Over the last couple of decades, we in the UK have seen the National Health Service come under extraordinary pressure. With resources consistently being withdrawn and staff forced to work overtime with little to no compensation, it has constantly felt as though the NHS is on its last legs. Peter Franklyn Banks’ debut drama short Nearly Never depicts the harsh reality faced by so many hospitals across the country through the story of a young footballer who suffers a horrific injury and ends up isolated within a crumbling healthcare system. Banks drew from a chilling personal experience when creating his short, bringing an authenticity to both the characterisation and the reality of the world he portrayed. It truly is an eye-opening short, and one which DN was keen to talk to Banks about in our conversation below, where he breaks down the script’s non-linear structure, the decision to show rather than tell, and the value of working with a medical advisor to create an authentic and honest representation.
Where did the story of Nearly Never originate from?
I wrote Nearly Never because I was mistaken for another patient and very nearly had an operation intended for them and not me. I was taken to theatre and just before I was given a general anaesthetic, staff realised I wasn’t the correct patient they were preparing to operate on. At the time, it was a genuinely scary moment, and as much as I don’t like admitting it, has had a lasting effect on my trust in the health service. Not because of the people, but because of the systemic failings that have led to the insurmountable pressure put upon staff that makes it almost impossible to maintain safe standards of practice.
This led me to the term ‘Never Events’ which is “an event in medical practice that should never be able to occur because of safety procedure”. The NHS publishes an annual journal online listing all incidents classed as Never Events. It’s bonkers. Mine was classed as a ‘nearly’ Never Event, hence the name of the film. As it turned out there was another man with a similar name to me in the hospital also attending for surgery that day, a similar operation, with the same surgeon, although I don’t know exactly what he was scheduled to be having done! I wrote my own story into a script, then another three different fictionalised versions, settling on one which became Nearly Never. I must have done 25 drafts to the final one. This took place over about five months. In the post-Covid world, the idea became as much about the staff under severe pressure as it did mistaken identity, years of systemic failure and lack of resources being a major reason for things going wrong.
Could you talk about structuring the script? I really liked the flow of how the story unfolds and how you cut back to the accident.
Originally the script was written in a linear way, but the idea of moving things around emerged after thinking about Charley reliving that injury in a more surreal way towards the end of the film. I hope it enables us to really get into the isolation of the character a bit quicker at the start. This scene arrives as the culmination of his fears hit a peak, it’s instead presented as a drug trip under anaesthesia, a surreal and heightened memory. I felt it was better to build up to this rather than present a big injury scene at the very beginning.
There was so much that could be held by Charley’s performance that we didn’t need to back it up with dialogue.
Another element of the script and film in general that struck me was how much was shown rather than told.
In my circumstance I had the opportunity to point out the mistake, but I’d thought a lot about someone who perhaps wasn’t able, or was too late to figure out something was going wrong. How would they experience this? Maybe someone frail or extremely shy and introverted or just due to the trust that we automatically have for medical staff, we don’t speak up because of our British over-politeness!? We cut a lot of extra chat in the edit, maybe a third of the script. There was so much that could be held by Charley’s performance that we didn’t need to back it up with dialogue, I wanted to focus on his intensity and keep the dynamic.
Charley Palmer-Rothwell’s performance is wonderfully grounded, how much collaboration did you have with him when developing his character?
We did a lot of background development on his character leading up to filming, but throughout the shoot Charley was really focused and a lot of the time kept himself quiet and isolated to stay in character. We focused a lot on why someone might become very introverted or shy, Charley built a lot of this world himself, he spent a lot of time preparing this and kept a notebook with him on set which I never read.
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In order to authentically replicate the stressed nature of the NHS, did you speak with any doctors, nurses or staff about their experiences?
We spoke to multiple people in a lot of different roles in the NHS and also had a medical advisor work with us on the script and shoot. Through Covid and the NHS crisis there has also been so much written about what’s been going on that the research material has been very available, a new news story every day it felt like. I think the resounding takeaway is just how commonplace the incredibly difficult working conditions are for staff, it’s become completely normal, nothing seems to shock or surprise them either. I expected a lot more pushback on ideas when sense checking the ideas and language with one doctor friend, who to my surprise seemed not in the slightest bit phased, “Oh yeah this is all totally possible”. Although if you mention the term Never Event to anyone in the medical world you will see the colour drain out of their face.
I think the resounding takeaway is just how commonplace the incredibly difficult working conditions are for staff.
How long were you in development for? Was it a challenge to secure funding?
From the initial incident happening to me, to us shooting the film took eleven months, so as shorts go I feel this was quite quick? I’m lucky to be supported by some incredible production companies I work with as a commercials director and amazing crew already around me who are frequent collaborators. As soon as we locked in Charley, things started gathering speed, I think Danielle Wright, our producer, had around four weeks pre production into the shoot when we finally got funding confirmed, supported by a great production team at Kode and You Boy Films. We weren’t able to secure any funding from BFI/Film4, but I think aiming for their deadlines are a great exercise to get your projects moving, and I shall try again next time.
What wider conversations are you hoping Nearly Never starts?
I’ve spent a significant amount of time in hospitals over the past few years, both for difficult reasons and for joyous ones, such as the birth of my son in 2021. Every single person within the NHS who has cared for us has been incredible. It is truly tragic that, due to years of severe mismanagement and underfunding, these dedicated professionals must endure such challenging working conditions. Since we made Nearly Never, the ongoing crisis within the NHS has been garnering more airtime across news outlets daily. I hope that releasing our film before the last general election could bring this issue to the forefront of public consciousness as a real problem, with real people’s lives and livelihoods at stake, reminding us all that the NHS isn’t just a pawn in the tumultuous landscape of British politics.
What are you working on now?
I’ve most recently directed a commercial featuring Brian Cox (aka Logan Roy), which is going to be coming out in September. That was a fun day on set. This year has been mostly commissioned work whilst developing a debut feature script. I really hope the next few years are working towards getting that made.
