'The Salisbury Poisonings' has reached 10 million viewers.

Anne-Marie Duff

Anne-Marie Duff

The hit BBC show - which stars Anne-Marie Duff, Rafe Spall and Annabel Scholey - told the true story of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were targeted with a nerve agent in Salisbury in 2018.

Now, it's been revealed the programme has smashed the broadcaster's ratings, and has become the biggest drama since 'The Bodyguard' two years ago.

The three-part series - which was written by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn - has attracted around 1 million 16 to 34-year-olds for each episode and the first episode, which aired on June 14th, has been viewed by 10.3 million fans.

Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, said: "We are delighted 'The Salisbury Poisonings' had such an impact and resonated with the nation.

"We are incredibly proud to have celebrated members of a city whose bravery and resilience kept safe an entire community, and can't thank Adam, Declan and the production team enough for their meticulous efforts in bringing their story to screen."

The story shows the aftermath of the 2018 Novichok poisonings, which saw Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK's intelligence services, and his daughter Yulia Skripal poisoned by the nerve agent.

The writers spoke with real-life residents of the town for accuracy to portray how the local community dealt with the events.

Adam and Declan previously said: "It's a privilege to be able to tell the story of people who were deeply affected by the events in Salisbury. During our months of research, we have been humbled to hear their stories, and to be able to tell them in this drama."

Meanwhile, Anne-Marie - who plays Director of Public Health and Safety Tracy Daszkiewicz - felt a "weight of responsibility" while making the drama.

She previously said: "The ramifications of what happened there could have been war. We can't underestimate that, it could have been globally catastrophic. So it had to be managed really well. And the fact that local government and local councils were having to do that is, in terms of narrative, huge.

"It's something that people would write in a Hollywood blockbuster. We all felt the weight of responsibility that we were telling the story of real people who do nine to five jobs, and then suddenly those jobs become about national security and life and death."

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