Cardiac Arrest (TV series)
| Cardiac Arrest | |
|---|---|
Series 1 title screen
|
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| Genre | Medical drama |
| Written by | Jed Mercurio (as John MacUre) |
| Directed by |
David Hayman (Series 1) Jim Gillespie and Sam Miller (Series 2) Audrey Cooke, Jo Johnson, Morag Fullerton, Peter Mullan (Series 3) |
| Starring |
Helen Baxendale Ahsen Bhatti Jo Dow Andrew Lancel Peter O'Brien Tom Watson Michael McKenzie Jayne MacKenzie Jack Fortune Nicholas Palliser Ellen Thomas Selina Cadell Fred Pearson Pooky Quesnel Melanie Hill Danny Webb |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 27 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Tony Garnett, Andrea Calderwood (Series 2-3) |
| Producer(s) | Paddy Higson, Margaret Matheson (Series 1) |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | World Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Picture format | PAL |
| Original release | 21 April 1994 – 25 June 1996 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Bodies |
| External links | |
| [world-productions |
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Cardiac Arrest is a British medical drama series made by World Productions for BBC1 and first broadcast between 1994 and 1996. The series was controversial owing to its cynical depiction of doctors, nurses, and the National Health Service, although it has often topped polls of the UK medical profession as the most realistic medical drama of all time.
The series was created by Jed Mercurio (writing under the pseudonym John MacUre), a former junior doctor who had worked at a hospital in Wolverhampton, who drew on his own personal experiences to provide a more visceral, albeit wryly humorous, look at the NHS in the 1990s. At the time of airing, Mercurio was still working as a doctor. Mercurio later went on to devise another controversial medical drama for the BBC in 2004, Bodies.
Series 1 follows events in two separate wards of the same hospital, one medical and one surgical, largely through the eyes of junior doctors. Series 1 has six episodes and was originally broadcast between 21 April 1994 and 2 June 1994.
The main protagonist is Dr. Andrew Collin (Andrew Lancel), an idealistic junior doctor, straight from medical school, and, at least initially, a devout Christian. The series opens on his first day at work as a house officer, and in his first scene he proudly admires himself in his white coat, before coming onto the ward, and meeting his new colleague, the frosty but competent SHO Dr. Claire Maitland (Helen Baxendale). Andrew is soon aware that he has almost no idea how to be a doctor, as medical school training has left him grossly ill prepared. The series follows him in his first few months as a doctor, as he deals with one crisis after another and is increasingly disillusioned with the indifferent care given to patients and the expectations of junior doctors. At one point during the first series, he is required to work a 3-day and 3 night shift on call. Claire, who is more cynical and detached, both explains the realities of medical work to Andrew and tries to shield him from the worst abuses, in order to preserve his sanity.
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