No Angels

'No Angels' is what passes for cutting edge modern TV drama - if you have little sense of taste. A supposedly hard-hitting portrait of the lives of young nurses, it achieves a portrayal that is never more than shallow, with lashings of sex compensating for the innate thinness of the drama. A heavy soundtrack of irrelevant (female) soul music makes a desperate claim to the attention of young hip (but brain-dead) women who would seem to be the target audience. Even the jokes about the sheer horror of life on the ward, and the black humour which enables the staff to cope, are neither funny nor truly sickening, just tasteless in a schoolboy-funny sort of way.

I recently re-watched Dennis Potter's classic 'The Singing Detective'. One of Potter's deliberate aims was to parody the hospital soap - but he also exceeded it, producing a vision that was true, grotesque, sexy (at least where Joanne Whalley was involved) and hilarious. Of course that work was a masterpiece on many levels. But 'No Angels', with its simple formula, aims low and misses. Sadly dull.

No Angels isn't your Holby City, Casualty or your ER style programme. What it does show however, is actually quite real to life. OK, some of the story lines are sometimes are a tad Exaggerated. This is no more so that Holby City or Casualty. No Angels depicts how life is sometimes on hospital wards, people make mistakes, people get upset, people use humour (sometimes in bad taste) to deal with really upsetting and stressful situations, something the show pulls off really well. The acting is fantastic and the characters are plausible. For most of the story lines I can think of example I have witnessed in practice that are very similar. This show does not particularly portray the nursing profession in a great light. However, this is not a documentary, its a drama, if was based purely on facts, my god it would be DULL!! This is a great light-hearted perspective of how life is for these characters (who happen to be nurses). VERY FUNNY SHOW!! Worth getting, especially if have experience working in this environment.

This show IS British TV at it's finest!! It's just a shame that it was highly underrated!! Although the characters have qualities that we've all seen before in sitcoms and soaps...these four women are SO easy to relate to and sympathise with!! The characters ARE believable as 'real' people...everyone knows at least one of these women even if they don't work in a hospital! The plot lines are solid from the very first episode and leave you wanting to know what is going to happen next. However, if you think 'No Angels' is a TV show that is based on a complete hour of sex and shallow puns with a bit of medical work here and there, well then you are sadly mistaken as the episodes are laid with a foundation of actual issues which make it the amazing show it still is. It ended too soon.

No Angels is a refreshingly honest and darkly humorous take on the whole 'doctors and nurses' concept. Therefore, anyone expecting to see 'Florence Nightingales' roaming the wards best be warned. These naughty nurses work hard and play even harder.

Revolving around four central characters as they juggle work and play - sometimes combining both - No Angels is well written and highly acted. Comparisons to Sex and The City are likely but are easily dismissed. Although sexy, these girls lead anything but glamorous lifestyles.

Overall, the series makes no attempts to apologise for the antics of all involved but instead offers a realistic insight into the work of the unsung heroines of Britain's National Health Service. As the title states, these nurses may not be angels but they are certainly indispensable.

This took the slot of 'Shameless'. 'Shameless' was so good it got an immediate re-run and is currently scheduled straight after this. 'Shameless' was and is excellent. This is sh*t. Channel 4 have been shameless in commisioning this utter crap. The characterisation is non-existent and therefore it is impossible to give a damn about what is going on. This is what happens when a 'bright' young exec. says "I know.....lets do 'Teachers' crossed with 'Sex in the City' crossed with 'The Girlie Show' and give it a jaunty motown soundtrack...oh and plenty of shagging!". Avoid.