Another one from the vault. I don’t think any TV reviewer will be losing any sleep….

Attempting to eat or drink anything at all whilst watching an episode of BBC2’s gory gynaecological drama Bodies. I can’t remember the last time I physically retched at something I saw on TV, but that show makes the operation scenes in Casualty or Holby City look tame by comparison. There seems to be at least one caesarian section or double laparoscopy per episode and by God don’t you know it. Does nobody have an uncomplicated natural birth on their ward?

I hear you asking, “So why do you watch it then, you of queasy stomach and squeamish nature?” Well, it’s well-written and morbidly gripping. No one seems to give a stuff about the patients as people – they are simply statistics or, well, bodies – but each death (and there are quite a few, especially at the hands of one incompentent so-called consultant) is treated as a financial disaster by clinical director and hospital manager alike. Everyone else has their own political agenda, so it’s difficult to like or dislike any of the characters completely. Still, it makes a change from the old hospital adage, “Don’t think of it as a dead patient – think of it as a free bed on the ward.” Charming.