Bodies

Being a fan of Line of Duty I thought I would check out Jed Mercurio's first hit series Bodies. Set in a gynaecology department at an NHS hospital the show focuses on the trials and tribulations of working with financial pressures and the trusts targets. Make no mistake this no Call the midwife, it's extremely graphic there are hysterectomies Caesarean sections and lots of blood. For those who remember This Life the programme is shot very much in that style and the very good looking senior staff members spend so much time shagging each other it's wonder any babies get born! There are moments of dark humour and Kieth Allen excels as the repulsive sex mad consultant. This is not your normal medical drama and may not be for everyone, but Mercurio's writing and the fly on the wall style camera work gives the show a very real feel about it. 8/10

'Bodies' is a realistic and riveting medical drama set around the gynecological and labor ward staff of a London hospital.

Personally, I haven't been this taken with a British drama series in years, or any drama series for that matter. A medical drama is especially hard to do. To balance the medical procedures with the lives of the hospital staff is a very difficult thing to achieve.

'Bodies' not only uses realistic medical situations and procedures to keep you watching, but also uses the personal and professional relationships between the doctors and nurses. Both of which will make you want to come back over and over again.

The characters aren't black and white, they have layers and the audience finds them selves responding to them differently at different times.

The acting is absolutely perfect, most notably Max Beasley and Neve McIntosh as the torrid lovers Rob and Donna, Patrick Baladi as the enigmatic Dr. Hurley and of course the wonderful Keith Allen as Mr. Whitman. The direction is flawless and the cinematography is edgy and poignant, using a hand held camera and lots of close ups.

Despite the odd cringe worthy medical scene, this show really is worth watching. I'm waiting for the DVD to come out in Australia so I can watch it all over again.

One of if not THE finest medical TV series ever!

I should perhaps quantify that by saying I'm not really a fan of medical dramas. I used to watch Casualty back in the late eighties/early nineties but I've never had much time for ER or Holby or Chicago Hope or any of the seemingly endless programmes about pathologists...

BODIES on the other hand is a real treat! It's darkly comic, actually realistic [so some doctors have told me, all be it a endlessly the worst day ever], superbly written, acted and directed.

Why oh why isn't there more British Drama like this!!! This excellent programme does go to show BBC THREE is worth it's chunk of the license fee!

I work in the NHS, and this is the most realistic drama I've seen. None of your dewy-eyed idealism of casualty et al, this shows what hospitals are really like, and it's not pretty. I think the acting is great, on the whole, Max Beesley is a really realistic sort of person, and Neve NcIntosh looks really anxious and upset, which judging by the circumstances, she probably ought to be. My favourite bit is when one gynaecologist tells the manager that there's a four letter word that describes a gynaecological orifice, and he's the biggest one he's ever met! Absolutely priceless! I wonder if they'll make any more, they should move it to BBC1 if they do.

The finale of Bodies has just aired in the UK and I can say without doubt that this is the most compelling and tense drama to come out of Britain for a very long time. Combining an acting and shooting style both muscular and assured in execution; a brave, gripping, convincing script and appropriately realistic prosthetics, Bodies is hard to beat in its genre. With all the colourless, vapid dross being churned out on British TV nowadays, it seems almost unbelievable that the BBC in its wisdom saw fit to axe it.

Max Beesley brings a riveting, pinched intensity in his outstanding portrayal as hard-done-to doc Rob Lake struggling in a sea of incompetence, dishonesty and sheer managerial mediocrity. His central, career-defining role in tandem with oleaginous Dr Whitman (Keith Allen), comely foils Donna Rix (Neve McIntosh), Polly Grey (Tamzin Malleson) and his nemesis, the pusillanimous, dangerous Roger Hurley (Patrick Baladi), provides the viewer with an at times uncomfortable but undeniably unmissable experience.

There is no sentiment at work here, no shirking away from numerous, unpalatable aspects of the British NHS or dilution of the viscera involved in child delivery. Bodies is destined to remain a classic TV series; a far cry from the cloying sloppiness and user-friendly mollycoddling of, say, the BBC's Casualty. Closer in concept to ER yet far superior in the sheer quality of the conflict on screen, Bodies packs a bloody punch as a tremendous watching experience which has yet to be unsurpassed in medical drama.

Highly. highly recommended.