and it is just as required viewing as the previous series. This is the best documentary on the tv, bar none.  It has everything life, death, love, loss, heroes and heroines performing unbelievable feats of human endeavour, and miracles.  Modern day  miracles.  Last week’s opener had 2 head traumas both so severe you thought if they survived they must be brain-damaged.  The final shots of the father who had fallen from scaffolding onto his head, alive and talking to the camera with no noticeable injuries was nothing short of miraculous. In a way of tribute to this remarkable programme I am reposting my blog from last year.   And as a footnote 24 Hours in A&E won at the Royal Television Society Awards.

It’s not just the rush rush rush and the money money money…

Today I want to sing the praises of the best programme on television at the moment. It was up against that business juggernaut ‘The Apprentice’ so I will forgive you if you haven’t seen it yet. ’24 Hours in A&E’ on Channel 4 (every Wednesday 9.00 pm) is the best hospital drama I have ever seen, and it’s a fly on the wall documentary.  It’s filmed at King’s College Hospital London, one of the busiest in London. All the action in each episode is filmed over a 24 hour period, Jack Bauer style. ’24 Hours in A&E’ does get close up and it does get the gory details, but they are the details of humanity.  Of life and love and death, and what it  means to be a human being. The first episode hooked me in following the story of Theo, a Greek Student student at the LSE who had been knocked over by a double-decker bus.  “He was kissing his toes” said the consultant when the paramedics got to him.  His pelvis was so fractured it resembled a map of the world.  He came in unconscious, clamped, bound and confined to the stretcher. Every second was critical.  A camera gave us an elevated overview.  I watched spell-bound, humbled and in awe.  They worked as a team, it was balletic and beautiful to watch.  Everyone knew what to do, and slowly minute by minute they were saving his life. As I watched, I realised why this was so moving.  This was the very best of human nature, a need and desire to mend people, to put profoundly broken people back together. They found his phone and managed to call his brother in Greece.  “Will he walk again?” asked his brother.  “We are just trying to save his life for now” came the stark reply.  The story is relayed to us by interviews with the medical team that worked on Theo.  The brother is also interviewed but we are given no indication as to whether Theo lived or died. In the final shots of the programme we see Theo, sitting down in a wheelchair.  I was so delighted just to see that he was alive, so when he stood up and walked towards the camera I couldn’t see anything for the tears streaming down my face. Subsequent programmes have dealt with the devastation of alcoholism.  The human and medical costs of gang warfare, young black men coming in every week to be patched up after gun or knife attacks. In one chilling episode Sister Jen had to prevent rival gangs from continuing the fight in the wards. They look at the old and vulnerable in our society too.  An 86-year-old lady was admitted. She had always lived alone.  She would have liked to have a family she said, but everyone was away at war and when they got back it was too late.  Yet another sacrifice that her generation suffered. There have also been the more mundane incidents and accidents, the drunks, the broken bones, the cuts and scrapes, there were moments of humour and light relief.  You feel the love and concern of the families, and the hard work and dedication of the always caring staff.  Good humoured and professional despite the incredible physical and mental demands made of them.  I do have favourites, the no messing Sister Jen, who used to work in Heaven for 8 years, patrolling the dance floor for party casualties, to Porter Kevin who prides himself on being the quickest response to the blood call, when stocks are needed for an urgent transfusion.  You realise every one of them is important to the team. As the consultant says at the beginning of every show, everyone should come through A&E once in their lives to make you realise what your priorities are, it’s not just the rush rush rush and the money money money, it’s the people you love, and the fact that one minute they might be there and then next minute they might be gone. There is no other show that can make you understand that so completely.   I hope ’24 Hours in A&E’ wins every award next year.  They certainly deserve it.