StarsOfCCTV
18-09-2008, 22:29
There are so many telling little moments in this excellent documentary, a filmed record of a whole month of call-outs made by ambulance 212 in Reading, Berkshire. My favourite involves the wife of a man who's being taken to hospital after an incident in a club. Genuinely perplexed, she asks a crew member, "Why does he need to go to hospital? Is there something wrong with him?" The fact that her husband is just behind her in the ambulance, flat on his back, covered in blood and unresponsive, seems somehow to have escaped her attention. The crews of ambulance 212 are brilliant - kind, funny (they have a very neat line in entirely necessary gallows humour) and compassionate. Though even their patience is tested by the routine weekend litany of drunks, fights and abuse. Then there are the "regulars", the sad, forgotten members of society who forget to take their medication, or who just want someone to talk to. As a portrait of the underside of 21st-century Britain, this is hard to beat.
Did anyone catch this? Can't really add more to the description from radio times but...yeah..really fascinating program. You can't help but laugh at the humour of the paramedics!) It's on 4od so anyone who missed it, I really recommend you watch it. :)
Did anyone catch this? Can't really add more to the description from radio times but...yeah..really fascinating program. You can't help but laugh at the humour of the paramedics!) It's on 4od so anyone who missed it, I really recommend you watch it. :)