Thursday 24 January 2013

Junior Doctors: Your Life in Their Hands - Episode One

Now, I love this programme. That's no exaggeration. So I thought to pass some time, I'd tell you a little about it. (Even though, if you're reading this, you probably watched it anyway...)



Firstly, there was, of course, the obligatory 'last supper' - Full of worries from the F1s, anecdotes from the F2s and the F1s seeking reassurance from their slightly more experienced colleagues.

Let's talk a little about the new doctors:

Ed - Poor, poor Ed aka 'The Italian Mountain Doctor'... He did a couple of shifts in A&E before his superiors decided that he wasn't quite cut out for it yet. It was for the best in terms of the patients' interests, but the poor guy wasn't exactly let down gently it seems. This meant that he was to be demoted to an F1 position elsewhere in the hospital. To top it all off, he had to go home to visit his ill father who had taken a turn for the worse. At work, he clearly had the best interests of his patients at heart, even if he was very unconfident with it. He wouldn't have sought so much reassurance from his superiors otherwise. I look forward to watching him grow more confident.


Oli - Aka. 'Dr. Toerag'... Charming? Yes. Popular? Yes. Those shirts? Perhaps not... He clearly uses his charming bedside manner to his advantage, even managing to persuade a lady with emphysema to have an ABG despite her hating them; and only got branded a toerag. 

Tom -  Wow! I love Tom! He kind of reminds me of Boris Johnson in a way, but I'm sure that's just me. He dressed up as Spongebob Squarepants which makes anyone a winner in my book. He seems very empathic but also slightly unsure of himself, like Ed.

Tristan - Aka. 'Dr. Nice Beard who works in Gerontology'. The daddy of the group. Very cute daughter. Felt quite sorry for him having to do a PR so early on, but that's part of the job, I suppose, and he evidently wasn't phased by it.

Keira - Also works in A&E with Ed. I like her, and she slightly reminds me of Toyah Willcox in a way; again, I'm sure that's just me... I'd like to see more of her but I fear she'll be one of the doctors who'll fade into the background as a victim of editing.

Emily - Aka. 'Dr. Massive Hairclip'. What a massive hairclip! I like her too, although I must admit I wasn't expecting to see a life model's bum in the first few minutes of the programme... Pleasant surprise? Ha...


Jen - I completely admire her evident competitive and determined streak. She got into theatre within her first week, which is pretty impressive. I'm sure she'll go far. I'm actually starting to sound slightly like a teacher writing school reports now...


On the subject of the doctors, I swear that there were supposed to be eight of them. Even the original press picture released by the BBC featured eight - So what's happened to the other one? I'm confused, but I'm sure time will tell.

This programme, of course, also featured the 'Obligatory Crash Call Run'. Obviously. Tom was on call and had to run across the hospital to a male patient who suddenly went into cardiac arrest while his 15 year old daughter stood helpless nearby. Tom and the team were unfortunately unable to save the poor man. A very, very sad story indeed.

One plus, however, is that, we: the audience, were spared the bleep! This was something that really got on my nerves during the second series - So God knows how the doctors feel with such an obscene, wailing, bleepy thing on their person constantly.