As Life And Death In The Warehouse begins, Megan Roberts (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) is stunned to find her pregnant coworker Alys Morgan (Poppy Lee Friar) experiencing a medical emergency. Devon Mckenzie (Aled ap Steffan) pleads with Megan to call for an ambulance. Then, we jump back to the first day of Megan’s warehouse job when she runs into Alys Morgan. They quickly catch up by talking about Megan’s brother and mother who recently passed. Alys introduces Megan to Devon. The security guard tries to make Megan put her phone in her locker, but she reads Megan’s email that gives her permission to take it in with her. Once Megan passes through the checkpoint, she tells Alys and Devon that she is on a fast-track program to become a manager. Megan offers to catch up with Alys on break, but Alys reveals she rarely has enough time for breaks.

Megan joins other workers in the management orientation as they get a pep-talk from Danny (Craig Parkinson). She is introduced as the customer outcome supervisor. Once things calm down, Danny introduces Megan to her team with all of their pictures being displayed on a monitor behind them. Yesterday, their average pick rate was 100 items per hour and they’d prefer 120 or a pick every 30 seconds. Resolving this will be Megan’s first priority. Danny explains she’ll have to find out who is slowing down the team, speed them up, or offboard them. Donna (Kimberley Nixon) reveals she can get rid of temporary workers by speaking to Julie (Alexandria Riley) who will tell the team member there is no work for them.

As for workers in green vests, they’re permanent members of the staff so getting rid of them requires going through a whole process. Then, they turn their attention to Alys who only had a pick rate of 99 items per hour. Since she is wearing a green vest, Megan will need to work with her to help get her pick rate back up. Her idle time is too high because she has been spending too much time in the toilet. Megan finds it weird that they know how much time she spent in the bathroom. Danny says total commitment to the metrics is key if they want to give the customer what they want when they want it. Alys continues work as normal while Megan prepares to introduce herself to her new team. She congratulates Nadia Kovak (Natalia Kostrzewa) for having the highest pick rate yesterday.

Megan encourages the other members of the team to look at what Nadia is doing and try to match her pick performance. They don’t like hearing that they had a pick rate of 100 yesterday and have been spending too much time in the bathroom. Debbie (Debbie Lewis) argues with her that she might need to do a number two for more than 10 minutes in the bathroom. Megan asks her to make sure it isn’t 10 minutes. They tell Megan how long the process is to scan out and get to the bathroom before returning and scanning another item. They suggest she has never worked in a factory before. Megan thanks Julie (Vicky Pain) for bringing that up. Then, she tells them about overtime before the meeting ends. Alys confines in her that they were just being harsh with her.

She tells Megan she can’t do the overtime because she has a medical thing. Megan tries to convince her otherwise but relents and says that is fine. When Donna hears about Alys turning down overtime, she reminds Megan that they do 60-hour weeks so they’re not asking them to do anything they wouldn’t do themselves. Sean (Sion Daniel Young) alleges she is showing favoritism to someone she has a relationship with while arguing that wouldn’t be good. Devon asks Alys if she wants to go to the pub later tonight, but she can’t because she has something going on. Megan does management training on her app as the video says the company doesn’t think trade unions are in its best interest. She learns how to spot potential union activity and what she should do about it.

On day two, Danny approaches Megan to ask about Alys Morgan not wanting to do overtime last night. She is warned that missing an associate will hurt her team’s pick rate and the associates don’t tell them when they can and cannot work. Devon, Alys, and the others notice that Nadia is nearly falling asleep even though she insists he’ll be okay. Bethan gives her some energy tablets while suggesting she can take as many as she wants because they’re natural. Alys worries she has taken too many. Nadia argues she has to keep her pick rate up so she can get a green vest. Megan interrupts to talk to Alys in private and tells her how they didn’t like her missing overtime despite it being a medical thing. She learns that Alys is pregnant and that is why she had to go to a medical appointment.

Although Alys is very close to Devon, she insists he isn’t the father of her baby. Megan learns who the baby’s dad is. Alys reveals she has high blood pressure and the doctor recommended avoiding a lot of exercise and heavy lifting. Since that doesn’t work well with her job, Megan promises to talk to management to see if they can reassign her to another position. After that, Megan learns from Donna that she used the management feedback tool to let Danny know Alys didn’t stay for overtime. Donna was concerned Megan was trying to do the easy thing instead of doing what was best for her team. She recommends Megan flag anything she could be doing better because every failure is a chance to become more customer fixated.

When Donna leaves, Sean admits his team’s pick rate is crap because Craig’s shoulder is a mess. That tends to happen to workers often so he doesn’t know what to do about it. Although Danny knows all about it, they aren’t going to put Craig on sick leave because that isn’t how things work around here. Megan goes to Julie who begins showing her the workers with low pick rates and who won’t be coming back tomorrow. Alys comes up as Julie begins ridiculing her and saying she used to be a good worker. When the workers leave later, Julie tells them whether they’re going to get a shift tomorrow or not. On the third day, Alys catches Devon urinating in a bottle because he doesn’t want to leave the floor and go to the bathroom. Danny talks to Donna, Sean, and Megan about their workers who need to step it up. Sean promises to talk to Craig because he thinks they can get the rate back where it should be.

Megan tells Danny about her conversation with Alys with suggests putting her on packing, but Danny says she isn’t trained in packing. Donna and Danny ridicule the idea while alleging she is trying to push her problems off on another team. Danny believes they should create a personal enhancement plan for Alys. Nothing Megan says is going to change their minds. Meanwhile, Devon stops Alys to give her a candy bar and discuss working through her breaks. Megan approaches Alys seconds later to tell her everyone thinks she is a great member of the team and doesn’t want to lose her. They just need to get her pick rate back up. Megan tells her about the personal enhancement plan and gives her advice for speeding up in between picks. Megan admits it is her neck on the block so they need to get her pick rate back up.

After the conversation, Alys tries to work faster. On day four, Aly’s pick rate drops and she begins having more issues. Megan sees her on the ground so she rushes over to ask if she is trying to get her sacked. Once Alys rolls over on the ground and stops responding, Megan calls for an ambulance that takes her away from the warehouse a short time later. Donna and another blue vest scold Megan for calling an ambulance. She is shown a video about the distribution center where at least 105 ambulances have responded over a three-year period. A nearby supermarket has had less than 20 during the same period. Donna insists she thought about one member of her team and not everyone while Sean argues she could’ve referred her to first aid. She is told this can be a real teachable moment for her.

Day five begins next. Ryan (Sunny Dhillon) arrives only to learn from Julie that he isn’t needed today. Although he received a text to come in, things have changed despite the fact he spent so much money to get here. Regardless, she sends him home to wait on a text. Nadia takes more pills and drinks more caffeine to keep her pick rate high. Devon approaches Alys to check on her and tell her she needs to take her breaks. She tells him about being pregnant. Devon gets upset as he begins calling himself a twat. He tells Alys to delete his number and never talk to him again causing her to start crying. Megan attends a post incident debriefing in which she tells Danny, Donna, and Sean about Alys fainting yesterday. She is asked whether she panicked, but she says she was worried about Alys. Donna insists she should’ve called first aid first.

Danny reminds Megan it isn’t good for her to be defensive about this since they can all benefit from their mistakes. Megan doesn’t believe calling the ambulance was a mistake. They change the subject by alleging she was showing Alys favoritism again and still hasn’t dealt with her pick rate because her metrics are still bad. Danny suggests thinking about whether she really wants to be here. Megan begins doubting herself and agrees that she made a mistake by calling for an ambulance. She thinks she can become more customer fixated. Danny reveals some of the messages on the management feedback tool suggest Megan isn’t on the same page with them on customer fixation. She promises she is desperate to please the customers. Danny says that is why their ears always have to be open.

Megan confesses she doesn’t like people talking about her, but she needs to get over that so she can challenge and better herself. After the meeting, Megan goes to the bathroom to collect herself. Next, we jump ahead to day 30. Before Sean leaves, he tells Megan they’ve offboarded him because he didn’t give Craig that last warning. He just couldn’t do it even though he knows they’ll get rid of Craig anyway and they’ll both be unemployed. Sean tells Megan not to let them turn her into someone she doesn’t like. Back inside, Megan speaks to Donna and Danny about current issues including Alys’s pick rate still being low. Danny and Donna agree it is time for a disciplinary. They need to offboard Craig and Danny wants Megan to be in charge of doing it.

Megan approaches Craig (Leon Charles) while he works and does it. She sits outside later as she gets a phone call from her father (Jams Thomas). Megan asks him how much is left from her sign-on bonus. There isn’t much left because the boiler had to be fixed and her brother needed new school shoes.  After the call, we jump ahead to day 33. Devon walks over to Alys and joins her in disciplinary. He says she needs a union rep for this, but she doesn’t want him to expose himself as a union member because they’ll make his life misery once they know. As the meeting begins, Alys learns anything she says will be put in her record. Danny is surprised when he learns Devon is a union representative. Alys is shown a video of her bathroom breaks and asked why the second one took an extra two minutes. She argues this is the reason why the place is littered with bottles of pee.

Megan is reminded that they’ve mentioned this problem to them numerous times so she shifts to a conversation between Alys and Nadia that lasted over two minutes. It turns into an argument. Megan says they need to be desperate to please and fixated on their customers 24/7. Alys tells her how she walks for miles and miles without speaking to anyone while she is at work. Saying hello to a mate lets her keep going for the next seven hours. Devon interrupts to say Alys has been a brilliant picker since she got here. They ask whether she is being discriminated against and let go because she is pregnant, but Danny says no. Once the meeting ends, Megan is asked whether she has been looking out for the early signs of union activity. She needs to tell security ops everything so they can start monitoring Devon’s social media.

If he puts a foot wrong, Danny wants him reported to disciplinary. As for Alys, Danny wants her to begin building a case of gross misconduct against her. Later, her father calls to ask whether there are any jobs for him there, but she says no. After the call ends, we jump ahead to day 45 as Megan meets with her team to remind them that they’re ranked at the bottom. Karina (Maja Laskowska) begins coughing so Megan checks on her. Megan doesn’t think she should be there if she has COVID, but they insist it is just allergies. She pleads with them to focus on their pick rate. Megan accuses a few people on the team of not pulling their weight. As for Nadia, she is continuing to improve and is well on her way to a green vest. She addresses Alys and tells her it’d help if she just stayed focused.

Once the meeting ends, Alys goes to work and something already seems off. Her pick rate drops consistently as she feels worse. Megan watches the monitor as Alys goes to the bathroom. When Alys wipes, she finds what looks like blood on the tissue. As she walks out, Megan is there to complain about her idle time. Alys begins breaking down as she insists she is doing her best and Megan knows about her problems. Megan argues she only thinks about herself. Her family only has her paycheck coming in so she can’t afford to lose it. Alys believes Megan is bullying her. She tells her about the pink stuff she just found on the tissue although she isn’t sure what she saw. Alys returns to work and continues struggling as her pick rate drops lower. She drops to her knees and begins crying when she finds a pair of baby shoes.

During a break, Devon and Nadia try to convince her to talk to Megan to get her to let her go home. When she approaches Megan, she is told going home now means she’ll be in breach of her employment contract and will lose her green vest. Alys complains that she can’t lose her maternity. Since she has used all of her sick days, Megan is adamant she needs to stay and finish her shift. Alys reluctantly returns to work. She goes to the bathroom again and finds more blood. Moments later, Megan sees Nadia go into the bathroom before coming out screaming. As she arrives, Devon pleads with her to call the ambulance, but he hesitates because of what happened last time. Devon snatches her phone and calls for assistance. Then, they try to take care of Alys and keep her calm.

Once Alys is put in the back of the ambulance, Sean promises to get a taxi and follow right after her. He approaches Megan to warn her he isn’t going to let her get away with this. Megan tries to clean the blood off her hands before sitting down with Danny to ask if he is going to sack her. He asks why she would think that. She believes they’re going to blame her for what just happened. He says no although an associate having a miscarriage in the toilet isn’t good news for the company. Danny tells her she can make this right. Then, we jump ahead to day 60 as Nadia comes out and ignores Devon and Alys who are sitting nearby. Megan prepares to talk to them about a non-disclosure agreement. When she sits down with them, Megan says the company is willing to offer her some money and a few weeks off.

They offer her 6,000 pounds since they feel she is still a valued member of the team. They’ll offer Devon 2,000 pounds. They’re shown the NDA paperwork as Devon suggests they’re worried about what it’ll look like if people find out. They’re surprised to learn that Nadia and every other member of the team have already signed NDAs. Nadia signed to get a permanent job. If they don’t sign the NDA, they will lose their permanent status. To get the money, they’ll have to stay quiet about what happened. If they break the agreement, they’ll have to forfeit the money and there could be legal ramifications. Sean gets upset and accuses her of killing the baby before Alys reminds her she asked to go home. Megan argues things would’ve been different if Alys had said she was in labor.

Alys insists she wants time to think about it, but Megan warns her that the offer will not be on the table overnight. Sean believes this is their opportunity to take a stand and call them out for what they are, but Alys has other ideas. She realizes they won’t have a job or money if they don’t sign the NDA. Megan assures them their jobs will be waiting for them if they sign. They eventually sign the paperwork and leave. Danny enters to tell Megan good job and they can put all this to bed. They’re also going to give her a promotion. A local woman receives the pair of baby shoes and finds a piece of paper stuffed inside one of them. The note says, “help me!” A flashback shows Alys putting the note in the shoe.

Typically, British consumers spend 337 million pounds online each day. On Black Friday weekend of 2021, 5.7 billion pounds were spent online.

 

Life And Death In The Warehouse Review

Life and Death in the Warehouse is a powerful drama focusing on the warehouses that enable today’s $5 trillion USD ecommerce industry and the individuals working at those warehouses. While superbly realistic, the show progressed into what felt like a horror movie midway through as Megan’s character became more corrupted by peer pressure and her desire to climb the ladder while earning money for her family. The television movie was a showcase for some new stars such as Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Aled ap Steffan, Sion Daniel Young, and Poppy Lee Friar.

Everyone involved did exceptionally well with their respective roles and really helped bring the characters to life. It was the perfect length without any filler and just enough details. More importantly, Life and Death in the Warehouse is an important, relevant, and realistic look at the innerworkings of ecommerce warehouses. Although there are other parties involved, I suspect Amazon was the biggest motivator and driver of the source material.

While the company has made it easier for consumers around the world to access and buy products, it has regularly been at the center of controversy. There are news reports to back up everything in Life and Death in the Warehouse, but Amazon’s issues go far beyond that as well. I’ve never worked at Amazon, but I did work at one of the big logistics companies in a similar environment and can say personally that the pressures and time constraints are real.

Unfortunately, that type of pace and physical labor isn’t for everyone especially those like Craig who was injured, and those who are pregnant like Alys. Types of injuries like that are probably inevitable considering the repetition of the work. That was a unionized workplace so those issues often exist even after unionization. Regardless, Life and Death in the Warehouse is a good starting point to begin a conversation about these issues. In terms of entertainment, I sincerely enjoyed it from start to finish. It scores an 8 out of 10.