The drama, written by Dennis Kelly and directed by Stephen Daldry , begins on 24 March 2020, the day after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Britain’s first coronavirus lockdown.
As well as taking a wide view of the virus’s deadly impact — captions mark the rising death toll in Britain, from 422 in the first scene to 126,284 in the last — “Together” also zooms in on the disintegration and tentative rebuilding of a relationship.
Horgan said in a phone interview that the film was, on one level, an exercise in bearing witness, in particular to the “hidden trauma” of those families who lost loved ones in nursing homes.
Horgan said she felt “an enormous responsibility” in telling the story of what happened in Britain’s nursing homes.
The drama was filmed in London over 10 days in April this year, and was broadcast here by the BBC in June, in the same week that the government delayed the lifting of restrictions because of a surge in the Delta variant of the virus.
If “Together” stands apart, it is because fury and horror at what is happening in the wider world run in parallel to the central love story.
“There are a lot of people out there who are really angry.
Before Kelly approached Horgan about starring in “Together,” she had little interest in making a lockdown film: She had already turned down scripts based on the pandemic, she said.
But it transcends that, as a voyeuristic, in-depth X-ray of a relationship.” For that reason, Horgan doesn’t think people will feel fatigued by the events of last year and a half while watching it.
Horgan was in her late 20s and working at a job center; Kelly mentioned he’d written a play, called “Brendan’s Visit.” The next day, Horgan called and convinced him to put it on.
The pair started writing together and created “Pulling,” a cult comedy about three 20-something female housemates, which debuted on the BBC in 2006.
Horgan spent lockdown in London, with her two teenage daughters, who were “like caged animals,” she said.
“I don’t think I give too much of myself to my work; my work gives an awful lot to me, if I’m honest,” she said.