Truth is usually stranger than fiction, and in this dark spoof of the British medical profession, you get two sides to the stories, one allegedly real and the other obviously fictional, a satire of medical T.V dramas, especially the daytime serials. Much of the cast gets to play dual roles, starkly different than the other, most notably the striking Lynn Redgrave.
The cast consists mainly of faces us Yanks may slightly recognize yet not know the names. For me, Jim Dale and Donald Sinden were the most recognizable names although I felt that Dale completely disappeared into his characters. Redgrave too is at first unrecognizable as the make-up lacking nurse in the real hospital but a glamorous sex-pot in the spoof. An interracial subplot in the satire is highlighted by the retort of the black doctor to the old adage To err is human, To forgive divine when he responds that some white man must have come up with it.
While the spoof is a wild parody of the T.V. hospital craze, the comedy of the real hospital comes from irony and an element of truth. The recurring shot of a grand dame traipsing through the wards spreading the good news of salvation reveals that she doesn't really give a crap about the individuals. The head nurse spends her time showing foreign visitors through the wards, revealing her contempt for the lingering patients taking up beds she feels are desperately needed. A female doctor falls asleep atop a patient, obviously a victim of over-work. It is obvious that it is really the novice nurses who really care, especially Redgrave's plain jane who doesn't seem to mind a grab from the hornier patients every now and then.
My reaction to the funny moments was a smirk, not a laugh. This indicates to me that this was intended to be a thinking man's comedy, not a Carry On rip-off. And check out the nurse in the soap spoof who is identical to Elizabeth Taylor.
The cast consists mainly of faces us Yanks may slightly recognize yet not know the names. For me, Jim Dale and Donald Sinden were the most recognizable names although I felt that Dale completely disappeared into his characters. Redgrave too is at first unrecognizable as the make-up lacking nurse in the real hospital but a glamorous sex-pot in the spoof. An interracial subplot in the satire is highlighted by the retort of the black doctor to the old adage To err is human, To forgive divine when he responds that some white man must have come up with it.
While the spoof is a wild parody of the T.V. hospital craze, the comedy of the real hospital comes from irony and an element of truth. The recurring shot of a grand dame traipsing through the wards spreading the good news of salvation reveals that she doesn't really give a crap about the individuals. The head nurse spends her time showing foreign visitors through the wards, revealing her contempt for the lingering patients taking up beds she feels are desperately needed. A female doctor falls asleep atop a patient, obviously a victim of over-work. It is obvious that it is really the novice nurses who really care, especially Redgrave's plain jane who doesn't seem to mind a grab from the hornier patients every now and then.
My reaction to the funny moments was a smirk, not a laugh. This indicates to me that this was intended to be a thinking man's comedy, not a Carry On rip-off. And check out the nurse in the soap spoof who is identical to Elizabeth Taylor.