 
Hardy Pictures set up their production base at The Ramada Hotel near Bingley, within easy reach of their other key locations, which included Victoria Hall, Salt's Mill and Saltaire Village near Bradford; Armley Mills Museum in Leeds; Keighley Worth Valley Railway Station, Lister Park in Manningham and Dewsbury Town Hall.
Bill Paterson (Little Dorrit, Criminal Justice), Mark Gatiss (League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who), Charlotte Riley (The Take, Wuthering Heights) and Kenneth Cranham (Rome, The Lavender List) star in SPANISH FLU - THE FORGOTTEN FALLEN, which is set against the background of the Armistice in November 1918. As millions of exhausted soldiers return home from the Great War, the film tells the little known story of Dr James Niven (Bill Paterson), Manchester's Medical Officer of Health for thirty years, and his heroic efforts to combat a second wave of fatal influenza as it spreads across the city of Manchester and the UK.
Dr Niven has built his career protecting the welfare of Manchester's most vulnerable people, from the factory-workers to the slum-dwellers. But, just as Manchester's fighting heroes are 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.
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 across the world. Dr Niven's heroism continues to resonate today with many of his conclusions, instructions and discoveries echoed by modern advice and procedures for pandemic flu.
SPANISH FLU - THE FORGOTTEN FALLEN is written by Peter Harness (Is Anybody There?, City of Vice), directed by Justin Hardy, and produced by Susan Horth, for Hardy Pictures.
