To Provide All People

BBC Wales marks NHS at 70 with all-star production To Provide All People

“It’s been a privilege to be able to engage via interviews and poetry with the idea and the people of the NHS for this project, and to be part of a film hoping to give voice to the ethos, philosophy and experience of the service” – Owen Sheers

Michael Sheen, Tamsin Grieg, Martin Freeman and Meera Syal are amongst the all-star cast of BBC Wales’ latest landmark television drama commission as it celebrates the 70th anniversary of the NHS. Written by highly acclaimed poet Owen Sheers, To Provide All People will chart the emotional and philosophical map of what defines the NHS and the personal experiences that lie at the heart of the service; from patients to surgeons, porters to midwives.

Made by the team behind the award-winning drama Aberfan: The Green Hollow, with director Pip Broughton, To Provide All People tells the story of a single day in the NHS, from dusk to dawn, with a single hospital at its heart.

The stellar cast includes: Michael Sheen, Eve Myles, Sian Phillips, Jonathan Pryce, Aimee Ffion Edwards, George Mackay, Martin Freeman, Meera Syal, Celia Imrie, Tamsin Grieg, Rashan Stone Michelle Fairley, Suzanne Packer, and Michelle Collins.

The programme will be broadcast in Wales and across the UK.

BBC Wales Head of Commissioning Nick Andrews says, To Provide All People is an important and exciting commission for us and one that celebrates and recognises the people working in one of our most important public services. Alongside the extraordinary cast which Vox Pictures has secured, I’m just so thrilled to have Owen Sheers and Pip Broughton together again and working their unique magic.”

Writer Owen Sheers says: “It’s been a privilege to be able to engage via interviews and poetry with the idea and the people of the NHS for this project, and to be part of a film hoping to give voice to the ethos, philosophy and experience of the service. Researching the founding of the NHS has been particularly fascinating and only strengthened my belief that it is still, 70 years on, the most radically beautiful and practically successful idea that politics has ever made manifest. To go on this journey with Pip Broughton, with whom I made The Green Hollow, has further enriched the whole process – Pip is very much a writer’s director, so to work with her in what is a somewhat experimental form, has been wonderful.”