In 1989, Dr Margaret Johnson became the first dedicated HIV consultant to be appointed in the UK.
Now a professor of thoracic medicine, in her career that spans over 30 years, Margaret has become a leading consultant on respiratory and HIV medicine. Not only has she transformed patients’ lives by providing holistic care, but she’s also been immortalised on the big screen by Oscar winner Olivia Colman in upcoming film Elsinore.
Keep scrolling for her impressive work and why she brought the A-lister to tears.
Who is Margaret Johnson?
Trained in medicine at Royal Brompton Hospital, Dr Margaret Johnson was the first physician in the UK to be appointed specifically to look after patients with HIV and to develop an HIV service from scratch.
“It was based on the fact that the patients with haemophilia in our haemophilia centre, the majority of those with severe haemophilia all were infected,” she explained in an interview with the Royal Free Charity in 2021.
“They were very used to being looked after in the main part of the hospital, they had all their links with all the specialist services that they needed but we didn’t really have a sexual health team that did any any in-patient care.”
As Margaret had to start from nothing, she admits that she was able to grow a service that fit the needs of her patients.
“I have to say they were very grim times. For many patients with HIV, so many of them died in silence and fear. HIV was stigmatised in a way coronavirus absolutely isn’t and men would die in hospital alone. They would absolutely plea that they didn’t want HIV on their death certificate, they didn’t want us to talk to their relatives about it, they didn’t want us even to talk to close friends.”
“After people died, relatives or ex-partners would come and say to me ‘Did X die of HIV?’ and I’d being sworn secrecy and not to divulge what what had been wrong.”
She also was a key adviser on the 2021 TV drama It’s A Sin which follows the lives of a group of gay men and their friends in Britian in the 1980s at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
In 2022, Margaret was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022 for her outstanding contributions to the NHS and people with HIV.
Meeting and treating Elsinore
In an interview with the BBC, Margaret recalled memories of her patient Ian Charleson; the Scottish actor who rose to fame in classics Chariots of Fire and Gandhi.
The actor had already been diagnosed with HIV and came to Margaret with a friend who was very good friends with an actress who attended school with Margaret.
In fact, the doctor admitted that she had no idea he was the actor from Chariots of Fire!
“He was very humble, he was a very easy to look after patient. He was someone who always said thank you, he didn’t want to be made special in any way. He just wanted to be a patient like any other.”
Being played by Olivia Colman
Margaret’s incredible work is now coming to the big screen in new film Elsinore, directed by Australia’s Simon Stone
The biographical drama, centres on Ian, played by Andrew Scott, and his performance as Hamlet at the UK’s prestigious National Theatre during the final months of his life while he suffered from AIDS.
Margaret is portrayed by Olivia Colman but the Oscar winner admitted to being “a bit nervous” to meet her real-life character at the London premiere.
Describing Margaret as “a genius doctor”, Olivia told the media, “I’m thrilled that we can remind everyone there were also unspoken heroes who refused to acknowledge the paranoia and the stigma and the lies and went ‘I’m going in, I’m going to help and I’m going to help with knowledge, love and care.'”
The real-life counterparts joined the cast on stage at the premiere and a barefoot Olivia was moved to tears as she took to the stage with Margaret.
“It’s difficult to underestimate development of treatment for people suffering with HIV and AIDS,” actor Andrew Scott said in his introduction, calling her “a true life hero.”
The film, that also stars Andrew Scott, Billie Piper and Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson, hits Australian cinemas in the new year.
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