A superfast-turnaround lockdown drama has gone from script stage to transmission in less than one month.

Dun Breedin”, written by actor/writer Julie Graham, debuted on YouTube yesterday, 30 April, twenty-seven days after producer Andrew Green of Blonde to Black 2 kickstarted the project.

Green called Graham, with whom he had been developing a female-focused drama for some time, but the current lockdown situation provided the catalyst to supercharge the 12 x 10 series.

Director Robin Sheppard and producers Jackie Green and Claire Baylin swiftly came on board and soon after the cast was assembled: Graham was joined by Alison Newman, Denise Welch, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Angela Griffin and Tamzin Outhwaite, to play a group of friends living in Brighton.

Dun Breedin” examines the impact of menopause on not women but whole families. With an overall budget of £40k, lockdown guidelines were observed throughout the production process.

Read-throughs and rehearsals took place over Zoom; Sheppard sent out diagrams of shot lists, camera angles and floor plans, as household members became crew and additional cast, and costumes and props were delivered by car.

Graham described the process: “The idea came from our producer Andrew Green. I”d been developing the series with his company and he saw this lockdown as potential to do something ground breaking under these strange circumstances we all find ourselves in.

“Rather than wait for normal service to resume, why not seize the moment to be creative. It was very inspiring and everyone jumped at the opportunity…

“… The actual belt and braces of filming within the restrictions of our own homes and gardens has been challenging but great fun and incredibly satisfying to be honest. We”ve had to be very inventive and utilise what we have, involving everyone in the household…

“… Making television requires extraordinary collaboration and expertise so I”m not sure this will be transformative in the long run but I hope it will inspire anyone who wants to write, produce or direct their own vision not to be constrained by an industry which can feel very out of reach sometimes.

“If we can inspire anyone to do the same then that would be incredible.”