This 14-part observational documentary that the London Times calls, “Television that makes you grateful to be healthy and proud to be human,” captures the daily life-or-death dramas that take place in one of the busiest ER departments in England. Every day, 60,000 people enter the ER and around 350 of them are treated at King’s College Hospital, London. With a staff of 140, the hospital serves as a major trauma center dealing with the most serious cases of stabbings, shootings and major accidents as well as a community hospital dealing with its fair share of sores, cuts and minor injuries.
With unprecedented access to the hospital, the production team rigged over 14 miles of camera cable with 70 remote cameras strategically placed around its major trauma department. After filming 24 hours a day for 28 days, the BAFTA-winning team was able to capture 4,200 hours of footage in a way that has never been done before. Series Producer and Director Anthony Philipson says, “The rig allowed us to film amazingly intimate and heart-warming stories of real courage, love and dedication … far more powerful than any work of hospital fiction could hope to be.”
Each episode focuses on patients who were treated within the same 24-hour period and captures the joy and heartache faced by them and their loved ones, as well as the spit-second life and death decisions made by the medical staff. The documentary follows up with recovering patients, tells the story of their lives post-ER and offers an honest insight into their experience in the emergency ward and the harsh life lessons they were forced to learn.