Maternity scandal to be dramatised in new series - Published The largest maternity scandal in NHS history is set to become the focus of a new television drama starring Harry Potter actor Jason Isaacs. Last month, a review found more than 500 mothers and babies suffered potentially avoidable harm or died due to failings at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust. Jack and Sarah Hawkins - whose story will be told in the new TV series - campaigned for years for answers, after their daughter Harriet died before she was delivered at Nottingham City Hospital, which is run by the trust, in 2016.

NUH said the review was a "watershed moment" and it was "committed to creating a better maternity service" for women, babies and families in its care. The programme will be based on the ITV documentary Maternity: Broken Trust, which followed families affected by the trust's failings. Speaking to the BBC about learning the scandal would become a television drama, Sarah said: "I thought, that's crazy, it's so exciting.

"And I think the reason it's so exciting, is because for so long Nottingham families just felt so alone and that we were the issue. "And I feel like now, we've come to the point where people are believing us." More on the Nottingham maternity scandal - The story behind the largest maternity review in the NHS - Published23 June The Hawkins were one of the first families to raise the alarm about maternity services at the trust. When a hospital review found "no obvious fault", and stated Harriet had died of an infection, Jack and Sarah - who had both worked for the trust - pushed for an external review.

That external review, published in 2018, found 13 failings and concluded Harriet's death was "almost certainly preventable". The wider review into maternity failings in Nottingham began in September 2022, and was led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden. Sarah said: "The Ockenden review has demonstrated there there has been preventable harm and preventable death.

"And we did the amazing documentary before but I do feel like there is an element where people disconnect if it's a documentary because its just so horrific, people don't want to feel like there is preventable harm or death. "With the drama, people will be able to get into it and there is another opportunity for people to see what Nottingham families have been through for so long." Jack said he and Sarah knew there was a problem at the trust after Harriet died. "We knew from the behaviour of the hospital in 2016 - and it's not the hospital, not the bricks and mortar - but the people," he said.

"And this is one of the interesting things about drama, you will get to see the behaviours of people that we were up against, who wanted us to pretend that it was one of those things, that it was normal, that it was reasonable that Harriet died, and that we were not surrounded by so many others. "How can the avoidable death or harm to one child or mother be OK, and how can it be 500? "We've normalised it, but this drama will show you the bones of what, actually, a fight against the NHS looks like, and the reality of what that fight was." Jack will be played by Jason Isaacs in the drama, which is being produced by Cuba Pictures and directed by Jim Loach.