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Press Releases
91Èȱ¬ One presents Florence Nightingale
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Update – 20 May 2008: since this press release was posted the transmission date for Florence Nightingale has gone back to Week 23 2008 (31 May-6 June 2008).
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This Easter, 91Èȱ¬ One presents Florence Nightingale – a full costume drama that tells the untold story of one of Britain's greatest heroines, based on her own words.
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Starring Laura Fraser, this film brings to life the story of Florence Nightingale's spiritual and emotional breakdown after the Crimean War: a moment of crisis, doubt and failure that ultimately inspired her revolutionary career in medicine.
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It also introduces the actor comedian Roy Hudd as the leader of a raucous Music Hall troupe, who dip in and out of the action with songs in the style of the times.
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Florence's personal story was one of amazing determination and self sacrifice. She was convinced from an early age that she could hear the voice of God and it was this "call" which persuaded her to spurn all the expectations of her family and suitors, her class and her gender, to pursue a career which was regarded as little better than prostitution.
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Nursing, she was quite sure, was her purpose in life and she did it with unflinching passion.
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After her return from the military hospital in Scutari, in 1857, Florence seemed to be about the only good thing to have come out of the disastrous Crimean War. The whole military campaign had been a farce of mismanagement that needlessly exposed British servicemen to suffering, disease and death.
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Bent on vengeance, Florence badgered the authorities into allowing her to investigate the ineptitude of the military commanders, through a Royal Commission.
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What she failed to anticipate was what this investigation would reveal her own shortcomings – both to herself as well as to others. Standards of sanitation and hygiene in her hospital had been so poor, that she declared her "children" – as she regarded the soldiers – would have been better off, if they had never set foot in the place.
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For a woman like Florence, driven by a strong sense of divine mission, these discoveries were utterly crushing, but nonetheless she insisted on "going public" only to be denied this right by the controlling politicians of the day.
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In despair, Florence withdrew from even her closest family and suffered a complete breakdown and a massive crisis of faith.
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Speaking about the drama Laura Fraser says:
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"I saw playing the role of Florence as an opportunity to find out more about who she really was and why she became a national heroine. The first biography I read contained many direct Florence quotes and I was intrigued as I found her to be very funny, ironic, inspired and charismatic and, like any human being, full of flaws.
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"She was dogmatic and impatient and could be intolerant of other people's limitations because she was so unforgiving of her own. She had to remind herself that 'God is not my private secretary' as she demanded a lot from life.
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"Also my mum and all my aunties were nurses at various points in their lives and it's funny to think that the reforms Florence made would have impacted their training even all these years later."
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Florence Nightingale has been written and directed by the multi-award-winning director, Norman Stone (Shadowlands, Man Dancin', Tales From The Madhouse and CS Lewis: Beyond Narnia). It contains extracts from Florence's own letters and correspondence.
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The cast includes Michael Pennington, Barbara Marten, Andrew Harrison, Ian Bartholomew and Catherine Tyldesley.
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Florence Nightingale was produced by 1A in association with Lightworks, CTVC and 8th Day Productions, and is a Faith & Values/91Èȱ¬ Manchester co-production.
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JP2
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