Skip Navigation

The Virus that Shook the World

Frontline presents living the year of the pandemic

  • Fred Vigeant
Red Cross ambulance volunteers in Milan, Italy, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

 Courtesy of Alessandro Leonardi / Keo Films / FRONTLINE (PBS)

Red Cross ambulance volunteers in Milan, Italy, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Watch The Virus that Shook the World on FRONTLINE  beginning Monday, April 26 at 9pm on WITF. You can stream WITF TV live on our website and through the PBS Video app on Roku, Apple TV and iPhone and Android smartphones. The program is also available on-demand through the PBS Video app.

 

FRONTLINE presents The Virus That Shook the World, a two-part documentary special chronicling the first year of the coronavirus pandemic through the eyes of people all over the world — from a hot dog vendor in New York City to a ballet dancer in Moscow; from a food blogger in Wuhan to a filmmaker in a remote Indigenous village in Brazil.

Filmed in 21 countries and featuring extensive personal video and local footage, this documentary special from award-winning filmmaker James Bluemel (Exodus, Exodus: The Journey Continues, Once Upon a Time in Iraq) traces the pandemic’s path around the globe through the stories of people experiencing it, showing how responses to the disease that has now killed more than 3 million people have differed across culture, race, faith and privilege.

Over the course of two nights, from lockdowns to funerals to protests, The Virus That Shook the World shares intimate and unforgettable glimpses into how the pandemic has played out in the lives, homes and communities of people around the world. We meet a doctor in the United Kingdom who works at what would become the first hospital in the world to administer a COVID-19 vaccine; she is still haunted by the memory of the first patient she treated who died from the disease.

Watch this two part FRONTLINE film on WITF Monday April 26 at 9pm and Tuesday April 27 at 10pm.  All three hours of this special presentation will be available for on-demand viewing via the PBS video app.

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Support for WITF is provided by:

Become a WITF sponsor today »

Up Next
Programs

A Year to Change the World