Critical

I am disappointed that this won't go to season 2 as it's one of the best medical dramas I have seen; the character development in between these crucial, life-saving, actions is brilliant, the script, the cast, the tempo... perfect. It is no cliché drama with awful love- story tactics that make the medical interventions a welcome break – every aspect is very, very well crafted. While the genre is hard to get right if it's about one team (in this case critical emergencies), which means pretty much 2 or 3 things that can be done to help the patient and a LOT of beeping, this manages to hold its own and brilliantly.

British do drama series very well and this is a prime example. Still very disappointed with no season 2....

Very interesting how some have seen this as unrealistic, after 38 years of working in this environment, I can say it's very realistic, some of the cases are exaggerated and the timelines compressed for entertainment purposes, but the scenes are extremely realistic, and it's easy to recognise personalities in the characters, but it's understandable that it could be seen as OTT and too gory for many viewers.

Boy this must have looked good in the concept stage.

We'll do the most graphic medical drama in history, said one exec to the other, and we will overlay classic dramatic arcs to keep it moving along.

Well, the first bit worked. This is the most graphic show of its kind. It is even more graphic than many medical documentaries.

The second bit did not work. Never underestimate the viewer. By the third episode the viewer has figured out 3 key things about this series:

1. No matter how straightforward the procedure, no matter how skilled the staff, something will go wrong at the 30 min mark and stretch it to a one hour operation.

2. Overlaying life and death surgery with maudlin and peevish character arcs does not work.

3. Overall, I would rather work in my garden.

Which is why even with James (who is always great) this imploded after one season.

If I was rating just one of the episodes I would probably rate it at 9 or 10. The only reason I dropped to overall rating to 7 is that each episode is basically the same, concentrating on the medical trauma and the intervention. There is a slight story running in the back ground but it´s weak at best. A stronger underlying story would make this series so much better. An excellent example of that is the series Bodies which is in the same genre but because it had a great story as well as the raw medical content it was just brilliant. But even as only a seven, still well worth watching.

I love Leni James and all the stuff of his I have seen and would love to see more of him and this series. If some think there are things wrong with it, why can't those things be fixed and it brought back.