The Flu That Killed 50 Million

The story

It is 1918 and the end of WWI. Millions have died, and the world is exhausted by war. But soon a new horror is sweeping the world, a terrifying virus that will kill more than fifty million people - the Spanish flu. Using dramatic reconstruction and eyewitness testimony from doctors, soldiers, civilians and politicians, this one-off special brings to life the onslaught of the disease, the horrors of those who lived through it and the efforts of the pioneering scientists desperately looking for the cure. Narrated by Christopher Eccleston, the film also asks whether, a century later, the lessons learnt in 1918 might help us fight a future global flu pandemic.

Cast & crew

Christopher EcclestonNarrator

Paul BirchardWilliam Welch

Iain DavieErnest Gibson

Jeremy EdwardsBasil Hood

Kenny Fullwood

Kenny FullwoodAlexander Jamieson

Amy Kennedy

Amy KennedyKatherine Garvin

Hannah Macphail

Hannah MacphailAda Berry

Isabel McClelland

Isabel McClellandMary Dobson

Brian PettiferVictor Vaughan

Allan Tall

Allan TallJames Niven

Anita VettesseCatherine MacFie

Finlay WelshArthur Newsholme