TV blog Feed

Great Ormond Street: My mum’s going to watch from behind a cushion!

2015-07-27T07:16:09+00:00

Jack Copley’s epilepsy started when he had a stroke as a newborn baby. His fits have increased severely since he hit puberty, and can’t be controlled by medication. Jack, now 17, was making his mind up about whether to have brain surgery to cure his epilepsy, with potential serious side effects, in BBC Two's Great Ormond Street.

I do think that people have some strange ideas about epilepsy. They seem to panic when they see someone having a seizure and assume you have to immediately call an ambulance. I just thought that maybe the programme would help to show that you can have seizures but still try to lead a normal life - people just need to make sure you cannot harm yourself and give you time and space to recover.

My top five seizures this year: Jack gives his rundown

I enjoyed it when the Great Ormond Street cameras came to my karate class and did some filming. But it made my Sensei even more determined that we would do every move correctly so we were all shattered after that session!

My mum kept leaving the room when she saw a bit of the programme with her in it - she didn't like seeing and hearing herself. It was hilarious! But also it was really hard being reminded of the tests and the seizure and the decision whether to have surgery. She'll watch the programme from behind a cushion like she watches any medical programme!

It was definitely weird to see myself having a seizure. Almost everyone I know has seen me have one but of course I never have until I saw the one they filmed in the programme. It was strange because I don't remember the seizure or the time immediately before it or after it, even though I can see myself talking.

Jack’s brain activity is monitored as staff investigate the causes of his fits

The day after the seizure you see in the film I was shattered. I had a really bad headache, felt sick, I just felt really dreadful and wanted to sleep. I don't recall the film crew visiting - but mum said they did because they had heard I had had the seizure and were worried about me which was nice.

I loved the filming: I like chatting and that was really all they asked me to do! They never insisted on anything. The camera and sound equipment was really interesting and I got to see how it all came apart and what all the different bits did, that was great.

I’ve had to grow up quicker than friends my age. I have to be sure to take medication or I could be really ill. Also, I have to tell 'new' people that I have epilepsy in case I have a seizure when I am with them, so that they know what to do and don't panic. It means that I do have to try to be a bit more responsible: plan, take water, don't overheat, that sort of thing.

It is frustrating too, because I can't learn to drive which others my age are doing. I love watching Formula 1 and I would love to learn to drive and physically I could learn in an adapted car, but the uncontrolled epilepsy rules that out.

Jack had to weigh up whether surgery was worth the risk of side effects like losing some vision

I was really glad it was me deciding whether to have surgery to remove parts of my brain linked to fits. I don't think that someone else should decide if you have surgery like that, even if you're still a teenager, because what could happen to you is really serious. But I didn't feel that it was totally down to me or that I had to decide all on my own, because I talked a lot with my mum and dad and my granddad especially and asked them what they thought. Actually, they thought the same as me which was really good and made the decision easier to make in the end.

Not doing karate would really, really upset me. What made me decide against the surgery was mainly the side effects: the doctors said I would definitely lose side vision and be even weaker down my right side, and that would mean that I would struggle continuing with my karate.

I definitely made the right choice. I am sad that I still have lots of seizures but we do know how to cope with them. I don't think I would have coped with the side effects from the operation and I love my karate and going to college too.

My top five moments this year have been:

1. Achieving my black belt in karate in April
2. Going to see Russell Howard Live
3. Seeing the poppies at the Tower of London while down at Great Ormond Street Hospital for some tests
4. Being voted student of the year at the end of my first year at college
5. Getting a part time job at Tesco
(And 5b. - I can’t wait to see myself on TV!)

Great Ormond Street continues on Tuesday, 28 July at 9pm on BBC Two. Each episode will be available in BBC iPlayer for 30 days after broadcast on TV.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Q&A with Susan Jebb: What's The Right Diet For You?

2015-01-13T11:33:07+00:00

Susan Jebb is Professor of Diet and Population Health in the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford.

She will be answering questions live in the comments below after episode two of What's The Right Diet For You? A Horizon Special.

The comments will open shortly before the Q&A starts at 10pm on Tuesday, 13 January and will finish an hour later at 11pm. Susan won’t be able to answer every question submitted and we also ask that questions and comments fall within the house rules.

Update: The Q&A is now over, thank you for all your comments. To read Susan's replies please see the Editors' Picks below.

Expert Paul Aveyard pictured left of Susan is joined by presenters Chris van Tulleken and Tanya Byron, experts Giles Yeo and Fiona Gribble and all the volunteers

Professor Susan Jebb is a nutrition scientist and one of the presenters on What’s the Right Diet For You? A Horison Special.

What's The Right Diet For You? A Horizon Special continues on Wednesday, 14 January at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Protecting Our Parents: Capturing a unique view

2014-05-01T09:29:58+00:00

We were lucky to have a year to film Protecting Our Parents.

It didn’t always feel it during the long winter months, late nights and early mornings my team from BBC Bristol’s documentary department spent in the busy elderly care wards of Heartlands Hospital Birmingham.

But we came to realise that time is a precious commodity across an elderly care system swelled by our nation’s rapidly ageing population.

Protecting Our Parents is a documentary series about all of us: our parents, grandparents and the many health and social care professionals that look after them as they get older, and will care for us in our old age too.

Before filming could even begin it had taken an additional 18 months to put in place permission to film.

The hospital elderly care team, community and hospital social workers and the scores of health and care professionals were needed to enable us to try to make sense of a system that, for the older people at its heart, is often bewildering.

Doctors, social workers and husband Leonard try to decide what's best for Kathleen

Being able to view the system from the perspective of the professionals, older people and their families gave us a privileged position from which to follow cases.

Hospital-based social workers and doctors rarely have the chance to see their clients or patients in the community, but we were able observe what many of the professionals can’t.

We filmed contributors leave hospital for home with social care packages that had been carefully designed over weeks, sometimes months on the ward - only to be readmitted within weeks, sometimes days.

On occasions, we’d know before the community social work team, the GP or the hospital consultants that our contributors were back in A&E or on a ward, because we’d have the information quicker from carers and families.

This isn’t because individual medics and social workers aren’t hardworking and caring.

It’s because what we saw is symptomatic of the fault lines of the elderly care system, between health and social care, hospital and community.

From our time on the hospital wards and in the community, we came to realise that the system is often measured, officially at least, against the ticking clock.

There are the hospital waiting time targets of A&E; there is pressure to free-up acute beds on wards for the next admission; there are the council-hired carers trying to meet their clients’ often complex care needs in 20 minute sessions.

Most of the many dedicated professionals we followed managed to find the extra minutes to spend with their patients or clients, regardless of the pressures of their workload.

Dr Peter Wallis at Birmingham Heartlands hospital during a consultation with a patient

But we were able to spend hours with our elderly contributors, not just to film, but to sit and talk, make a cup of tea, fetch a paper, watch the football on the TV together.

Building up trust and understanding over not just weeks, but months, was essential to filming with often frail, vulnerable people and their families as they went through what for many was the most difficult episode of their lives.

It also meant we had the time to learn about their lives and not just the current crisis they were going through.

They were all hard working people, who’ve led rich, full and colourful lives – like our own.

'I never expected to age so quickly, and I didn't feel that I aged so quickly'

Inevitably, the series has had a lasting impact on all of my team who filmed, edited and produced it.

For me, having put off thinking about old age for as long as possible, I’ve started to have the conversations with my own parents about their futures and have dared to contemplate what elderly care might look like for my generation.

Above all, that is what we want this series to achieve: a national discussion about how we treat older people and what we want from old age care.

With the system already struggling to cope and the number of pensioners set to grow by half in the next 20 years, it’s an urgent conversation to be had.

Alice Perman is the series producer on Protecting Our Parents.

Protecting Our Parents continues on Thursday 1 May at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

If you, or someone you know, is affected by the issues raised in this programme, please see the information and support page for details of organisations which can help (available until Tuesday, 10 June).

More on Protecting Our Parents

The Open University: Find out more about the ageing debate and being a social worker
Protecting Our Parents: Information and Support

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Dissected: Getting under my skin

2014-02-17T10:06:19+00:00

I had my reservations when asked if I’d like to produce Dissected, a series about the dissection of a human hand and foot.

Not because I’m particularly squeamish - I have made a lot medical series, including a stint in the main allied forces military hospital in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. I’m used to seeing the internal mechanics of the body.

I was more concerned about whether this was something that people would actually want to watch. It was an intriguing enough proposition to make me want to do it.

I’m very glad I did as it turned out to be a fascinating exploration into what makes us human.

The point at which the project really got under my skin, as it were, was when I met the hand surgeon in the series, Donald Sammut.

Donald Sammut reveals which finger you could most easily live without

It was at Chelsea Arts Club because not only is Donald an eminent surgeon, he is also a talented artist.

This effusive and intellectual man knew every fibre of the human hand – and made me look at mine differently than I ever had before.

This was all very well looking at my own hand but we needed to dissect one.

Dissection is not something the public are normally allowed to see, it’s traditionally reserved for medical training.

This is partly for health and safety reasons to prevent the risk of the spread of disease and partly to protect the anonymity of the donor and their relatives.

We had to get the permission of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy for Scotland.

They had never agreed to filming of a dissection before but they considered the request carefully and concluded that our project was a valuable opportunity to bring a greater knowledge of human anatomy to the public.

The next challenge was to find specimens and somewhere to dissect them. We discovered that we could order arms or legs for dissection from the USA.

Importing body parts wasn’t without its complications though so we were glad not to have to go down this route.

Anatomist Quentin Fogg at Glasgow University came to our rescue. He was enthusiastic about the project and became invaluable both on and off screen.

He was licensed to dissect in the university’s 100-year-old anatomy museum. This made a wonderfully rich and atmospheric location.

Crucially, the university’s involvement meant we could use limbs donated to them for educational purposes as long as we ensured the donors’ anonymity.

Leading experts in human anatomy join Dr George McGavin to look inside our hands and feet

The Body Donor Programme throughout the country is something I wholeheartedly support.

We had chosen to only have the specimen preserved by freezing rather than embalming as this gave a more natural look.

This did mean, however, that the specimen would only last for two days.

The heat from our television lights meant the clock was ticking even faster on the useable life of our specimen.

The dissections were complicated so the time limit presented a real challenge to Quentin and the dissection team.

When Quentin first brought the limbs into the studio for filming there was a stunned silence amongst the crew. We knew we had a responsibility to make this donation worthwhile.

During the dissection, the director of photography, Alastair McCormick, who relies on his hands for his livelihood was engrossed.

Musician friends of mine have been slightly embarrassed that they’d never really considered what gave them their skill and dexterity.

I don’t think I’ve made a programme before that is so universally relevant.

The foot programme was equally as fascinating to make. In both episodes, we wanted to relate the fascinating anatomy we were seeing to the real world.

We included short insert films looking at the latest research into hands and feet including comparative animal anatomy.

We also brought people into the studio whose hands and feet have extraordinary abilities.

My personal favourite was foot painter, Tom Yendell. He had been born without arms due to the drug Thalidomide.

George McGavin kicks off his shoes and tries his foot at sketching with Tom Yendell

Watching him flip open a tablet and operate it with his feet was incredible. He then went on to quickly produce a high standard painting with his feet.

I hope people are not put off watching the programmes by the prospect of gore – they truly are a rare opportunity to see a part of ourselves as we’ve never seen it before.

Paul Overton is the series producer of Dissected.

Dissected begins with The Incredible Human Hand on Tuesday, 18 February at 9pm on BBC Four. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Dissected is part of BBC Four's Life Inside Out season: Watch clips examining bodies as never before

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Holby City: Crafting Malick's fake limbs

2013-10-09T08:41:19+00:00

Episode 52 saw one of Holby City's most loved characters - Antoine Malick - sustain a severe injury in a road traffic accident.

I'm the head of prosthetics for Holby City and it was my team’s job to make the fake limbs used in that episode. In this video I show the creative process that went into making Malick’s injury look as realistic as possible – under the scrutiny of today’s enormous televisions and HD!

Megan Thomas is head of prosthetics on Holby City. Hannah King, who filmed this interview, is a researcher in BBC TV and iPlayer.

Like A Prayer, the episode featuring Malick’s accident, was on Tuesday, 8 October at 8pm on BBC One and BBC One HD, and 10.35pm on BBC One Scotland. It is available to watch on BBC iPlayer until Tuesday, 15 October.

Holby City continues on Tuesday, 15 October at 8pm on BBC One and BBC One HD, and 11.25pm on BBC One Scotland. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Welcome To The World Of Weight Loss

2013-08-21T08:03:53+00:00

In previous films I’ve directed for the BBC (Women and Money) I’ve explored the private monologues that run in people’s heads.

I’m curious to discover the deeper truths that our daily preoccupations reveal about us. So turning to the subject of our complicated relationship with food seemed like very fertile territory to me.

I wanted to make a warm-hearted film that told the story of people’s individual psychology in relation to what they eat.

‘I really feel proud of myself’: Rosemund’s boring Christmas paid off

My films often have a personal starting point and I’m as preoccupied as the next person with what I eat.

I’ve never been a member of a slimming club but I’m very aware that, like many women, I have a tyrannical voice in my head that dictates what I do or don’t feel entitled to eat.

The decision to make a film about slimming clubs was quite straightforward. It seemed the simplest way to find people with stories to tell about their relationship with food.

And as a filmmaker I knew the value of having a particular place or community in which to set a film.

(When I embarked on this film I’d just finished making Walking With Dogs, a film about people’s relationships with their dogs which was filmed in a single location - Hampstead Heath.)

This film is set in three different slimming clubs – Weight Watchers in Dulwich, south London, Slimming World in East Finchley, north London and Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness in Epsom, Surrey.

I chose to feature three different clubs because I wasn’t setting out to assess one particular brand or product.

'Be a bit more cautious with your cottage cheese': Slimming World’s Ginny gives advice at a meeting

What really struck me was the fact that all over the country thousands of people were scuttling into slimming clubs every week.

It was as though I’d happened upon a new religion and it seemed significant that the three groups I chose all held their meetings in churches.

What I hadn’t anticipated was the prevalence of religious language and the many similarities with religion that I came across – finding support in a communal environment, working to a shared set of rules and directives and confessing one's transgressions on a weekly basis.

In the course of researching this film many of the people I met used the same phrase. They all said that if they didn’t attend their slimming club regularly they were worried they would ‘balloon’.

I felt they were expressing a fear of their own appetites and a terror of losing control.

I’m not sure ultimately that this fear is actually about food, but clearly for many of us food has a profound and unconscious significance that means it’s rarely just straightforward fuel.

I hope the choice of people featured in the film reflects the great variety of factors that affect people’s eating habits and that those of you who watch the film will maybe find aspects of yourselves reflected in the programme.

Vanessa Engle is the producer and director of Welcome To The World Of Weight Loss.

Welcome To The World Of Weight Loss is on Wednesday, 21 August at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD.

More on Welcome To The World Of Weight Loss
The Guardian: Vanessa Engle: why a slimming documentary doesn't have to be heavy

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The Men Who Made Us Thin: Can you be fit and fat?

2013-08-08T08:51:12+00:00

Making The Men Who Made Us Thin for BBC Two has profoundly changed how I view my body.

I visited Brazil where gastric surgery is a huge industry. Watching a gastric bypass in the operating suite is somewhat equivalent to those anti-smoking ads of the 70s and 80s when school kids were shown the amount of tar in their lungs.

If you wanted an ad to put you off highly calorific processed food then it should show the fat around your vital organs. It's revolting and changed my attitude to being overweight.

Of course if you're morbidly obese there are serious health consequences, but for most of us who struggle to lose a few extra pounds the lesson I took from making this programme was to stop focusing on the weight and instead on being fit and happy.

Encouraging teenagers to be skinny? Jacques meets diet guru Venice A Fulton

In my experience people want to be thin partly for cultural reasons - to fit in to the desirable norm.

But these cultural reasons also start to become biological reasons over time - when being thin becomes equated with being more attractive, and this means attracting a mate, this becomes a biological imperative.

One reinforces the other - it's a vicious circle.

Looking back to the post war period, before we even had an industrialised diet industry as such, one American insurance company reclassified the body mass index (BMI) scale.

The decision labelled at least half the US population as overweight when they had previously been categorised as normal.

Arguably this triggered a sense of panic about weight which stays with us to this day.

The series also made me realise how the overweight are doubly discriminated against.

First they are shamed by society, then they are told that when they don't lose weight long term through commercial diet programmes that it is their fault.

It was interesting meeting the people who had created the diets worth literally billions - Danny Abraham with Slim-Fast and Pierre Dukan and learning about Jean Nidetch of WeightWatchers - what they all share is huge charisma.

This is why they become gurus - people want to believe in someone who says: trust me, I will help you lose weight.

I spoke to a lot of scientists for this series and discovered that around 85% of people put the weight back on after five years.

Personally I think people should stop worrying about their weight and focus on being healthy and happy, at any size.

Exercise is often seen as an important tool of weight loss but I was really interested to speak to Dr Terry Wilkin who is conducting a long-term study at Plymouth Hospital.

He explained to me that 75% of the calories we use we burn just by staying still. These calories fuel the metabolic processes which keep our bodies functioning.

A trip to boot camp proves that you can be fit and fat, but can Jacques hack the workout himself?

So no matter how much you exercise your calorie burning effects are limited by your metabolism.

Therefore although exercise is fantastic for getting fit it’s not necessarily great for losing weight.

People who say they lose weight through exercise have actually done so because they already have the right mental attitude towards it.

The psychological battle has already been won before they put on those running shoes.

But exercise is undoubtedly good for you. Fit people live longer. Thin people however do not necessarily live longer.

Being underweight can be as serious a health issue as being obese. Being overly thin - ask any recovering anorexic - is not a good place to be.

In the programme I attended a boot camp with two obese women - both named Katie - who proved they were far fitter than me in spite of their weight.

Being beaten was a real lesson - it proved that being fit is more important than what size you are. And losing so easily was even more humiliating than having to wear the boot camp's pink T-shirt!

Both Katies had found that by focusing on fitness rather than weight loss they had lost weight as a by-product.

They had begun to eat more healthily but with fitness always the goal, weight loss had happened anyway: very small changes on a daily basis make a huge difference.

But the key advice which I picked up again and again throughout the making of this series was that it’s important to change your mental attitude.

The key seemed to be not to focus on the weight but on getting fit and whatever you do, don't crash diet or go on a fad diet.

Jacques Peretti is the presenter of The Men Who Made Us Thin.

The Men Who Made Us Thin starts on Thursday, 8 August at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Long Live Britain: Good health rests with us

2013-07-22T10:31:29+00:00

Long Live Britain aims to get us all to pause and think about our health.

In the series we focused on the big causes of premature death and restricted living such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and alcohol-related liver disease, but these tend to creep up on us slowly and secretly through years of over-indulgence.

We all know that we should try to eat less, move more, not smoke and drink in moderation.

To illustrate why these things harm the body I reconstructed the effects of over-indulgence on the heart, liver and pancreas through stunts with Jodie Prenger, Crissy Rock and Ricky Grover including using footballers, dustbins and lots of lard to demonstrate how Type 2 diabetes makes it much difficult for our bodies' cells to work efficiently.

Crissy Rock: ‘Everyone wants to look OK on the outside but you don’t know what’s going on on the inside’

We also met patients with advanced disease who told how restricted their lives had become and how they wished they'd taken steps earlier to prevent the diseases or slow their progression.

We offered a risk assessment to 400 rugby fans and Manchester locals at a rugby match, allowing us to target middle-aged men who are often the least likely to visit their doctor.

The majority of those tested were at risk of Type 2 diabetes and close to half at risk of alcohol-related liver disease. Most said they would try to make changes in their lifestyle and if they do they could add years to their lives.

We only see our GP or nurse for 10 minutes at a time so the responsibility for our health rests with us. No matter how much money we put into the NHS it will collapse under the weight of chronic disease if we keep relying on doctors to fix us and don't fix ourselves.

The simplest screening test for men is: can you see your penis? If your belly's in the way, you have a problem.

Your waist size, measured at the level of your belly button, should be half your height or less.

It is not the same as your jeans size. Many of us have 40 inch bellies poking over 32 inch jeans.

Jodie Prenger: ‘With my family’s history of Type 2 diabetes, I didn’t want to bury my head in the sand’

Our programme used more high tech screening, but work slowly on getting down your waist size and you'll reduce your risk of any number of diseases without having to visit a doctor.

Making the programme certainly inspired me. Although I've always felt healthy, my blood pressure has crept up to alarmingly high levels.

As a doctor, I initially hated being a patient but I've got a brilliant GP, my blood pressure is well controlled and by following Long Live Britain’s advice on portion size I've lost a stone.

No diets, no fasting just simply reminding myself what food my body needs and in what amounts.

A portion of food should fit in your cupped hands, and you only need three of them a day, with a balance of protein, carbohydrate, fruit and vegetables.

Stick to that, eat slowly enough to savour the taste and nearly everyone will lose weight sensibly.

But being thin doesn't make you healthy per se. Mental health is crucial to physical health and most of us need to slow down, step outside, and reconnect with the beauty, joy and peace of nature.

If your life feels empty, don't fill it with food, go to your favourite outdoor place, sit down and think it through. Then get walking. It works for me.

Dr Phil Hammond is a doctor and co-presenter of Long Live Britain.

Long Live Britain was not broadcast on the originally scheduled date of Monday, 22 July due to extended BBC News coverage. Episode one will now be broadcast on Monday, 5 August at 9pm on BBC One and concluding with episode two at 10.35pm.

If you would like more information about the health issues raised in this programme, please see the information and support page for details of organisations which can help.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Frankie: A character with her own soundtrack

2013-05-10T09:32:10+00:00

I've had Frankie battering around in my head for some time now - a passionate, strong woman, a competent professional who acts impulsively and not always wisely, and can be exasperating but is always well meaning.

What to do with her? She was a character in search of a role.

“Frankie Maddox. Everyone else knows where to draw the line”

And then BBC One asked me to write a drama series about district nurses and bingo! There she was, ready made, in her uniform, just raring to go.

I realised she was working as a character when the producer and script editors said they wanted to be a part of her team, to spend time with her at the pub, to share a pizza and a bottle of wine with her at the end of a long week.

She felt real. Now we had to find someone who understood her as much as we did.

The casting director, Andy Morgan, brought us some very talented people for the part and we were excited to see Frankie going in this direction and then in that... and then Eve Myles walked in and we were bowled over. She was Frankie!

Before starting her busy day Frankie checks in with her favourite man, Ken Bruce

She completely understood Frankie's love of life, music and dancing and she was delighted by the Ken Bruce strand which weaves through the series.

I like including radio in my dramas and it had to be Ken Bruce because my husband was a Scot, and when he died Ken's voice on Radio 2 reminded me every day that it was ok to laugh, to grin, to groan at bad jokes, to shimmy in the kitchen, to ease off a bit with the grief.

Ken Bruce has recorded voiceovers for previous dramas written by Lucy

I know I'm not alone in this - radio is the soundtrack to life, and when you're going through hard times it can be an encouragement, whether it's a local station, Classic FM or hospital radio.

Frankie's a fast living, fast driving, singing, dancing, radio gal.

So, we have a busy, modern professional woman with an independent streak and her own soundtrack. Sounds perfect.

Ian (Dean Lennox Kelly) and Frankie have been together four years

But like many millions of busy, happy, successful women, her personal life can be a bit complicated. She has high standards.

Sometimes men don't quite live up to them... who'd have thought it?

I hope you like her as much as I do, and that you enjoy spending time with her and her lovely blokes.

Lucy Gannon is the writer and creator of Frankie.

Frankie begins on Tuesday, 14 May at 9pm on BBC One and BBC One HD. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

More on Frankie
Watch Eve Myles talk about playing Frankie
Watch Lucy Gannon explain her writing process

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Keeping Britain Alive: The NHS In A Day

2013-04-11T13:10:57+00:00

Keeping Britain Alive: The NHS In A Day was always going to be an ambitious project, to try and take a snapshot of the NHS at such a critical time in its history. After all it treats 1.5 million of us every day.

To get a sense of that scale, we wondered what it would be like if we filmed this enormous institution in just a single day.

What would that make us think about an organisation that touches all of our lives?

Surgeon Martin Drage removed Alan's kidney and transplanted it into his wife, Ann

As one of the executive producers I was responsible for helping to shape the initial concept and from the start I was excited by the idea, but also found it pretty terrifying from a production point of view.

With any other documentary series you'd spend months filming stories that developed and unfolded over time. With this we only had one chance at it and for many of the stories we didn't know quite what would happen on that day.

We wanted the day to feel as 'everyday' as possible, so Thursday, 18 October seemed the ideal candidate - midweek and neither in the middle of winter of summer.

Then came the enormous task of persuading NHS services to allow us to film with them. We spent about five months securing permissions, and researching with medical staff on the ground to find out what would be happening that we could film on 18 October.

And then there was the not insignificant task of assembling the camera crews, all of whom had to be trusted to go out into some of the most sensitive environments and return with meaningful footage.

Dr Chris Abell is one of three GPs responsible for the 3,500 inhabitants of Islay

On the day itself I was sat with my fellow executive producers in an office surrounded by white boards and phones, knowing that apart from react to what came up on the day, there was little more we could do. The die was cast.

In the end we had over 100 camera crews filming across the UK in 88 NHS services, including hospitals, GP surgeries, community services, ambulances and helicopters.

There were a small number of stories that were planned - like a scheduled surgery - but there were a huge number where we didn't know which patients were going to come in, who was going to give birth, who was going to end up with the emergency services and of course whether they would allow us to film with them.

Dr Patankar operates on stroke victim Graham to remove a clot from his brain

When the crews returned, they brought with them a total of 1,217 hours of footage, but to be honest we had no real idea what that would all amount to until we started assembling stories in the edit.

And in some ways I felt this was the scariest part of the endeavour - knowing that there was no way back. So much effort and resources for just one day.

A team of brilliant editors and directors spent five months making meaning out of the material and fashioning eight episodes that retain a sense of range, amazing juxtaposition and randomness, while also being loosely themed so that the programmes always feel more than the sum of their parts.

I hope that the series makes you ask questions and look at the NHS in a different way and also a look at ourselves - we'll all rub up against this institution in some way during our lives.

Magnus Temple is an executive producer of Keeping Britain Alive: The NHS In A Day.

Keeping Britain Alive: The NHS In A Day continues on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC Two HD. For further programme times please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Operation Hospital Food with James Martin: The biggest challenge

2013-02-25T08:15:10+00:00

There is no denying that hospital food can have a pretty poor reputation and often it is well deserved.

So to be able to work on a BBC One series that aims to improve hospital food, and hopefully change the public’s perception of what is served in our hospitals, has been fantastic.

As the series producer, easily the biggest challenge for me was simply finding and convincing a hospital to open its doors to our cameras and presenter, TV chef James Martin.

James and the catering team at Birmingham's Royal Orthopaedic Hospital

Myself and the producer/director Johnny Perks travelled all over the country speaking to countless hospital managers but generally they were pretty guarded.

I think this is a natural reaction; why wouldn’t they be wary of a film crew descending on their hospital and exposing their flaws?

I found honesty was the best policy. Yes, we were looking for problems or weaknesses in their food, but the aim of Operation Hospital Food with James Martin is to improve the meals served and leave the catering in a better state than it was in when we arrived.

When we first visited Birmingham’s Royal Orthopaedic Hospital they were very open about the issues they had with the catering department, in particular the overspend, the levels of food returned uneaten from the wards every day, and the low morale of the kitchen team.

Once food has gone up to the wards it can’t be served to anybody else, even when it’s untouched

Head chef Tracey and head of facilities Emma were very keen to take part in the project because they had been warned that unless things changed, the catering department faced the prospect of losing their jobs and an external company being brought in to provide the patients’ meals.

The kitchen team did have concerns with allowing us in, as they didn’t know how James was going to react to them or what changes he would implement, but after a few tense moments they came to realise that he was on their side and his changes were for the better.

Filming in small and noisy working hospital kitchens presented plenty of technical challenges for the crew, but it was the British weather that nearly scuppered one of the big moments of the series.

James asks some of the country's top chefs for a hand

James had invited a group of top class chefs to his home to ask them to join him in his mission.

To set the scene, we put together an outdoor summer garden but after spending most of the day setting up, the proverbial heavens opened! Good old British summer time!

The day was a wash out, but fortunately the chefs took it in good humour. You can enjoy watching them in episode two cooking huddled under golf umbrellas - and they still ate the soggy pizzas they'd all been preparing in the rain.

Throughout the series we faced many challenges but we built up a fantastic relationship with all the staff at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, which made it much easier - especially the early morning starts!

James became very close to everyone we worked with at the hospital. As you’ll see, there were a few difficult situations as emotions ran high, but they always ended positively.

James even treated the team to a day out go-karting to help boost morale, which you don't see in the series.

Everyone got stuck in with the racing especially James and Gaz who were determined to beat each other; I’m still not sure who actually won as they both claim they had the fastest lap!

The highlight has to be being able to play an admittedly small part in transforming hospital food around the country.

At some point we are all going to have a loved one spend time in hospital. So if the work we have done on Operation Hospital Food makes their stay even a little easier, then the hard work was definitely worth it.

Lucy McLennan the series producer of Operation Hospital Food with James Martin.

Series two of Operation Hospital Food with James Martin begins on Monday, 25 Feburary at 9.15am on BBC One and BBC One HD. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

Hospital food: The chef that hopes to improve standards: Read the BBC Food feature

BBC Food: Recipes from Operation Hospital Food with James Martin: Try one of the exclusive recipes from the series

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Life After War: Haunted by Helmand

2013-01-23T16:47:47+00:00

From time to time I would have to ask if we could stop the interview.

I would suggest they put the kettle on or claim I needed to rest my shoulder from the weight of the camera.

Sometimes they would ask me to stop filming because they knew they were going to cry. It could catch up with me as I drove home afterwards.

As the producer on the film Life After War: Haunted by Helmand, I had entered a world where right at the centre there was a blankness. A numbing pain. One of the mothers referred to it as a desolation.

In what remains the worst attack on a British foot patrol in the history of the Afghan campaign, on 10 July 2009 five members from the same platoon were killed.

'It's a date that you actually remember more than your birthday': Officer Alex Horsfall

The bond within these platoons is particularly intense. The attack still sends shock waves through the young men who survived and the relatives of those killed.

Some carry wounds in their minds, or in medical parlance they have post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

I wanted to tell their story. Better still, I wanted them to tell their story. To this end, I entered their lives very quietly.

I wanted them to see me as someone they could talk to, as someone who would listen, and I wanted them to be comfortable with the small camera on my shoulder.

For some of the grander shoots we hired an expert craft cameraman, but my aim generally was for the audience to feel like they had dropped in on an honest, intimate conversation.

I wanted them to hear these young men talk openly about how they live with the pain. Luckily for me, we had a brilliant team on the project here at BBC Northern Ireland.

Film making is a team sport, and everyone was superb. The film is the result of all our efforts.

I began last May by getting to know some of those who had survived the attack. We would meet in pubs and cafes and front rooms and just chat. I had a notebook out but no camera.

I think the time I spent embedded with British forces in Helmand in 2009 and 2011 helped me connect with them.

I understand soldiers’ lingo and have some appreciation, to a tiny extent really, about what they had experienced out there.

My aim was for them to relax around the camera, to have them talk to me and forget that it was there.

So over a cup of tea perhaps, I showed them how it worked and what the buttons did, and they would start to lose their fear of being filmed.

And then we would start talking about anything and I would raise it to my shoulder and start recording.

On a day out with Sherly and Matthew, Holty confesses he feels more alone now he's home

It would vary as to how long it would take before they forgot it was there. Some were instantly comfortable with it, but for others it took a few days.

Then most of them would then talk and talk and talk. And sometimes they could not.

I would arrive at their house as planned, knock on the door, and when they answered see the blankness in their eyes. If they were up to it I might do a bit of filming.

The silences would say more than their words. Some days I left the camera in the boot and we just had a chat.

The last thing I wanted to do was take them back to the day of the attack and cause them additional pain. I would just ask them about how they were doing now.

Some could take us back there. For others it would have been too much.

There was plenty of laughter along the way. Army banter is like a tonic they conjure up to boost morale. They were very funny when they wanted to be. The camera would wobble as my shoulders shook.

Members of 9 Platoon get together for a black tie reunion

But it was tough as well. The hardest interviews were those with Allan’s mother and sister.

Even in the edit weeks later, as we stitched the pictures together, I could not watch them back without getting a lump in my throat.

Allan had been 18 when he was out in Helmand in 2009 with his platoon. He survived the day of the attacks and all the other IEDs and bullets and rockets during that grisly tour.

The way his mother and sister talked about him he was still around. They told me about his humour and his foibles, his generosity and his love of life. I got to know him through their stories.

I started to think he would suddenly walk in, crack open a beer and give us all a big grin. We would laugh at what they remembered.

But they also talked about how he was changed by Helmand. It was all too much for Allan.

On 2 May 2011, nearly 18 months after he got back, at the age of 20, he took his own life. I was looking into his mother’s eyes as she told me this. The pain uncurled within her and I put the camera down.

Michael Price filmed and produced Life After Death: Haunted by Helmand.

Life After Death: Haunted by Helmand is on Wednesday, 23 January at 9pm on BBC Three. For further programme times, please see the upcoming broadcasts page.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Call The Midwife: I have the strangest job

2013-01-23T16:41:17+00:00

When I sat with a downright tatty manuscript and chose to read it rather than correct midwifery students’ assignments that morning, I had no idea where it would lead.

I didn’t think it would take long to skim through and dismiss. But Jennifer’s stories leapt off the page. I lost all track of time and nearly forgot to collect my children from school.

An article I had written for the Royal College of Midwives journal 12 months previously had struck a chord with newly-retired music teacher Jennifer Worth. She had read the article with interest, having worked as a midwife for only seven years in the late 50s and early 60s.

Jennifer said that she had always planned to write in her retirement and that my article provided the catalyst for her memoirs. The first book was Call The Midwife. I knew and worked with Jennifer for 13 years on the trilogy of her memoirs - I was her advisor and clinical editor.

'Courage: wish we could bottle it like gas and air' - watch the trailer

Sadly Jennifer died just before the stories were filmed for the BBC One series Call The Midwife but she had seen and approved early drafts of the scripts.

I feel that she would approve of the high standard of accuracy that we have achieved along with the series creator Heidi Thomas. During the long drawn-out process of turning the books into TV scripts for Call The Midwife, Jennifer asked if I could continue as the midwifery advisor on the show to provide medical and midwifery accuracy.

Now I probably have the strangest job that ever required a midwife.

Heidi's team of scriptwriters contact me at various points in the process of writing the clinical scenes and sometimes I suggest midwifery scenarios to fit the stories. I check that the medical conversations are appropriate.

For each of the scenes the sequence has to be accurate, or at least plausible. For example, a real ante natal examination of a pregnant woman may take 15 minutes, or in the case of the second (pushing) stage of labour, an hour or more.

The scenes portraying the birth or a clinic visit may only be a minute or two in an hour-long programme, so those moments have to look really convincing.

Trixie Franklin (Helen George) weighs a baby

I teach the actors a condensed version of the clinical techniques required to simulate the examination or procedure.

The action may only be required for a few seconds but the actors have to demonstrate enough of the clinical skill to convince the audience. I am always on the set when the clinical scenes are being filmed to help the actors and advise the director.

Heidi and the other series writers are very skilled at capturing these moments and I ensure that the examination or diagnosis is accurately portrayed.

I have also learned that, if for example, the actors need to put surgical gloves or a gown on I have to write that down in directions too or the costumes and props aren’t provided and the time required to put on the gown and gloves for example are not scheduled. All directions are written on the script. I now assume nothing!

So many medical dramas are spoilt when small details, such as a syringe used at the wrong angle are seen. The actors playing midwives and doctors have had to learn how to use the medical and midwifery equipment and pronounce medical terms.

I have taught the actors how to take blood pressure or listen to a baby’s heart beat through a pregnant abdomen using a Pinard (small trumpet shaped instrument) correctly using the (vintage) equipment.

When the professional aspects of the scene are right I feel that I’ve done my job well.

Jenny Lee (Jessica Raine), Trixie Franklin (Helen George), Cynthia Miller (Bryony Hannah) and babies

I’m used to looking after mothers and their babies but the usually unpleasantly cold sets for Call The Midwife have been a challenge.

However, the area immediately around the baby is heated to a point that most of the crew find uncomfortable but I find reassuring. The babies are usually naked for their scenes and chill rapidly.

We are very grateful that the mothers come to the set and allow their babies to be used for the filming and they watch everything that goes on via a monitor.

For the birth sequences I hold the baby until the last moment before handing over to the actress. I always remain very close to the baby, just out of shot.

In reality this usually means contorted under a bed or kneeling in a puddle. So, rather like my other day job delivering real babies.

Terri Coates is a practising midwife, lecturer and author and is the midwifery advisor on Call The Midwife.

Series two of Call The Midwife continues on BBC One and BBC One HD at 8pm on Sundays. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

More on Call The Midwife
BBC TV blog: Call The Midwife: In search of a new home

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

Junior Doctors: Working with a TV crew on my tail

2013-01-16T09:32:09+00:00

As if starting work as a doctor wasn't intimidating enough, I decided it was a good idea to let a film crew follow me, right from my first shift at The Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

I have always enjoyed a challenge. Almost every step I took for the first few weeks was with two of the TV crew right behind.

Luckily enough, my closest friends Tom and Emily agreed to be filmed on Junior Doctors too, so we could also share this experience.

The junior doctors chat about their concerns before their first shift on the ward

I'm particularly grateful I stayed in Liverpool for my foundation training after graduating because I have been able to share all the highs and lows with Tom and Em.

Getting to know a new job, a new hospital, a new team of colleagues, as well as a film crew was exciting! There were however, times when having a TV crew following me was difficult.

I was happy to have the crew with me as long as the patients were happy, but there were times when I felt it was too much to continue filming because of the nature of the conversations or procedures.

In these cases, I asked the film crew to stop filming, even though I knew these were the moments they were so desperately hoping for.

Protecting patients' privacy and dignity is something that has been drilled into all medical students from the beginning of our training.

One of my most memorable moments of the filming didn't even make the cut... I was being filmed at graduation and I discovered there was a MASSIVE insect in my mortar board.

I completely freaked out in front of the cameras.

I remember thinking during the ceremony, 'If I can't even stay calm about an insect, how on earth am I going to survive as a doctor, and why have I put myself through doing it in front of thousands of TV viewers?'

The juniors on the ward: Kiera, Ollie, Tristan, Emily, Ed, Tom and Jen

I've seen the whole of series three of Junior Doctors. I really enjoyed the private viewing with the other junior doctors but it was always going to be a hard watch for me because my nature is to be quite self-critical.

The first few episodes we all watched together in the shared house, with a few members of the film crew who had become close friends, and a couple of glasses of wine.

It was really quite an unreal experience, almost out of body, as I have never seen or heard myself on camera before.

I could remember filming the interviews and wondering how what I had said would be interpreted. This was the first time we'd see how they all turned out.

It was also interesting seeing the editor's interpretation of what happened and what they focused on, which was often very different to what I found interesting or important about the situation.

I was pleasantly surprised by the viewing and I have to say we all just laughed a lot.

Jennifer Whiteley in her scrubs

All of us had painful moments but you wouldn't do a programme of this nature if you didn't have the ability to laugh at yourself.

After we had seen the final episode it felt like we'd closed the chapter in that book. I had forgotten that it hadn't even really begun, as nobody else had seen it on TV yet.

I learned so much about myself while doing the programme. Nobody else ever gives you as much air time to talk about yourself and you constantly have to reflect on your day's work and the interactions you have.

In some ways I think it may have helped me to recognise things that I found hard or could have handled differently, simply because someone was always asking me why I did it!

Since starting work my confidence has grown but increasingly I realise how much more I have to learn and I am excited to start learning!

I remain grateful to patients and their relatives who have let me into times of their lives which are so deeply personal.

Jennifer Whiteley is a foundation year one doctor on Junior Doctors.

Series three of Junior Doctors begins on Thursday, 17 January at 9pm on BBC Three. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.

The Midwives: The pressures and emotions of being new

2012-08-07T08:30:56+00:00

I'm less nervous now delivering babies than when I was newly qualified in BBC Two's documentary series The Midwives.

I've found that my confidence has built really quickly with the job.

I feel honoured to be the only healthcare professional in the delivery room responsible for caring for the mother and her newborn child.

New midwife Jess attends her first Caesarean section

It's an empowering, intimate moment looking after women in their most vulnerable time.

Being filmed over six months gave me a real incentive to show the viewers a true insight into the pressures and emotions of being new in the role.

I felt the camera didn't get in the way of my ability to perform as a midwife - actually the experience of being filmed sharing that moment with new parents was fulfilling.

Similarly to Chloe, the first year student you'll see in episode two, I asked a lot of questions, especially during my first few weeks working on the antenatal ward.

This, with the support of the midwives helped me to grow in confidence.

I can relate closely to Chloe because for both of us knowledge of the job grows with you.

The questions you ask at the beginning are different to the questions you ask towards the end of your training and when you've just qualified.

You tend to just double check when newly qualified and even if it's something I already knew I was never too scared to ask.

Being a student has its ups and downs. You'll see in the series that Aurelie is struggling through her year of training, which I can personally relate to.

It's possible that part of the challenge for her was what we call the 'second year blues' although some student midwives can experience this at any time.

Aurelie Santu, Jess Shaw-Roberts and Chloe Badham

It is a period during your training where you hit a brick wall and where completing your training feels like an impossible task.

I had a high dropout rate in my group of student midwives. Forty of us started in September 2008 and only 26 graduated in December 2011.

The midwifery course is extremely tough: you practice for 37.5 hours a week, 45 weeks of the year for three years.

On top of the full-time lectures and placement you have what feels like a never-ending amount of academic essays, reflections and written skills to complete!

During my second year I experienced the blues when I was not enjoying one area of practice along with writing an essay that I was struggling with.

I nearly quit. It would have been the worst mistake of my life because looking back it was one glitch and I hit many smaller ones on the way.

Becoming a midwife was the best thing I have ever done.

I encourage anyone who is thinking about becoming a midwife to be entirely sure that you are ready to commit, and to be a student but not live like a student - and that you are up for the challenge.

It's a great challenge to beat and overcome! Anyone who is in their training: stick to it. It's worth it.

Jess Shaw-Roberts is a midwife on The Midwives.

The Midwives continues on Tuesday, 7 August at 9pm on BBC Two. For further programme times, please see the episode guide.

Comments made by writers on the BBC TV blog are their own opinions and not necessarily those of the BBC.