No Angels

I've tried to watch this series on a number of occasions, but it just grates horribly. The problem isn't the cartoony portrayal of the girls' working lives - that could be quite funny if it was done well. The real hole in the programme is where its heart should be.

These are not only nurses who care nothing for their patients, but "friends" who care nothing for each other. Their interactions are shallow, unpleasant and also pretty unrealistic. As one newspaper reviewer has said, it seems to have been written by someone who not only doesn't understand how women interact, but doesn't understand how human beings relate to each other. And even the most superficial show needs believable characters who the viewer can relate to.

'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.

Having watched the first episode expecting something fresh and original, I can hopefully do some good for the world and advise others to avoid this trash. Not only does it offend with it's "expose" on the nursing profession, it also manages to offer up a bunch of female characters with not one personality between them. Watching a four-headed monster-ladette show off with it's "we're so funny, we're so clever, look at us, aren't we naughty" fake empowerment of women...

I can only think that the creators of this show we're aiming for a "Sex In The City" type show. Instead, they have set television standards back by about twenty years. Not only did it fail to distinguish it's female leads from each other, there was hardly any story, anything interesting going on, nor were the characters appealing in any way. You can watch any Ibiza documentary if you want to see drunk women hitting on drunk men - Channel 4 what were you thinking? And I've not even gone into how awful the acting is...

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.

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.