This is going to hurt

Apologies Gwyneth - that’s good to hear. Apparently TV adds 10lb to your appearance as well.

I have binge watched the whole series over last night and today and have loved it. It's emotional and realistic reminding me of the years I spent nursing in hospital over last 40 years. I remember the doctors trying to stay awake with very sleep over weekends on call and the racism,assaults and relentless work in casualty. This is NHS in the raw. Doctors and nurses pushed to their limits with mistakes being made and personal relationships shattered.
Advise all to keep watching. There are traumas,tears and humour throughout the series.

All the blood was a bit shocking, especially during the Placenta Praevia operation.

Yes, I did mean that obs and gynae consultants are a bit like Gods because of the miracle of childbirth.

I will probably watch it again.

I found it very bleak and sad. Not sure if I’ll continue watching it. I do, in general, like black comedy but I don’t think they’ve got the balance right with this adaptation.

I read the book a while back and watched last night. I think it's an absolute disgrace that people who work in healthcare with so much responsibility should work such long hours. No wonder mistakes are made - how can you make a good decision if you're exhausted?

Dear late husband was a lorry driver who worked long hours and there were rules in place to prevent that sort of thing, though a bad employer would exploit loop-holes in the system, as ever.

I was so disappointed in this after seeing Adam Kay talking about his life as a doctor and reading the book.
I worked in the NHS for the whole of my career and I survived on black humour, but this book just didn’t translate onto the screen well.
I feel sorry for anyone going into hospital to have a baby after seeing this.

I have a feeling that obstetrics produces rather more god like consultants. Perhaps some of them think we'd never manage to produce babies without them. One of my friends was a midwife and went to great lengths to avoid being delivered by her consultant and I met a very unpleasant one before I had my first baby. I was just an inconvenient piece of meat to him and needed to be got out of the way as quickly as possible.

On the other hand DH's consultant is a lovely man. I always said I would walk over hot coals for him and his staff feel the same. A nurse from another department once said to me "If you were seriously ill he's the doctor you'd want looking after you" and that's the thing; he didn't just treat people he looked after them.

They may have made a mistake promoting the show as a comedy. The book is often hilariously funny -I hope we we see the mother with her micro managed birth plan who then discovered what labour is really like! But parts of it are heart breakingly tragic but they are part of hospital life. I don't think they had enough blood in the nightmare c section. When it happened to DD's friend they couldn't count the swabs because they were all submerged in the blood and her husband (who saw the whole thing) had to burn all his clothes when he got home.

Actually my son is as thin as Ben and he is about 6’ 3”. He eats healthily and lots of it but doesn’t put on weight at all!

Call me shallow but I spent most of the programme wondering why Ben W was so thin. Had to avert my eyes when he stripped off. The man is seriously underweight.

I actually know some really lovely ones of both genders, so didn't mean offence. I was referring to the one in the programme as you could see the power he had.

Sorry to cause offence with my thoughtless remark.

OnwardandUpward

Consultants think they are God. It's a hard road to get there and when they do, I think they must be walking on air. Most may not make it?

I haven't read the books, but it seemed pretty realistic in terms of the short staff and gritty too. A bit yuk when the floor had blood all over it, but I'd watch again.

Please don't generalise.
My son in law is a consultant of many years standing. He has dedicated himself to his work. Much loved and respected by staff and patients alike. He most certainly does not think he is God. A very offensive, hurtful remark.

This was pretty true to life. Obs and Gynae is busy, but junior doctors in General Medicine have an even harder time. The expectation from the government that there will be an extra 10% productivity for the NHS to address backlogs will further increase the burden of junior doctors, and I genuinely don’t know how they will cope. I think it’s going to be tough viewing.

I thought Ben Whishaw looked very grubby somehow. I don’t mean his blood spattered scrubs, just in himself he seemed like he needed a good wash, which I’m sure he did with his workload.

Didn’t match up to the vision of a well scrubbed doctor.

Having second thoughts about having my gall bladder removed in two weeks time! ?? I’m not normally squeamish but it was a bit gory.

The first consultant I had was horrendously rude to staff and patients and a useless doctor as well who did serious damage. My latest consultant is great. Friendly, caring and down to earth.

I knew Junior doctors worked very hard with long hours but if Mr. Lockhart is a true and realistic portrayal of a consultant how on earth is this allowed to happen? Working such gruelling hours not only places patients in danger but also the junior doctors themselves. Falling asleep in a car and more terrifying the thought of anyone driving after such long shifts. Clearly more full time doctors need to be trained sooner rather than later.

Consultants think they are God.

I do know some lovely ones, particularly female Consultants.

My friend is married to a Consultant

A lovely man who looks a bit like Hugh Grant

Consultants think they are God. It's a hard road to get there and when they do, I think they must be walking on air. Most may not make it?

I haven't read the books, but it seemed pretty realistic in terms of the short staff and gritty too. A bit yuk when the floor had blood all over it, but I'd watch again.

I think the consultant's attitude is still quite common

I came across a consultant just like that one (possibly more arrogant). He not only treated the staff with disdain but the patients too. He was astonished, I think, when I questioned what he said.

to answer a posters question;
People who haven't read the book didn't understand why others said it was funny.........well it was his life at the time and even doctors laugh aswell as cry after some tasks..the book was written that way..... This tv show was 'low'. and disgusting racist which i don't find funny!

he is a comedian of course..but, I didn't find this funny and turned over....

I think it is very close to the book Callistemon21 better than some of the adaptations we see. I think the incident we saw tonight was an earlier one. The one that caused his resignation was more catastrophic.

I think the consultant's attitude is still quite common. One of the nurses who looked after DH was in awe of his consultant because he not only didn't mind being rung at home late at night, but was grateful for the updates.

Tried hard to tolerate this but gave up after forty minutes. Utter tosh.

Having worked in the NHS I thought it portrayed how it really is a lot of the time. The outside shots were my local hospital Ealing.

lemsip

in my opinion this is absolutely stupid rubbish.......turned it over..

You said you enjoyed the book, lemsip, is this not true to the book?
I haven't read it.

Apparently he left medicine after an incident shown in the TV programme this evening.

Not exactly Call the Midwife is it? ?