This series about the gerontology wing of a hospital in the UK will not be to everyone's tastes but having worked at one point in my life in a nursing care facility as well as having seen my father-in-law work his way through four facilities after developing Alzheimer's, there is some definite reflection of reality here (ramped up by about 100 of course).One of the saddest (and darkly comic) episodes concerns a patient dying of cancer and her daughter's grief-stricken interactions with the staff who aren't completely unsympathetic but ultimately need the bed of the terminally-ill woman for another patient. It's one of the more uncomfortable episodes.
Interestingly, none of the three main characters (as well as the additional characters) are presented here as "incompetent", but simply wildly distracted by their private concerns and blind to their own weaknesses. Jo Brand as Kim seems to be the most grounded of the characters as well as the most compassionate (though she can be lazy and slapdash). Joanna Scanlon is very funny as the head nurse whose messy private life often spills over into her job. And Vikki Pepperdine is really, really good as the obtuse and officious Dr. Moore who is more concerned with her research than her patients. But even the unsympathetic Dr. Moore gets her moments of humanity in this series that never loses sight of the fact that ultimately these women (as silly as they may be at times) are people not caricatures.
Interestingly, none of the three main characters (as well as the additional characters) are presented here as "incompetent", but simply wildly distracted by their private concerns and blind to their own weaknesses. Jo Brand as Kim seems to be the most grounded of the characters as well as the most compassionate (though she can be lazy and slapdash). Joanna Scanlon is very funny as the head nurse whose messy private life often spills over into her job. And Vikki Pepperdine is really, really good as the obtuse and officious Dr. Moore who is more concerned with her research than her patients. But even the unsympathetic Dr. Moore gets her moments of humanity in this series that never loses sight of the fact that ultimately these women (as silly as they may be at times) are people not caricatures.