Toil and trouble

Stressed-out warehouse workers are pushed to their limits in a harrowing factbased drama

- HANNAH DAVIES, SEAN MARLAND

NEW DRAMA

Life and Death in the Warehouse Monday, BBC3 HD, 9pm

With the rapid rise of online shopping, an estimated one million people now work in warehouse distribution centres across the UK. But what really goes on behind closed doors as employees toil around the clock?

This week, BBC3 drama Life and Death in the Warehouse lifts the lid on the often dark and disturbing working practices at such distribution centres.

Made by the BAFTA-winning team behind Killed by My Debt and Murdered by My Father, the one-off drama tells the story of pregnant Alys (Ackley Bridge’s Poppy Lee Friar), who works gruelling 60-hour weeks in a distribution centre where CCTV monitoring even checks how long she spends in the toilet.

When Alys’ childhood friend Megan (Peaky Blinders’ Aimee-Ffion Edwards) joins the team as a trainee manager, Alys hopes their shared history means Megan will go easy on her. But Megan is under pressure herself as she tries to support her father and brother, and is soon pushing Alys to the point of collapse.