Capturing a pandemic – Cracking COVID

In June 2021, as Melbourne entered its fourth lockdown, I was 16 months into making a documentary called ‘Cracking Covid’, featuring Professor Peter Doherty and the Doherty Institute. I had over 100 hours of material. I remember thinking, this story just never ends. And, like science journalist Ed Yong, I wondered what we will choose to remember. 

Back in early March 2020, as we were waking to the story of a new virus emerging in China, I was in pandemic preparedness mode. I’ve made many films about diseases, outbreaks, epidemics, and the long-predicted pandemic. So as the coronavirus story hit the mainstream, shaking hands was out for me, and I’d already updated my medicine cabinet and bought a few extra rolls of loo paper. I was also tracking the case numbers closely, talking to scientists about what might be heading our way. I recall a sense of dread. Was this really going to happen? Finally? 

When Australia locked down, colleagues at the ABC called me; discussions quickly turned to COVID-19. Did I have any ideas? All I could think was, immunity is going to matter, a lot. And we had one of the most qualified and iconoclastic characters here in Melbourne, Nobel laureate Professor Peter Doherty.  

Peter was a key consultant on my earlier film ‘Jabbed -love, fear and vaccines’ and we’d stayed in touch. I was keen to find a way to highlight his vital role in our global understanding of immunity and fighting disease. The ambition was to help audiences better understand the vast complexity of our immune systems, guided by this funny, clever, much-loved Nobel Laureate. 

So began months of talking to Peter about the pandemic, seeking his expert insight and understanding. Given he was approaching 80, he was also in the most vulnerable group of Australians; he and his wife Penny locked down hard and early. Zoom, plus occasional filming though his window, was the only COVID-safe option.  

We also turned to the research institute that bears Peter’s name. Professor Sharon Lewin and her leadership team gave our team unprecedented access to the Institute’s experts, allowing us to record weekly meetings on Zoom. This intense collaboration spanned 2020 and 2021, and the remarkable access to the Doherty Institute – and Peter Doherty himself – allowed the film to develop a unique tone and approach.  

We set out to try to capture the story of Australia’s research response to the pandemic. The aim was to go behind-the-scenes, highlighting in real time the stories of the scientists responsible for COVID-19 research. Australia clearly has some of the world’s experts in infection, immunity and pandemic preparedness, our aim was to reveal to the public the global contributions made by our researchers, and to highlight the significance of science.  

We also followed the remarkable personal stories of three people who had each caught COVID-19 and yet had dramatically different outcomes. From the horror of severe illness and death in the family of Michael Rojales; to the relentless grind of Long COVID for Mirabai Nicholson-McKeller; to the family of Leila Sawenko who were fortunate to only experience mild illness, each story offered insights into the workings of the virus and our immune systems. And they helped us understand what it can be like to actually experience this disease. 

What evolved was a very different film to what I had imagined at the start. It became a tender story of hard science, a story that’s surprisingly sweet and funny at times, whilst also deeply, profoundly sad.  

And of course, the pandemic did not stop once the film went to air on the ABC in July 2021. This story keeps evolving. Our film has become an unusual record of the beginning of these pandemic times, a gentle contribution to collective remembering.  

Cracking Covid is on ABC iView