The Heart Surgeon

Nigel Havers was very much in the peak of his heartthrob period. Here he plays ace heart surgeon Dr Alex Marsden.

Cocky of his abilities, dismissive of his juniors. A psychiatrist who has been shadowing Marsden quickly gives him a caustic character breakdown.

Marsden begins an affair with Marcella Duggan (Orla Brady.) She and her farmer husband Larry Duggan (Lorcan Cranitch) have been longtime friends of his.

For a while Marsden and Marcella are in bliss with their illicit affair. Dark clouds emerge when Larry has heart issues and he wants Marsden to operate on him.

What should had been a routine operation goes wrong. Now Marden finds himself having to defend himself as the press find out about his affair with Marsden.

Written by John Collee who is a doctor himself. I liked the medical insights he brings to this drama. The chaos of the operating theatre is well brought to the screen.

The thriller element was slight and it felt a bit of a letdown. At first it seemed Marsden may had a very clever plan to kill Larry so he could be with Marcella. Then it emerges that Larry had financial problems because of his gambling issues. His death allows Marcella to clear the debts after she gets his life insurance payout.

Also in the background was a faulty medical product that was causing higher than normal deaths. Maybe it was a conspiracy by other medical staff. On reflection that element was weak, the actual reason which emerged was actually more satisfying.

It was well directed and well acted by the main leads.

Alex Marsden is a heart surgeon so successful that he merits spreads in nonmedical journals. He is self-centered, quick, articulate and a success with the ladies, perhaps no so much as he imagines. He confesses to being unable to hold a long term relationship.

His best (and perhaps only) friends are Marcella and Larry Duggan, who own and operate a farm. Having chest pains, Larry is diagnosed in need of a bypass. Alex is reluctant to do the operation himself but finally agrees; due to special circumstances, failure (not probable, but possible) may mean the end of his career and worse.

This TV movie was broadcast in 1997 by BBC One World Productions in two episodes of 75 minutes each. Apparently there are (at least) two copies available: one 2 hours 30 minutes long (which suggests the TV episodes have been simply put together) and a short version of 2 hours, This is the copy I streamed, and there are no visible ill effects from the cutting (although I am curious about the rest).

I liked this film. Direction is fluid and dynamic with occasional edge-of-yor-seat suspense and no superfluous material. Acting is uniformly excellent, especially by Nigel Havers as the not-so-lovable Marsden. As a bonus you get a glimpse into the inner workings of a hospital, from offices to operating rooms.

Top Heart Surgeon Doctor Alex Marsden is placed in a bizarre situation, when he's called on to operate in his best friend Larry, it just so happens he's having an affair with Larry's wife Marcella.

I really did enjoy this BBC production, at just over two and a half hours it was quite a long TV drama, but I'm glad I stuck with it, because it was defined worthwhile. An intriguing enough story, with some fine characters, and a curious plot.

It's surprisingly well paced, it moves by very quickly, and is entertaining from start to finish. It's full of tension, it builds well, and if course there's the big moment.

I watched an Edgar Wallace film only yesterday, called Never mention murder, in which a Surgeon gets his wife's lover on the operating theatre, I applauded its originality, this almost feels like a similar storyline, one I really do like.

Nigel Havers is excellent as the hard to like Surgeon, very well supported by Orla Brady and Lorcan Cranitch.

7/10.