nm0063: as far as the history of the medical drama goes on T-V [0.8] er i'm 
going to be showing a documentary [0.5] er [0.2] after the lecture [0.9] er 
called [1.4] er [0.4] i think it's called Docs on the Box [0.2] it's part of 
the Docs on the Box er [0.4] theme [0.4] evening on B-B-C-two [0.5] couple of 
er [0.8] it was about three years ago now [0.8] er [1.4] and in in that theme 
night there was a documentary [0.5] er called Playing Doctor and it's it's 
interviews with it consists of interviews with [1.0] er [3.0] well the 
programme makers [0.3] medical dramas [0.2] and that gives quite a good history 
anyway it's very good actually [0.4] gives g-, quite a good history of the er 
[0.4] er development of the medical drama in in the U-K and in the U-S [0.8] so 
we'll be seeing that [0.2] anyway [0.5] er [0.4] after [0.3] after this lecture 
[0.7] so what i want to concentrate on is Cardiac Arrest mostly [0.6] er 
although some of the things i'll be saying obviously one can extrapolate and 
generalize to other medical dramas and other programmes as well [1.4] okay so 
i'm going to start [0.5] er [1.0] hot docs [0.5] hot docs [0.6] this is the 
cover of 
the Radio Times can you see that [1.8] it's got Helen Baxendale [0.7] 
[laughter] and er [2.2] Mandy Patinkin [0.5] yeah it's [0.3] hot docs why we're 
addicted to medical dramas why we're addicted [0.4] to medical dramas [2.6] er 
[2.9] and the [0.4] and the date of that is ninety-five June ninety-five and 
that's really the high point of the medical drama in Britain it's [0.6] at that 
point the medical drama was the [0.6] er [0.3] the power genre [0.4] of the 
nineteen-nineties [0.4] today [0.3] er [0.9] the power genre is obviously 
something different [0.4] er [0.3] you might call it makeover [0.2] television 
[0.6] tune in on a [0.2] on prime time on a Friday night [0.4] er there's a 
succession of makeover programmes rooms being [0.8] madeover people [0.6] er [0.
4] gardens [0.2] so on and so on [0.3] so i-, [0.5] it's a different power 
genre but certainly the mid-nineteen-nineties nineteen-ninety-five [0.6] er [0.
3] think there were about three covers of the Radio Times that had references 
to medical dramas [0.9] on it [0.7] er [1.1] so the Radio Times was quick to 
cash in on [0.6] er [0.8] what had become this power genre of the mid-nineteen-
nineties the medical dramas they were [0.3] seen by the Radio Times as 
sexy and post-modern [1.2] and of course they give a strong visual hint on the 
cover about the answer [0.6] er [1.1] ah [2.3] only a couple of minutes in [4.
9] are there roadblocks up in Leamington or something 
sm0064: 
nm0063: mm [4.8] okay so why we're addicted to medical dramas [0.6] answer 
Helen Baxendale Mandy Patinkin [0.8] should have it should have been George 
Clooney obviously but er [0.3] B-B-C were showing Chicago Hope [0.6] er [0.2] 
so they can be [0.6] er [0.2] they were seen as sexy and post-modern medical 
dramas yeah sexy and post-modern [1.7] and of course there's that playful use 
of the word addicted [0.7] yeah [1.2] so [0.2] a-, at once we get the glamorous 
address of those programmes in terms of star [0.2] appeal [1.0] and in terms of 
the seductive visualization [0.3] of medical [0.4] procedure [3.9] now with 
reference to Cardiac Arrest i want to argue that this series is is transitional 
[1.8] hi there namex [2.6] a transitional series one that revises the concerns 
of earlier [0.3] British medical dramas [1.6] er within a generically aware [0.
3] context [0.4] and this generically aware context is kind of in 
dialogue with other British and U-S medical dramas [1.1] what Cardiac [0.2] 
Arrest does specifically [0.3] is is to enact a shift of attention [0.4] from a 
concern with the patient [0.3] and nation [0.5] as victims of welfare cuts [0.
5] er to a concern with [0.3] junior doctors [0.4] er as victims of a 
pernicious [0.3] system [2.2] and in addition to that [0.5] a sense of the 
junior doctors themselves [0.4] er [0.4] er [0.4] er being situated as victims 
[0.3] there's another sense that they they have to en-, [0.5] e-, endure and 
suffer the weight [0.3] of their generation [0.3] of a kind of depoliticized [0.
5] er generation that doesn't have [0.2] er [0.2] er direction [0.9] as i said 
much of what i'll say about Cardiac Arrest can be extrapolated [0.6] er and 
applied to other [0.4] er nineties medical dramas [0.7] and indeed instances of 
the [0.3] er professional [0.4] genre [2.1] what interests me about this 
programme is the way that it self-consciously adopts er a radical [0.4] formal 
a narrative rhetoric [0.5] while abandoning [0.3] our previous [0.4] er [1.0] 
er we might call ol-, old-fashioned er political [0.2] commitments [0.3] so in 
a sense i think it's [0.2] er not so n-, so much conservative or 
reactionary but it doesn't really have an alternative [0.3] to its er [0.9] er 
to its n-, er cynicism and and in some ways er er nihilism [3.2] okay i'm going 
to give you some discursive contexts [0.4] for [0.2] er the medical drama in 
the nineteen-nineties [0.6] er in other words ways of [0.2] er [0.2] these were 
ways of thinking about er [1.3] er health care [0.3] and the politics of health 
care in the world in general not just in the t-, in the television medical 
drama but in the world [0.7] now clearly the n-, [0.8] the biggest [0.2] or the 
most im-, significant di-, [0.2] discursive context is [0.3] that of 
privatization [0.6] okay so in the nineteen-eighties there was [0.2] er [0.3] 
considerable anxiety [0.6] er [1.4] about the er [1.6] well the anxiety and and 
fear about the possible privatization [0.4] er the creeping by the back door 
privatization [0.4] of er [0.8] er [0.3] that may have been put in place by the 
Conservative Party [0.7] indeed privatization was indicative and [0.5] er 
closely connected to Margaret Thatcher's [0.4] Conservative Party [0.4] er 
rhetoric [1.4] now this [0.9] sense that [0.5] this idea that the the N-H-S the 
National Health Service could would be [0.5] er [0.2] 
interfered with [0.5] er [0.5] by er the ideology of business and the market [0.
5] was particularly offensive [0.4] for some on the political left [0.6] and 
this was because they saw the N-H-S as strongly indicative [0.4] of the 
potential for reforming [0.4] capitalism [1.2] so there's a section [0.4] and 
and it wasn't just confined to the political left this this was also a popular 
perception that the [0.3] N-H-S was really a symbol [0.2] of the way in which 
capitalism could be reformed [0.4] and er [0.7] made into something that was 
caring [0.3] yes that even though that that it was possible through state 
reform through state intervention [0.3] to limit [0.3] er the pernicious [0.4] 
er [0.2] penetration [0.2] of the market [0.5] and and around health care [0.3] 
that was particularly [0.2] er [0.2] er potent [0.3] because [0.3] er the idea 
of universal provision [0.4] er free health care f-, er for all [0.4] was er a 
very potent symbol [0.3] of er [0.6] a kind of caring state if you like [0.6] 
so the idea that this could be tampered with [0.3] er er er er er [0.6] er by 
the Conservative Party was particularly er offensive to some [0.4] er er er 
people [1.2] and it was also this idea of interfering [0.4] with er the N-H-S 
[1.0] 
er [1.7] was also indicative of of the f-, [0.2] of the idea that [0.5] or the 
sense there that some on the right on the new right at least did not care [0.6] 
yes one of the key metaphors in in in the medical drama and [0.2] in these 
discursive contexts is the idea of caring [0.6] yeah so there's a sense that 
the Conservative Party did not care enough [0.5] about [0.5] about [0.3] the 
people or about [0.3] the N-H-S [0.3] particularly [0.4] er in regard to those 
who couldn't afford private treatment and one of the recurring [0.5] er [1.1] 
er sequences in medical dramas in the nineteen-eighties at least is [0.5] is [0.
2] er [0.2] the question of [0.3] the waiting lists of [0.3] those who can't 
afford [0.2] you know there would be characters this particularly strong in 
Casualty always had this [0.3] Casualty in particular had a very strong [0.4] 
er er kind of [0.4] moral sense to it i wouldn't i wouldn't say it's so much 
political very strong moral sense that [0.3] if [0.3] you know you'd you'd have 
characters coming along and [0.3] they couldn't afford [0.4] er er er private 
health care [0.3] but then there were other characters in a 
similar situation who were jumping ahead [0.4] of the queue [1.0] yes queue 
jumping [0.2] because they could pay for it [0.3] okay so this was seen as 
particularly [0.3] er offensive [0.4] now [0.2] i'm going to be quite [0.2] er 
[0.2] controversial and say that [0.7] to be really fair to the Conservative 
Party [0.5] er [0.7] er er which most people aren't these days [0.4] er [0.6] 
the [0.3] the left had always romanticized the N-H-S [0.5] and this is partly 
because they had a strong very potent symbolic potential [0.4] as a state 
institution [0.3] as i've said reining back [0.3] the iniquitous [0.4] er [0.3] 
stretch and reach of capitalism [0.3] and this is despite the fact that fees 
for medical prescriptions [0.5] and other fees for for dental and optical care 
[0.5] er were in fact introduced by the Labour government pretty soon after [0.
3] he-, er [0.2] er the N-H-S was er founded [2.1] it was also the case i think 
that the Conservative Party realized that it would be political suicide [0.3] 
to privatize the N-H-S [0.6] and far from deregulating and privatizing it [0.5] 
er if that the in fact the Conservative Party did not do that [0.4] er [0.3] 
what we got is a r-, is a [0.5] a [0.2] er [0.4] quite 
a a strong [0.2] er and repeated re-, system of reregulation [0.9] er and 
centralization of the N-H-S [0.8] er [0.2] so a lot of [0.3] er [0.8] the 
rhetoric of kind of er N-H-S trusts and budgets and so on and so forth this 
idea that one can introduce a market system was [0.4] really [0.3] er [0.5] er 
[0.2] er simply [0.4] about face value er on the face of it yes there was one 
would use the words like budget but in fact a lot of the [0.3] the money was 
was controlled centrally [0.7] er [0.8] and and some people have said what you 
actually got is a kind of Soviet style [0.5] er system of N-H trust that really 
mimicked [0.4] er free market rhetoric [1.2] now it's also the case that the 
medical industrial complex in [0.2] er in [0.4] well in the world and in [0.2] 
in Britain [0.3] is heavily dependant on state subsidy [0.6] heavily dependant 
on state subsidy [0.6] and that's provided through the N-H-S [1.1] so any moves 
to privatize totally privatize the N-H-S would be economically problematic for 
those er multinational er companies [1.0] er [1.1] okay so that's one 
discursive contact [0.2] er context [0.9] it's not to deny the reality of 
shortage in the N-H-S [0.7] that was reflected in various ways by medical 
dramas in the nineteen-eighties and Casualty as i've said regularly showcased 
[0.4] er such issues [0.5] er Casualty is very much issue [0.4] led and as i've 
said it it it tries to encase issues in a moral rather than a political [0.4] 
context [0.5] er [1.3] er although i say that er Norman Tebbit er wanted [0.3] 
Casualty to be [0.6] or [0.2] or saw Casualty as indicative of the B-B-C's [0.
4] er [1.8] Trotskyite tendencies yes [laughter] and he he was very very 
concerned about [0.4] er [0.5] er the sorts of [0.2] images and [0.2] and 
scenes and narrative stories that were being [0.4] shown on Casualty [2.0] so 
it's not to deny the reality of difficultive cuts and shortage in the N-H-S [0.
4] but to know that the political reality was more complex [0.3] than was 
dramatized in even the most overtly critical dramas [1.1] instead these dramas 
and Casualty is m-, a sort of main example [0.6] er redirected their critical 
energy to aspects of medical culture [4.5] because these aspects of medical 
culture were indicative [0.5] of er the momentum for 
privatization [0.8] what i mean by medical culture [0.6] is [0.2] er [1.2] and 
it's very similar in the in the cop show genre as well [0.4] er the question of 
[0.2] er [0.3] the macho [0.3] yes [0.3] the quest the issue of er [1.4] 
consultants and doctors [0.2] not treating their patients as human beings yes 
[0.9] as [0.2] er treating them as vehicles for disease and vehicles for 
treatment rather than as [0.2] a-, as a-, as as people rather than caring for 
them [0.3] and this has become quite a big issue certainly toward the end of 
the nineteen-eighties [0.5] and in [0.2] er the nineteen-nineties so that [0.3] 
a lot of er health policy [0.3] [sniff] [0.5] er [0.3] even the most recent er 
Frank Dobson's er [0.8] er paper [0.4] er talks about [0.2] you know we should 
stop the consultants being so snobbish towards their [0.4] er patients we 
should make them [0.4] er er treat treatment should be about manners in a way 
and the courtesy that should be extended to the [0.3] consumer or to the 
customer or to the patient [0.6] er [0.6] so [0.4] er [1.2] in a way it's 
easier to dramatize and visualize those a-, aspects of culture [0.2] than it is 
to go into [0.5] er [0.3] kind of the [0.2] er quite 
complicated economic reality whereby the N-H-S subsidizes [0.3] er a medical 
industrial complex it's rather difficult to imagine how that could be 
visualized yeah [0.6] whereas it's rather easy to [0.2] to visualize [0.3] er 
[0.5] er a kind of a consultant surgeon [0.6] er being a bit [0.4] er superior 
to [0.4] er [0.6] the mother of a of of an ill child or something like that 
that's gr-, reasonably easy [0.3] to put on the screen [0.6] er o-, [1.2] okay 
[0.6] now one example of this [0.3] er [1.0] of television's [0.8] interest and 
concern with medical culture [0.6] is a programme called The Nation's Health [1.
2] this was a series of four documentaries [0.6] er written by G F Newman [0.6] 
and shown on Channel Four in nineteen-eighty-two [1.8] and th-, this The 
Nation's Health was seen as [0.6] as very very critical [0.4] of er the medical 
establishment [0.5] Anne Karpf [0.3] in her book er Doctoring the Media [0.5] 
says that The Nation's Health [0.3] was a watershed in medical television [0.4] 
because it directly subverted [0.4] the address of all that went before [0.9] 
this is a quote from [0.4] er [0.5] ne-, er er Anne Karpf [0.9] and she says 
Newman delivered an almost 
unqualified attack [0.5] on the medical profession [0.8] doctors under his gaze 
[0.2] emerged as insensitive [0.2] self-seekers [0.3] pondering their next [0.
3] er [0.8] contract over the first incision [0.8] they blithely [0.3] offered 
the s-, their services privately [0.4] in lieu [0.3] of a lengthy N-H-S [0.2] 
wait [0.4] they conspired with drug companies [0.3] they were racist and sexist 
to a man [0.9] the power and aloofness [0.3] of intimidating consultants and 
surgeons [0.5] were depicted with devastating [0.3] authenticity [2.4] er [0.3] 
Karpf is [0.2] quite good although she [0.2] doesn't quite see the [1.1] er [2.
1] the [0.8] implications of what she's saying but [0.2] she's quite good at 
pointing out what's very strong [0.3] in The Nation's Health and it's that 
critique of [0.5] of [0.2] er ma-, it's really male culture m-, er and The 
Nation's Health has [0.2] its central character is a is a woman called Jessie 
Marvell [0.4] and she [0.4] er [0.4] and the f-, the four [0.7] er episodes [0.
4] er [0.8] follow her as she goes through different [0.4] er aspects through 
through of of of the N-H-S the the the er [1.3] you know casualty to [0.3] 
geriatrics to [0.4] er er mental health care [3.0] so it's very much concerned 
with that [0.2] that sense 
of culture about er er [0.2] if you like a a really [0.3] er really truly 
insensitive er er er er [0.3] medical culture and very much a male [0.4] er [0.
6] machismo culture [5.3] now this is rather similar to Cardiac Arrest in a way 
because both shows offer a simi-, similar criticism of the specificity [0.5] of 
the National Health Service and of the medical [0.5] and of the medical culture 
[0.9] in The Nation's Health [0.5] er usually male doctors do not treat their 
patients as people [0.4] but as vehicles for disease and and [0.5] er [0.5] 
injury [2.2] er there's the sense that these people embody the macho science 
fuelled journey [0.3] that exemplifies er heg-, hegemonic myths of progress [0.
4] and [0.4] achievement [0.2] and the people the sick people the patients were 
left behind [0.4] in this impersonal [0.3] journey [1.0] and Cardiac Arrest [0.
4] offers a similar criticism [0.8] except that those who are badly treated are 
not so much the patients [0.5] although they might suffer along the way [0.4] 
er but the junior medical staff [2.3] the junior medical staff who are 
overburdened and undertrained [0.2] by consultants who were 
similarly happier [0.3] to canvass more lucrative [0.3] er private [0.3] 
treatment [1.4] so i'm going to show you two clips [0.5] er [0.6] one from [0.
2] The Nation's Health episode two [0.3] er called Decline [0.7] and one from 
Cardiac Arrest now in The Nation's Health [0.6] we see a consultant surgeon [0.
4] er [1.9] well discussing the possibility [0.5] of [0.2] er [0.2] er [0.2] er 
[0.3] er [0.3] N-H-S and [0.2] private [0.5] er treatment to one of his [0.2] 
er patients [0.3] then i'll show you a [0.2] a rather similar scene [0.3] from 
[0.3] Cardiac Arrest [0.6] okay so this is The Nation's Health it's from 
nineteen-eighty-two [42.4] 
nm0063: okay [0.9] that scene actually comes after [0.5] er [1.4] an earlier 
consultation that he has with a woman where he advises her to have [0.5] a 
hysterectomy [0.6] he says oh we'll do some exploratory stuff i'll think we'll 
do a hysterectory hysterectomy as well 'cause you don't need that little box 
any more we'll just whip it out [0.4] okay [0.3] so there's that whole sense of 
quite [1.1] it's almost like violence in in in attitude yes [0.4] and and The 
Nation's Health's very critical of that a similar scene [0.4] in [0.3] Cardiac 
Arrest [0.3] except [0.3] look at the way the the focus changes [0.4] 
the [0.3] the people who are suffering aren't so much [0.3] er the patients but 
[0.5] er [0.2] the junior [0.5] er doctors [1.1] okay [1.7] this is episode two 
i think two or three [47.0] 
nm0063: okay [2.6] so you can see that the [0.3] the [0.6] the practice of 
privacy in Cardiac Arrest [0.2] and in The Nation's Health has different 
consequences [0.4] for each [0.8] the the problem with private practice in [0.
2] er and it's become com-, something of a commonplace in medical drama by 
nineteen-ninety-six [0.3] it's very common to see [0.5] er [0.5] er this sense 
that [0.2] er er [0.2] private health care is in some way [0.4] er [1.3] er is 
is is is a priority over [0.2] er [1.5] over N-H-S health care which it is [0.
2] er it's clearly a r-, a kind of a reality [1.2] er [0.5] but the people who 
are are suffering who are er er from this are the are the junior doctors of 
course by implication their patients also [0.3] die and kind of don't get very 
good treatment and [0.3] in that sequence from Cardiac Arrest [0.4] Andrew 
tries his best [0.6] er but it's clear that he has no idea how to perform this 
operation as those of you who've seen it will know [0.5] and he has to call in 
Claire who's who's drunk [0.5] er 
and she manages to do it [1.2] okay [0.2] so there's [0.8] Cardiac Arrest 
repeats the example from [0.4] er The Nation's Health but within another 
context and the context is the supervision and training of junior doctors [0.3] 
so this change from a wider interest [0.5] er from interest in the wider 
implications for society [0.5] er for patients [0.8] and for doctors of of 
privatization [0.5] is refocused in Cardiac Arrest to an exclusive more or less 
exclusive concern [0.4] with the treatment and well-being [0.4] of the next 
generation [0.3] of doctors [3.5] now when it began in nineteen-ninety-three 
Cardiac Arrest self-consciously situated itself in relation to [0.4] s-, er G F 
Newman's er The Nation's Health [0.5] and the writer Jed Mercurio [0.5] er [0.
7] he uses the er pseudonym er [0.2] John MacUre [0.6] er [0.6] in [0.2] just 
before the first episode explicitly situated er er his [0.3] his programme 
Cardiac Arrest in relation to [0.3] er The Nation's Health [0.3] and said 
Newman's The Nation's Health you know did very well in eighty-two but it needs 
updating [0.4] you know more than ten years later it needs updating for the 
nineteen-nineties [2.5] so [0.5] the most similar concerns in Cardiac Arrest 
are unsatisfactory medical culture [0.9] still remains central concern [0.4] 
but other discursive contexts [0.2] updated [0.4] er discursive contexts are 
now regularly [0.3] er offered [1.1] now some of these contexts can be detected 
in other genres such as the crime genre [0.4] so er and i'll talk about that in 
a minute [0.8] er [1.1] well i'll talk about it now [0.4] er [1.6] so other th-,
things that you'd see in other professional genres er [0.2] er er and you you 
see in the medical drama as well things about equal opportunities yes [0.6] in 
Cardiac Arrest [0.5] er you'll see Claire Maitland and her immediate superior 
arguing about [0.4] you know what it is to be a woman [0.3] in er in the N-H-S 
in the nineties and how [0.4] you know they have to behave er very very 
strictly in a very strict professional manner [0.5] er so equal opportunit-, 
and you see that also of course in the crime genre if you look at things like 
[0.2] er [0.9] well Prime Suspect being the obvious one [0.5] er Between the 
Lines things like that [0.6] also er [0.6] er [0.5] questions of 
race [0.2] are are returned to [0.4] er [0.6] in i-, [0.2] in Cardiac Arrest [1.
0] but there are others [0.3] that are really specific [0.3] er to the medical 
drama and to Cardiac Arrest [0.5] okay first of all is the way that 
privatization issues of privatization [0.4] and the kind of culture of the N-H-
S [0.8] is er [0.2] understood through ideas of new management [1.1] the 
hospital manager [0.4] is a kind of new figure [0.4] er who arrives er er in 
the nineteen-nineties [0.3] now hospital managers [0.3] are generally are [0.2] 
generally speaking are presented as a pernicious [0.7] presence [0.3] in the 
hospital [1.2] they are interfering without any professional knowledge of 
medicine [0.6] they're fuelled by the ideology [0.4] and management speak of 
private business from which they were recruited [1.5] and their attempts to 
import that business culture [0.6] er [0.9] into the running of the hospital [0.
4] is [0.6] shown as directly hostile to the requirements of adequate and 
professional medical care [2.1] now [0.7] interestingly Cardiac Arrest takes 
this development a stage further [0.8] er [3.9] and says well it's not just 
it's not just inappropriate people 
from business who are being recruited to run the hospital but it's sort of 
anyone but doctors [0.6] yes [0.5] so in a sequence that was used to trail an 
episode in the second series the older consultant Ernest Docherty [1.0] er the 
old chap [0.8] recognizes the new [0.2] and very young manager in the corridor 
the manager's about eighteen years old [0.8] okay [0.9] er to no one in 
particular but really sort of to the camera he says [0.2] yesterday he was on 
the checkout in the canteen [0.2] today he's running the hospital [0.8] yes so 
the inference is [0.2] is kind of clear [0.3] from that [0.3] er er er exchange 
that [0.6] kind [0.4] er professional paternal experience exemplified by 
Docherty [0.3] counts for nothing [0.4] er [0.3] but youth in a suit [0.4] you 
know that's the future that's the future of [0.3] er hospital management [2.1] 
okay so that's one [0.3] discursive context [1.8] er now clearly that goes out 
of control a little bit in Cardiac Arrest toward the end [0.2] er where the 
hospital manager himself gets suspended and there's this kind of Foucaultian 
sense that you don't know where power is [0.3] yeah so they 
have to bring in some lord [0.3] governor from that we've never seen before [0.
2] in order to sort out the [0.3] the power conflicts in the hospital [0.2] so 
even the managers themselves [0.3] are getting [0.3] are kind of er accountable 
to some unseen force [0.5] yes that comes from outside the hospital [1.5] er 
now the other discursive context is public relations P-R [0.2] in the hospital 
[2.9] the importance of P-R for the hospital is also indicative of its 
transition to a business culture [1.1] so Cardiac Arrest staff are regularly 
suspended [0.3] for going to the newspapers to tell stories [0.3] of 
mistreatment [1.7] there's er an anxiety about the prospect of medical 
incompetence being leaked to the press [0.5] and that kind of looms over nearly 
every medical decision [1.4] there's also the issue of H-I-V [0.3] the 
revelation that some medical staff [0.4] have er er H-I-V [0.8] er [0.4] and 
there were kind of regular dramatizations of parents [0.2] er er sorry of 
patients finding this out that they've been treated by someone [0.5] er with er 
H-I-V and then [0.4] er er kind of complaining about it [0.4] so for 
British medical dramas and that sort of indicates the way that British medical 
dramas [0.5] er [0.2] are starting to pick up on that danger and anxiety about 
litigation [0.7] er [0.7] relatively recent in Chicago Hope it's more or less 
the norm [0.5] that patients are expected to sue [0.4] er their doctors [0.3] 
er it's relatively recent in the British er er medical drama [1.0] so this 
prospect of litigation [0.2] further [0.4] er [0.7] enhances and intensifies 
that conflict between doctor and patient [0.4] yes [0.2] we saw the conflict 
being [0.2] described in [0.3] The Nation's Health in terms of [0.4] kind of a 
macho culture and a and a disdain for the patient [0.6] but now it's it's er 
more professionalized it's almost it's about [0.4] you know can i sue you if 
you do something wrong so every decision [0.5] er [1.0] every medical decision 
has a kind of that kind of anxiety hanging over its shoulder [0.2] and of 
course there's a relation [0.4] i mean these programmes use news stories as 
plot stimulants so [0.8] there is a relation to [0.6] er [0.5] more recent 
cases and we're getting a lot more of these cases of d-, of [0.2] surgeons 
for examples in Bristol [0.5] er [0.2] not er [0.5] meeting their quality 
targets [0.6] er [1.2] and clearly that's going to er continue [3.1] so all of 
these matters pe-, er and the final discursive context i'll return to that a 
bit more in the seminars is rationing N-H-S rationing [0.6] okay [0.4] so [0.3] 
this is about the question about [0.3] who deserves treatment first [0.5] yes 
if one has to prioritize [0.3] er [0.7] health care and medical attention [0.6] 
which patient deserves treatment [0.4] and which patient doesn't [0.2] now 
clearly in the outside world [0.3] there are issues about [0.4] for example sex 
change operations and cosmetic surgery [0.3] and [0.7] further down you know do 
you operate on a smoker or someone who's eaten fresh fruit and vegetables all 
their life [0.4] all this kind of [0.3] issue about [0.2] choices [0.3] yes [0.
2] in the N-H-S [0.2] and this feeds in [0.5] to er medical dramas [0.3] and 
into Cardiac Arrest [4.5] okay so those are the discursive contexts [2.2] now i 
want to talk a bit more about [0.2] er Cardiac Arrest and genre [0.8] because i 
think the change in Cardiac Arrest from attention to er [0.9] issues 
around welfare cuts in the welfare state [0.3] to m-, [0.5] to something that's 
more focused on the welfare of junior doctors [0.9] that shift of attention [0.
9] is also in ta-, in parallel with a a another shift of attention that happens 
in other genres [0.5] er [0.4] and that's toward an interest in the details of 
professionalism [0.5] to the details of professional [0.3] life [0.9] or more 
specifically [0.3] the way in which professional procedure [0.4] the rules [0.
2] the laws the manners [0.4] er the conduct of [0.4] er professionals [0.3] 
becomes central to the content [0.3] of many television programmes [0.9] in 
other words the interest of these programmes is in the way that these 
professional codes of conduct [0.4] are mediated through individual [0.2] 
characters [1.5] and examples of the sort of professional genre would be The 
Bill [1.2] a lot of The Bill is spent lot of characters in time in The Bill is 
spent with characters discussing the [0.2] the what they can and can't do [0.5] 
yes the rules of conduct yes what's appropriate to do Casualty clearly [0.6] er 
London's Burning [0.5] er the professional genres ge-, genres about [0.4] 
professional [0.5] er er people [0.2] and in general that [0.6] er [0.3] in the 
earlier nineties that's concerned with the emergency services [0.2] clearly now 
it's being [0.3] er er opened up a bit and and g-, and generalized [2.9] so 
this and in other words the turn toward the spectacularization of professional 
discourse takes place in the early nineties [0.9] and is er as i've said 
initially concerned with the [0.7] emergency services in in drama [0.4] and 
later on in the documentary genres [0.9] now [0.8] this is er [0.4] er [0.2] er 
[0.3] in the medical drama [1.7] this spectacularization of er professionalism 
[0.7] er [0.5] is [1.2] er part of one mode [0.3] of [0.2] er er er [0.5] of 
the narrative [0.3] the other mode [0.2] is is something that's more action 
based [0.3] okay [0.3] so what i want to think about is [0.2] er [1.1] if you 
like different modes of mise en scène [1.8] diffe-, it's almost different 
styles [1.4] er [0.2] on the one hand there's the style [0.2] er there's the 
mode which i call reflection [0.2] which is more concerned with the [0.2] er [0.
2] spectacle of [0.2] er er professional discourse mediated through characters 
[0.4] on the other hand there's the mode of action [0.3] 
which generally speaking is the [0.3] immediate and intense delivery of of 
health care to casualty [0.4] er patients [3.4] and these modes are attached to 
setting they're generally specific to one place the hospital [0.3] or less 
frequently the character sometimes [0.4] er [0.3] characters [0.2] it's quite 
rare in [0.2] in [0.3] in [0.3] ward based medical dramas like [0.5] er E-R and 
Chicago Hope and Cardiac Arrest [0.5] but sometimes the characters [0.4] you 
know [0.3] er [0.4] Doctor Greene will [0.4] will [0.4] go shopping or 
something and [0.5] and [0.3] and sort of take the two modes with him so 
there'll be modes of action and reflection but they've taken outside the 
hospital and that's quite rare [1.8] er [1.1] indeed w-, [0.4] w-, [0.3] the 
space where [0.2] the two modes [0.2] kind of the transition from one mode to 
the other [0.3] where that takes place is the hospital corridor [1.0] and Anne 
Karpf in the late eighties in her book er Doctoring the Media [0.4] argues that 
the [0.4] the corridor [0.4] it becomes a central place in the er in the in the 
television medical drama where [0.2] anything could happen there's a kind of 
unexpected [0.5] er [0.2] things er happening in the 
periphery or in the background of a shot could suddenly become important [0.7] 
er [2.0] and clearly one of the ke-, you know the k-, the the [0.2] er the sort 
of classic [0.4] er icons of the genre is the is the [0.3] is the the stretcher 
on a trolley bursting through swing doors [0.4] yes that's one of the key ways 
[0.3] in which we see the transition from reflection [0.4] to an action mode [0.
5] okay [3.1] so just to recap by reflection i'm referring i'm concerned with 
sequences where medical staff are discussing [0.3] whatever is of narrative 
importance either between themselves or with the patients [0.8] so this mode is 
therefore evident [0.4] by heavy reliance on dialogue [0.9] and it's often 
stylistically nondescript [0.7] concerned as it is with relaying standard 
delivered performances [0.9] the action mode re-energizes style [0.4] and 
depicts the urgent treatment of medical cases [1.7] and various [0.4] er [0.6] 
styles are recruited to emphasize the contingency [0.4] the immediacy and the 
urgency of those cases [1.9] in fact in that transition to action mode [0.4] er 
the ward based medical dramas delight [0.3] in foregrounding 
the radical contingency of accidents [0.6] and the sudden turn for the worse 
that can befall patients [0.6] unlike the horror film where moments of gore 
liberation [0.2] are carefully prepared for by sound and image [0.6] er [0.8] 
the nineties medical drama profits from the realistic [0.4] assumption that 
accidents can happen anywhere [0.3] any time [2.0] so the sudden event of an 
ambulance stretcher bursting through those double swing doors is clearly the 
most familiar icon that signals that transition that move into action mode [3.
7] okay [1.1] just give you an example of that action mode this is from Cardiac 
Arrest [1.0] okay and th-, as i say the transition is sudden [0.3] okay it's 
not prepared for [0.7] er [0.8] this is a the most extreme example i could find 
okay and it's quite [0.6] er unsettling [0.4] but clearly the pace of the 
cutting changes the lighting changes we're introduced er exordited music is 
introduced [0.8] er [0.7] we're offered a different style yes [3.8] so it's an 
R-T-A accident [0.7] an R-T-A 
nm0063: 
okay [0.8] er [0.3] so that's really [0.3] there's no preparation for that 
moment where the the tube goes in you don't [0.3] that's just given to you and 
it's lit very very brightly yeah so you don't miss [0.5] you know you can't 
miss it [0.6] er [1.4] it's quite interesting that sequence because i mean it's 
it's [0.6] very very extended [0.4] er [1.0] and very very excessive i think [0.
4] sort of shots of [0.4] er er of [0.2] of that woman in pain [0.5] er [0.5] 
how that's used to balance er against Scissors' decision when he sees the 
driver of the car who [0.2] who ki-, who [0.2] she dies obviously [0.6] who ki-,
he killed this woman [0.3] er [0.2] he doesn't treat her he doesn't treat [0.
5] he doesn't treat the driver of the car because the driver of the car is male 
[0.6] is white [0.5] yes [0.3] he's [0.2] er [0.4] just made a lot of money [0.
5] yeah [0.5] i got a bit pissed 'cause i just made a lot of money yeah he's 
given [0.4] as many of the characteristics yes that are associated actually 
with that older male culture as possible [0.5] and Scissors therefore who's 
quite a good doctor yeah [0.6] and he refuses to treat him [0.6] okay so 
there's a there's a 
kind of balancing going on there there's a there's a s-, [0.2] there's a you're 
being offered [0.3] you know [0.2] should he be given treatment [0.3] for 
causing that [0.5] you know that extreme level of pain [1.0] so the the move 
from reflection to action takes place generally speaking takes place in the 
hospital corridor [1.0] er [0.6] and of course the hospital corridor's is the 
place between [0.3] the unregulated outside world [0.3] and the regulated [0.2] 
but falling apart [0.3] inside world of the hospital [0.3] and that's er that's 
what er Mark Greene refers to at the end of the episode of E-R you saw on 
Friday [0.5] yeah [0.3] it's as he said something about [0.2] there's a sense 
of the ins-, outside getting inside i thought we could kee-, this place should 
be safe [0.3] but in fact it's got into the hospital [1.0] yeah [0.9] so the 
style in a in the mode of action the style changes to a faster tempo [0.6] use 
of Steadicam or hand-held camera [0.3] rapid cut cutting [0.3] the 
fragmentation of bodies yeah [0.3] so you got a lot of shots of [0.3] kind of 
bits of body hands [0.4] bits of faces yes rapid fragmentation of bodies [0.5] 
the dialogue 
changes it becomes a very very fast medico [0.4] er medibabble [0.4] yes lots 
of [0.6] sort of babbling about medical [0.4] er [0.9] technobabble yeah [0.8] 
er [1.5] okay so that [0.3] that style changes we [0.2] often get low-key 
lighting which is contrasted with bright shots of the injuries themselves [0.6] 
er [0.2] like in this sequence where [0.6] er we had that very very bright shot 
of the plastic tube being inserted into the body cavity [0.7] er [0.4] and lots 
of special effects er bleeding is usually visible attached to a pulse [0.5] er 
[0.4] generally speaking it's explicit but not hard core [0.5] er [0.2] The 
Nation's Health [0.5] er is a bit of an exception because The Nation's Health 
used real [0.4] operations [0.4] er [0.3] surgeons who were willing to [0.4] er 
[0.2] have their operations [0.5] or their er op-, [0.3] their [0.3] medical 
procedures filmed [0.3] so actually The Nation's Health is very hard core in 
what it shows [0.6] there's a lot of coyness actually even in contemporary 
medical drama [0.4] er so that bit where [0.5] er she's er the patient's 
aborting [0.4] her child we don't see that yes what we see is Raj [0.2] seeing 
that [0.4] okay so [0.2] there's 
kind of a limit to those special effects [0.9] i guess limits of taste [1.1] er 
[0.8] so well the sense of [0.2] of that er [1.2] action mode is [0.4] is not 
really of an ordered procedure but more one of confusion [0.9] and there's also 
the sense that the patients are resisting [0.4] there's there's [1.0] a [0.3] a 
kind of er [0.2] a frequently used [0.6] er shot of patient attached to lots of 
lines and then moving around [0.7] yeah sort of struggling against it [0.5] 
sort of [0.8] you know it's quite a potent image because it signals a sense of 
needles moving around in the skin the possibility of yes attachment to [0.5] er 
er kind of [0.2] er er er drugs and things [2.5] and of course the outcome of 
those scenes of action scenes [0.8] has a greater impact on the doctor and the 
hospital rather than the patient generally speaking we don't follow up [0.5] er 
what happens to the patient in any real detail the exception of course in 
Cardiac Arrest [0.4] is the boy who's waiting for [0.4] er dialysis er er for a 
k-, a kidney er donation [0.3] er that's rather unusual [0.4] to keep returning 
to one patient again and again [0.3] clearly 
his function [0.3] is to show [0.3] hel-, the Helen Baxendale character [0.4] 
is to place her in a position of care [0.4] yes she's given him as her little 
boy [0.4] you know to look after and be nice to [0.8] okay we'll talk more 
about Baxendale in the seminars [1.4] [laughter] there's a sort of a sigh of [0.
4] [laughter] oh no [laugh] [0.9] [sniff] [0.2] okay [1.2] now modes of 
reflection [0.3] er [1.0] are not quite as stylistically er inventive [0.3] but 
i think are very very interesting they're usually a lot quiet quieter [0.3] but 
can also have stylized [0.3] moments [1.1] what i want to think about is the 
way in which [0.5] er the dialogue is constructed around [0.3] er [0.5] th-, [0.
3] the sen-, that sense of professionalism [3.6] generally speaking the 
programmes i've been talking about Cardiac Arrest and other medical dramas and 
even the you know the police series and the er London's Burning and things like 
that [0.3] have professional advisers [0.8] whether they're from the Met or 
whether they're actual doctors or surgeons [1.8] er [1.5] so there's er that [0.
2] sort of level of authenticity is given [0.3] er er er er [0.6] to those er 
er [0.6] to the er [0.2] the action procedures and to [0.3] er the exchanges 
that er er [0.2] er the dialogue exchanges in 
mo-, modes of reflection [0.9] you can generally spot when these [0.6] er 
exchanges are going to happen [0.3] in Casualty it's usually [0.4] er prefaced 
by [0.6] er [0.9] Charlie will say a word [0.5] [laughter] yeah a word in my 
office [0.3] and they go away into a little space and they have their words 
yeah and these are [0.2] what i'd call reflection modes [0.7] okay [0.4] so a 
word is is kind of an obvious signal but sometimes it doesn't happen like that 
sometimes it's just cut [0.4] to the [0.5] er mode of reflection i call it 
reflection as distinct from any other [0.2] narrative mode in there [0.3] 
'cause it's a way in which the the [0.2] the professionals are talking about [0.
4] er [0.4] what's happened in the modes of action [0.4] but talking about 
their procedure rather than talking about er sort of their personal matters or 
anything like that [0.2] although clearly the personal [0.3] issues get [0.4] 
er [0.4] er embedded [0.3] in those exchanges [0.5] so i've i've [0.2] kind of 
created a rather schematic [1.0] sort of frighteningly simple [0.5] er [1.0] 
way of thinking about these exchanges [0.4] let's put it on the [1.2] overhead 
[0.6] now the [1.3] er that's better yes here we go [3.7] okay exchanges 
between [1.8] 
er [0.6] between professionals [3.5] okay so the first one [0.2] goes senior [0.
2] to junior [0.3] i've never [0.5] written on one of these before see if i can 
do it [1.2] okay [0.2] senior [1.2] can you see that [0.8] that's meant to be 
an arrow by the way [1.0] yeah [0.3] okay that's the direction [0.4] senior to 
junior [0.6] you can spot these pretty quickly [0.2] er they're generally the 
ones that start this is the way we do things around here [0.4] yeah this is the 
procedure [0.6] that we that we use around here [0.4] yes [0.3] it's that kind 
of address [0.4] to the junior doctor [1.6] er okay [0.4] senior to junior [1.
9] often you get that at the beginning of a series yes where the the senior to 
junior dialogue is about [0.2] also telling the viewer [0.3] about [0.2] this 
is the sort of this is the kind of thing we do in this genre [0.6] yes [1.2] 
this is the kind of programme it is we do this around here [0.5] yeah [2.1] now 
you've noticed er you've probably noticed i put competent and not competent 
there [0.6] er [0.7] this is about medical competence but it could refer to the 
one's [0.2] you know the competence of the character as a police officer or as 
[0.4] er [0.8] a fireman or [0.3] or a lawyer or 
whatever [0.7] er [0.3] generally speaking the junior in this [0.2] this [0.2] 
er [0.3] first relationship is not competent [0.2] yeah [0.7] that's why 
they're juniors they're learning the ropes from the senior the senior is 
training them [0.5] the senior is competent [0.6] yes [2.0] clearly a not 
competent [0.4] to competent [0.9] not competent senior to competent junior [0.
5] doesn't work this is the way we do things around here [0.3] junior [0.2] oh 
no it isn't you don't do things like that doesn't really [0.6] doesn't really 
work [0.9] okay [4.2] also this exchange is an invitation [0.3] er in Cardiac 
Arrest and the other medical dramas for the junior to explain [0.3] why [0.2] 
he didn't do he or she didn't do things [0.2] as they should be done around 
here [0.5] personal circumstances prevented [0.2] me from doing it properly [0.
3] i haven't been trained [0.6] er to do that properly [0.6] yes [2.8] now that 
exchange that explanation really comes at the bottom it's the most radical [0.
5] so it's the reply if you like [1.3] not competent [2.8] junior [0.3] to 
senior that's the reply happens down at the bottom there [3.7] but it can also 
be 
kind of [0.2] more radical than that [0.5] it could be when the junior member 
catches out the senior member breaking the rules [0.4] or bending them [0.3] to 
their own liking [0.3] and that often happens in that privatization con-, [0.2] 
context [0.3] so you get a competent junior [0.7] er [4.1] talking to a [0.5] a 
competent [0.5] er er senior saying [0.2] in fact you're bending the rules 
around here [0.8] yes you're not doing things as you should and that happens a 
lot in Cardiac Arrest obviously [0.6] [sniff] [2.5] so what's crucial is is the 
discrepancy in that exchange is the discrepancy between how things should be 
done the real this is how we do things around here [0.4] and the offi-, [0.3] 
if you like the official version [0.2] and the actual practice [2.6] okay [1.1] 
[sniff] [5.0] obviously the other one is equal [0.4] equal rank to equal rank 
[0.2] i've got handouts of this so you can [0.8] so junior to junior [1.4] to 
finish it up [0.2] senior [0.2] to senior [1.3] 'cause these people are ranked 
equally and this is often a source of disagreement and conflict yes [0.4] this 
is the way we do things around here no it 
isn't we do it this way [0.4] they're both of the same rank [0.2] yes [0.9] er 
[0.4] but the disagreements are likely to be caused by personal conflict [0.7] 
so [0.4] this equal to equal [0.4] e-, exchange [0.2] is likely to be 
particularly [0.3] potent er er [0.3] if the equals are sleeping together [0.5] 
yeah which they often are [0.2] in those sorts of exchanges [0.3] and in fact 
[0.3] personal relationships start disrupting [0.3] all of these exchanges [0.
3] so senior to junior where the senior is [0.3] having a relationship with a 
junior [0.2] has that kind of second level [0.3] second order level [0.5] er [0.
2] beneath it [0.4] i'll show you an example of it [0.5] this is an example of 
a senior [0.3] to junior [0.6] er [2.1] address [0.3] but clearly it also has 
this other second order [0.5] er [0.2] structure to it [0.3] because [0.6] 
they're lovers as well [0.9] okay [3.4] and again it starts off [0.2] this is 
how we do things around here [0.5] yeah 
nm0063: so [0.2] clearly the relationship changes [0.4] the point when he says 
masterful it changes from that senior to junior level to v-, [0.2] one of equal 
to equal yeah they're equal in the bed in the sack as it were [1.2] 
okay [1.2] now [0.2] this relationship is further complicated by another [1.3] 
factor [0.5] and that is that each of their as i've as i've mentioned at the 
bottom each of [0.3] the senior and juniors can be good or bad [0.2] very very 
schematic i know [0.3] but can have [0.4] positive or negative [0.5] er 
characteristics [1.7] so it's entirely possible for a competent senior [0.2] 
doctor for example like Adrian devre-, DeVries to be a bad character [0.4] 
generally speaking bad characters went to public school [1.0] yes [0.7] they er 
belong to that older ma-, machismo culture [0.6] that doesn't care [0.3] about 
[0.4] er the patients [0.5] yes [0.7] er it's again it's this level of care if 
there's a low level of personal investment in the patient [0.8] the lower that 
level is [0.3] the more the the [0.2] the the particular doctor will be seen as 
[0.4] a as a bad doctor however competent [0.3] and clearly the Baxendale 
character's very very interesting in this respect [0.2] 'cause she's very 
competent [0.5] yes in what she does [0.4] but her level of care of personal 
investment [0.4] is quite [0.5] quite low [0.2] on the other hand she's a 
recurring [0.5] 
character in cardia-, for the three series of Cardiac Arrest [0.5] yeah so you 
can see the in the in the second in the third series the one we're watching at 
the moment [0.4] where in which she's trying [0.4] the series tries to give her 
the and teach her how to care [0.7] for her patients first of all it gives her 
[0.4] the kidney the the young boy who wants a kidney donation [0.3] and then 
secondly it gives her [1.0] er this issue about Adrian DeVries and whether he 
loves her [0.2] and whether she can understand people properly [0.3] if she's 
never been in love [0.4] yes [0.4] okay which is part of the project of the [0.
3] of the final series of Cardiac Arrest [0.3] so you can have good [0.4] or 
bad doctors [0.3] and the [0.2] my t-, [1.0] next clip i'm going to show you a 
[0.5] senior to junior exchange from [0.4] er [0.3] E-R [0.3] okay and this is 
just after an action mode [0.3] so the mode l-, it leaves an action mode it's a 
defibrillation yeah [0.4] and then it switches quite quickly into a r-, 
reflection mode yeah they're talking about the action [0.6] and it's Greene [0.
4] telling er [0.6] Noah Wyle what's his name [0.2] 
sm0065: Carter 
nm0063: Carter [1.1] er 
sf0066: [gasp] [0.7] 
nm0063: yes he's sort 
of telling him off [0.4] [laughter] for [0.5] er [1.5] for being not competent 
[0.2] yes [0.2] so he's accused of being [0.3] not competent of not doing the 
procedure the way we do things around here [0.7] okay [0.7] you notice the [0.
2] er the Carter character is rescued [0.4] okay [0.3] because he cares [0.5] 
yes [0.2] that's why he's rehabilitated as a good character 
nm0063: okay 
nm0063: and in st-, Cardiac Arrest juniors doctors generally start off 
incompetent but good [0.5] that is their midi-, medical skills are lacking [0.
2] but their interpersonal skills are okay [0.5] they have time for their 
patients [0.9] er [0.3] they may be incompetent at what they do but they're 
good still because they ask for supervision and advice [0.4] some don't however 
[0.3] Liz Reid the character [0.2] the new doctor in Cardiac Arrest doesn't ask 
[0.2] she clearly doesn't care [0.5] either [0.7] okay [0.3] and she's a good 
example of a junior doctor who's incompetent [0.2] and bad [0.5] yes [2.9] as 
i've said competent but bad doctors are 
often senior like Graham Turner and Adrian DeVries [1.0] and as i said the bad 
aspects of their characters generally come from that public school education 
and also their interest in private practice [0.4] the result [0.3] no human 
concern with the patient's welfare [1.4] what you tend to get [0.2] throughout 
the series is a move from [0.5] er [0.8] er from different positions yes [0.2] 
both as we saw there within [0.2] particular scenes and also the long term of 
the series [0.9] er [0.9] so as i've said Helen Baxendale's character moves 
from being competent and bad to competent and good [0.4] Scissors for example 
is comp-, is good and good yeah he's competent and he's good [0.6] er [0.6] er 
the [0.2] the [0.5] the younger character Andrew yeah [0.3] is sometimes 
incompetent but always [0.5] yeah always a good character [6.8] so these ref-, 
moments of reflection modes of reflection stage the tension between maintaining 
the stability of professional procedure [0.4] and a satisfactory personal life 
[1.8] the second the satisfactory personal life is always prioritized over [0.
4] 
the stability of professional procedure [1.2] so doctors who can only relate to 
patients on a procedural level [0.2] are bad [0.3] doctors [0.6] those who 
offer authentic personal investment in what they're doing [0.3] are good [2.0] 
what happens in Cardiac Arrest is that a new generation of doctors [0.2] are 
prevented from being good [0.3] by the system [0.6] so they lose faith in their 
own ability [0.5] what Cardiac and this is why the importance of training [0.7] 
they can't be good [0.3] because [0.2] they're not supervised or trained to be 
[0.5] yes [1.1] they can't be competent i mean they're always good 
nm0063: i think the second tendency is generation specific there's been a lot 
on the news [0.6] er recently about er [0.3] Generation Y is it [0.6] there's 
Generation X a sort of a new n-, study of sixteen to twenty-one year olds 
saying that their [0.3] their aspirations are different they're supposedly 
ambitious [0.6] er seventy-two per cent of them think that [0.4] whatever they 
do in [0.5] er w-, however they vote they'll make no impact on political life 
seventy-two per cent think they c-, they c-, they will make no 
impact [1.2] er [0.2] but i think [0.5] the one of the innovative things about 
Cardiac Arrest was the youth [0.2] of the actors yes they were all in their 
early to mid-twenties when [0.4] when it started [0.8] er [0.2] this is a quote 
from an interview i did with the writer with [0.2] from Jed Mercurio [1.9] i 
asked him about why the the er er [0.3] er [0.2] the c-, doctors were so young 
was it just realism [1.2] er he said that was really apparent when we came to 
casting it first [0.5] they [0.2] meaning the production company [0.5] they 
were thinking of people in their thirties i said no [0.4] they've got to be 
younger for realism [1.7] it was really about a twenty-something bloke [0.3] 
where everything he'd do is life-threatening and all the women are nuts [0.8] i 
wanted it to be really grungey [0.7] Kurt Cobain killing himself and he 
references this as a kind of key [0.5] er [1.4] er event while he was writing 
the series [0.6] really grungey about people in their mid-twenties with no 
sense of belonging [0.6] that's what i thought the series was about but the 
producers didn't get it [0.4] and the producer's er [0.3] is Tony Garnett [0.4] 
yes [0.6] there's this kind of rather interesting [0.4] disagreement [0.2] er 
between Mercurio the writer and Tony Garnett [0.5] now [0.4] you probably know 
that Cardiac Arrest began [0.4] as an advertisement i think in the British 
Medical Journal or the Lancet asking for [0.2] a junior doctor [0.6] who would 
want who would [0.5] does anyone want to write for television for a T-V sitcom 
a T-V comedy about [0.6] er [0.2] hospitals [0.5] er [0.6] er Mercurio applied 
and got the job [0.5] er but wanted it to be [0.4] something different 
something [0.4] er [0.2] more realistic [0.4] er [2.4] in in particular er i'll 
show you he's in the in in the documentary i'm going to show you [0.3] but in 
particular he's very influenced by the Hill Street Blues [0.3] idea of a kind 
of grainy [0.4] er er er realism [1.4] er [0.6] so [0.3] in a way [0.9] [laugh] 
you know Mercurio was a junior doctor [0.3] yes [0.3] he [0.3] er part of the 
way the programme is sold is through the fact that it's authentic because he's 
lived it