Where is Breathtaking filmed? Everything you need to know about the ITV Covid drama's filming locations

ITV's Breathtaking is the latest drama to capture the attention of viewers who have been shocked by this hard-hitting series.

Breathtaking is the latest ITV drama to hit the screens and has gripped fans who have been shocked by what real NHS doctors were forced to face during the pandemic. The series has caused social and political outcry all over the internet and fans have been completely obsessed and want to know more about the real story behind Breathtaking, and where this series is set and filmed.

Where is Breathtaking filmed?

Although the hospital and the wards in the ITV's Breathtaking may look real, they were actually filmed in a set that was created for the production. The entire series was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland and was part funded by the Northern Ireland Screen, a public-sector film association.

The series was filmed in 2023 between April and May, a relatively short period to complete all three hour-long episodes. 

In the series the hospital is meant to represent a big-city NHS hospital that could have been located anywhere within the UK.

As the series is based on a book that was written by a real NHS doctor who was working during the pandemic, her experience in her hospital informed much of the story. 

Rachel Clarke, the palliative care doctor who wrote Breathtaking in 2021, was working at Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire, during the beginning of the pandemic. The hospital has 236 beds and has an emergency department that is open 24 hours a day. 

Although this is where Dr Clarke's experiences will have been pulled from, she explained that the issues she discussed in her book - and that were portrayed in the series - weren't unique to the hospital she worked at in Banbury. The doctor added that the series was meant to reflect problems that NHS staff were facing across the UK in many hospitals. 

Breathtaking by Rachel Clarke, Amazon | £11.98

A book by Rachel Clarke, a palliative care doctor who cared for patients suffering from Covid-19. The book, published in September 2021 recalled the trauma, loss and tragedy endured by the doctors and patients. 

Dr Clarke told LBCthat the purpose of the series was to lift the lid on what it was really like for those on the frontline."It was really simple, we wanted to show the public what really unfolded behind the closed doors of our NHS hospitals during the pandemic," she said.

"The reason we wanted to do that is because it's almost four years down the line since the pandemic began and it is so hard to remember what it was like then let alone imagine what it was like for NHS staff when you really had no idea what those experiences were like."