Covid caused the biggest loss of life in the UK since the second world war

The documentary begins with a stark reminder of just how many people died during the pandemic. Volunteers pin photos of those who passed away to the National Covid Memorial Wall opposite the Houses of Parliament – a tribute that stretches over a third of a mile and features a lovingly painted red heart for each of the approximately 245,000 people who died. It’s difficult to comprehend the numbers: the daily death toll announcements became a fixture of our evenings, and it’s easy to forget how steeply the figures rose in the first few weeks of the pandemic.

We blindly trusted the government and its advisors

Watching the documentary brings back so many emotions, not least the sense of helplessness and fear that overwhelmed many of us, particularly in those early lockdown days. No one really knew how the virus spread, how badly we were likely to be affected or how many of us were going to die. In the five years since, it’s become clear that even those in charge had very little clue as to what was needed. We were all totally unprepared for a pandemic.

And putting blind faith in the government and the experts led to tragedy at times. One family speaks poignantly about their father dying in their living room alone, not wanting to put pressure on the already overwhelmed NHS. Mistakenly trusting that he would be OK, the sense of guilt among those left behind is palpable: we were all just doing as we were told, but it really was a case of the blind leading the blind in those early days.

Love And Loss: The Pandemic 5 Years On is a poignant reminder of everything we learned and lost during Covid