Heartbreaking drama about the real life Salisbury poisonings starring Anne-Marie Duff and Rafe Spall is available to watch for free
It first aired in 2020 to critical acclaim
The Salisbury Poisonings remain one of the most horrifying crimes to have happened in recent memory, and a dramatisation of the events is must-see viewing – and free to watch now.
This week, a three-part documentary lands on Channel 4 telling the shocking story of the 2018 poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Salisbury.
Salisbury Poisonings: The Untold Story uses first-hand testimony to reexamine the shocking story, featuring unparalleled access to police, doctors, government officials and the military.
However, before that, BBC One released a gripping and heartbreaking drama of the events. Before The Long Shadow, and Four Lives, The Salisbury Poisonings focused on the victims and the people it affected. Here’s how you can watch the drama The Salisbury Poisonings for free.
What is the BBC One drama The Salisbury Poisonings about?
In 2018, something unthinkable happened in the city of Salisbury. A Novichok poisoning crisis rocked the country, leaving residents terrified. It sounded like something out of a spy thriller, but it was very real.
Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were living in the quiet city of Salisbury when they were targeted and poisoned with Novichok. Many of us watching news reports that March felt a sense of disbelief that this could happen in “sleepy” Salisbury.
The idea of a Russian assassination attempt carried out in a quiet cathedral city seemed outlandish. But Wiltshire police, the smallest force in the country, began to take that possibility seriously.
Skripal was a former military spy turned British double-agent, peacefully retired in Wiltshire when he and his daughter were found critically ill on a park bench. Although they survived, just months later British mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess died after accidentally coming into contact with the nerve agent Novichok used in the original attack.
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Dawn, who was 44, died after she came into contact with a perfume bottle. It was thought to have been used to store the nerve agent and then discarded. Her partner, Charlie Rowley, was left seriously ill but recovered.
Meanwhile, Det Sgt Nick Bailey was the first person to enter the home of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia after they were found poisoned. He also became seriously ill and nearly died.
Is it any good?
The BBC One dramatisation The Salisbury Poisonings is arguably one of the best of its kind. With a brilliant cast including Anne-Marie Duff, Rafe Spall, Annabel Scholey, and MyAnna Buring, it was must-see viewing when it first aired in 2020.
The three-part drama put the focus purely on the victims, turning away from the sensationalist spy thriller headlines at the time.
The mini-series was nominated for a Royal Television Society award, as well as several other high-profile accolades.
How to watch The Salisbury Poisonings for free
The Salisbury Poisonings is currently available to watch for free on BBC iPlayer.
A synopsis for the show says: “In March 2018, Salisbury became the site of an unprecedented national emergency. This three-part dramatisation focuses on the extraordinary heroism shown by the local community.”
Reviews
Critics praised The Salisbury Poisonings, with good reason.
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan said: “The spy aspect is not the focus of this particular drama. Instead, it centres on the efforts to protect the innocent and save the infected, who number in the tens of thousands.
“It is also about the responses of ordinary people when extraordinary things are asked of them. It should, ideally, come with a warning: ‘Contains scenes of genuine courage and competence.'”
Radio Times called it “a deeply affecting piece of television”, while The Atlantic said: “The drama The Salisbury Poisonings is a dystopia with a bucolic English setting, and the disconnect between the two is where the show’s slow creep of horror begins.”
Where to watch the Salisbury poisonings documentary
Now, Channel 4 has produced a three-part documentary about the tragedy. Salisbury Poisonings: The Untold Story is a three-parter which uses “gripping first-hand testimony” to tell the shocking story of the 2018 poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Salisbury. It features “unparalleled access to police, doctors, government officials and the military”.
Episode one explores the poisoning of Skripal – a reckless assassination attempt that put thousands of innocent lives in danger. It also looks at the efforts of those on the frontline to solve the investigation before anyone else fell ill.
The first part airs on Wednesday, April 29, 2026 at 9pm on Channel 4. Episode follows the week after, and charts the immediate fallout of the attack, as staff on the hospital ICU battled to save the lives of the Skripals and local police officer Nick Bailey, who had become accidentally contaminated with Novichok.
