Returning to BBC Two for its third series, the fly on the wall format of Saving Lives in Cardiff continues to prove that – no matter how clever scripted television drama becomes – nothing grips the throat quite like a hospital documentary.
The setup, already well-established, remains the same, as does the location. We’re at the University Hospital of Wales, which boasts not merely some of the country’s most skilled specialists, but the longest waiting lists, too. Each episode features three patients who require the expertise of the most specialised – and over-worked – surgeons.
First up in tonight’s opening instalment is 56-year-old Terry, previously a copper, and a bluff sort of bloke, fazed by nothing, not even the tumour at the back of his nose which will surely kill him if it isn’t excised quick.
Then there’s Courtney, 27, recently married and hoping to soon start a family. She has a condition that means that her brain is too big for her skull. Her subsequent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis seems unnecessarily cruel. She requires brain surgery for the former. “Just us taking bits of skull away,” deadpans Dr Ravi Nannapaneni, her neurosurgeon, who also happens to be a member of Mensa.
square NHS Saving Lives in Cardiff is alarming - our surgeons can't go on like this
Read More
Finally, another bluff bloke, Tyerone, a former Thai boxer who, at 51, is given the literally disheartening news that he requires open heart surgery if he harbours any hope of making it to 52.
The patients here need patience. Waiting lists in Cardiff are huge. In the case of the ear, nose and throat department where Terry is being treated, they can be up to two years long.
Consequently, every medic is run perpetually ragged, and at considerable personal cost. Dr Indu Deglurkar, Tyerone’s surgeon, speaks about the endless demands of the job, resulting in less time at home with her family. She has one child and would have loved another if her working hours permitted. “My biggest regret,” she says.
Such preamble is always interesting, but what I’m really interested in is the action in the operating theatre. It’s quite something to observe surgery for cancer in the nasal passages, access into which can only be had via a throat that needs first to be sliced open with a scalpel, and a steady hand. Best not watch over dinner. Mercifully, explains the doctor, there is no bleeding – until there is. “This is quite brisk bleeding” is surely among the things you’d least like to hear any doctor say.
square HEALTH 'Gyms are being turned into wards': on the frontline of the NHS winter crisis
Read More
Saving Lives in Cardiff makes for uncomfortable viewing. But it’s enormously affecting, too. No matter how familiar its narrative arc, still nothing prepares you for the emotional impact of it all: the tears of the spouses, the exhaustion writ large on the surgeons’ faces when they finally remove their masks, job done, patients pronounced stable.
Tragedy may be a daily occurrence in hospitals, but we strive towards happy endings here. Terry emerges with his bluff intact. His voice is greatly altered, but he is optimistic. Tyerone is humbled: “I’m one of those people that don’t get ill,” he says, the blithe belief of absolutely everyone until illness strikes. He hugs Dr Deglurkar in gratitude. And Courtney eventually goes home to resume baby-making plans. “But not for six months. I want some me time.”
Watching them leave is a wrench, but a relief, too. You’re left marvelling at the work of doctors, and are reminded once more just how utterly crucial it is to keep the NHS fully funded. What’s more important than wanting to stay alive when we’ve still a life to live?
‘Saving Lives in Cardiff’ continues next Wednesday at 9pm on BBC Two
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( I will never tire of watching surgery on TV )
Also on site :
- Hamas says it is ready to release all remaining hostages for an end to Gaza war
- US lawmakers’ bipartisan Taiwan visit signals support despite harsh words and tariffs from Trump
- NYT ‘Connections’ Hints and Answers Today, Friday, April 18