Documentary style production based on real life emergency scenarios.
I love the realism, the pace, the way the narrator draws you into the story line.
The way they produce and cut the stories to discuss with impacted family, doctors, nurses and loved ones is just perfect.
Highly recommended to anyone who has an actual interest in medical prcedures and operations and not over dramatised american drivvel.
Get connected with the patient, the staff and have a detailed view of real life paramedics.
13 Reviews
I loved this series, mostly that done at Kings College Hospital
sfheriford2 August 2021
Every episode filmed at Kings had me riveted and i binged on each season really craving more. Not sure what happened when they switched hospitals but the difference was impossible to overlook. Nothing about the other episodes even got much of my attention and they began to drag on so badly I knew I was soon going to abandon the rest of the series. The Drs were not as interesting, cases were mainly injuries, etc that most folks could easily figure out and maybe even fix things in a general doctor's office. No need to go sit for hours at a busy AE facility.
After all my complaints I hope folks give the series a try . No need to whine about blood, etc. After all you know that is coming. Gave it a ten several shows in then had to digress because the other facilities really dropped the ball. Will rewatch several seasons as I tended to miss things first round.
After all my complaints I hope folks give the series a try . No need to whine about blood, etc. After all you know that is coming. Gave it a ten several shows in then had to digress because the other facilities really dropped the ball. Will rewatch several seasons as I tended to miss things first round.
great show if you can watch it
howboutthisone_huh17 June 2022
I've never given a 10 for anything I've watched. They could do a live broadcast of the rapture and I'd probably still not give it a 10. This show however I might give a 10 if it wasn't so impossible to watch in the US. Here, the idiots who own this production, make it as difficult to impossible as can be to watch it. Nine seasons (out of 26) you can watch on prime, and 6 more on tubi but that's it as far as I can tell. The first nine seasons were pretty easy to watch because you could start, stop and come back to where you left off but with tubi, if you don't watch continuously you'll lose your spot (otherwise know as 'continue watching'). Yep, it's gone, there's no history and so if you don't write down or remember where you left off, well you just have to start over. And there's ten seasons you can't watch at all after that. I would pay to watch these if it wasn't a big needle in the eye, but no, but far as I can tell, they don't care to make this watchable in the states. I guess it's an NHS thing or something. Ok, I'll go back to watch reruns of breaking bad instead.
Ok, so except for being unwatchable, the episodes that are, are pretty interesting. Of course it's tv, and specifically reality tv and so there's a lot of editing, and healthcare in the UK isn't the industry it is in the US. And, I've never met people like profiled on the show. If that's real life in england, I want to visit because everything about the show is moving, as much as any art you've ever seen in the way it captures the best. I don't believe it but I'd like to find out for myself.
Ok, so except for being unwatchable, the episodes that are, are pretty interesting. Of course it's tv, and specifically reality tv and so there's a lot of editing, and healthcare in the UK isn't the industry it is in the US. And, I've never met people like profiled on the show. If that's real life in england, I want to visit because everything about the show is moving, as much as any art you've ever seen in the way it captures the best. I don't believe it but I'd like to find out for myself.
Very interesting look at medicine & life in the UK
bobriensan21 July 2021
I just found this series and started binge watching it. I found seasons 1-6 particularly good. The doctors, introducing themselves to the patients by first name -- definitely not a practice in the U. S. The bedside manner of all the staff was just a treat to watch, so caring & friendly. I was also quite interested in how they mixed in the loved ones talking about their the injured person and how important family was to them. Really very well done. (though why they don't get the patients more pain killers when they perform a procedure is a mystery to me.) When they moved to another hospital in seasons 7+ the staff was quite different. Not as friendly, caring, not really bantering with the patient and the staff. And I do miss the staff at King's, who you get to know well.
Binge Worthy
sfheriford23 July 2021
I enjoyed binging on this show over this past week. They really showed a good mix of health emergencies. The worker videos was a different aspect and it was great to hear things from their viewpoint. The family interviews/comments was also something other shows have not bothered to add to their documentaries. I liked looking at things from ALL the additional viewpoints.
A lovely show!
knittingnoodle16 April 2022
I was having insomnia and looking for a limited episode documentary. Instead I fell head over heels for 24 Hours in A&E. This is just such a wonderful series. Much of it focuses on the staff at the hospitals and how they feel about their jobs and patients. Some stories are sad, some are happy but the loving care the doctors and nurses provide is the story. Highly recommend but you'll bespeaking with a British accent after a few seasons!
Watch the King's College A&E seasons - then stop
RashadInOz8 November 2022
I had binged through the first few seasons (on Amazon Prime) of the episodes made at King's and rated it an emphatic ten. The production was pitch-perfect: Continuity, the cases they picked, the engaging focus on nurses, doctors and staff. Waiting room conversations, patients and relatives. Wuth perfect timing, it was just right, amazing camerawork (with one excellent must-see behind the scenes episode).
A few days ago I caught an episode of what appeared to be a different show, 24 hours in Emergency, on free to air. At a different hospital, King George. And slowly realized with great disappointment that most of the things that I loved had dropped away. Summarized in one term: production values. Gone was the focus on the doctors, nurses and emergency teams at work, replaced with long and interminable patient and relative interviews, ruined by bad editing.
Editing which was suddenly like a bad music video, a mashup of disconnected shots every few minutes. Always a sign of desperation at knowing the quality is sliding. And an across-the-board mess-up of just about every aspect if the early eps. But so uniform that it gets hard to find a clear reason. It just went bad.
I hate that this has happened to a brilliant series, and I would still exhort people to watch it.
And stop when they switch hospitals - or a bit before, because I think the slide started before the switch. Maybe budget, maybe production team changes.
A damned shame.
A few days ago I caught an episode of what appeared to be a different show, 24 hours in Emergency, on free to air. At a different hospital, King George. And slowly realized with great disappointment that most of the things that I loved had dropped away. Summarized in one term: production values. Gone was the focus on the doctors, nurses and emergency teams at work, replaced with long and interminable patient and relative interviews, ruined by bad editing.
Editing which was suddenly like a bad music video, a mashup of disconnected shots every few minutes. Always a sign of desperation at knowing the quality is sliding. And an across-the-board mess-up of just about every aspect if the early eps. But so uniform that it gets hard to find a clear reason. It just went bad.
I hate that this has happened to a brilliant series, and I would still exhort people to watch it.
And stop when they switch hospitals - or a bit before, because I think the slide started before the switch. Maybe budget, maybe production team changes.
A damned shame.
Late season let down
szynskipeterjohn25 March 2024
I was super hooked on this show right up until season 9. And then I have to agree with some other reviews, after season 9 they screwed the show up. The doctors they chose weren't nearly as friendly or likeable, the the doctor dialog was almost non existent. Sadly the show lost its flavor. Up until season 9 the doctors were funny and enjoyable to watch. They seemed to generally care about the patients. Nothing like our care in the USA, doctors even introduce themselves by first name. I absolutely loved watching the show, but after season 9 when I had the show on it merely became background noise as it couldn't hold my attention at all. So I would strongly recommend season's 1 thru 8. I mean go ahead and try the rest of the seasons, they just did nothing for me.
The suffering of others is over-produced and turned into a soap opera
jiver228 February 2017
I don't like this style of production at all. Dreary piano music in the background, too many close ups of "in your face" talking heads, long waits with nothing happening sexed up by changing the camera angle every two seconds of someone lying in bed, all this does nothing for me except distracts. The viewer is told what to watch and what emotions to empathise with instead of being allowed time to think.
People get upset over the illness of a loved one, but they go through other emotions as well and the tear jerking production doesn't do justice to this.
People get upset over the illness of a loved one, but they go through other emotions as well and the tear jerking production doesn't do justice to this.
Glimpses into a different way of practicing emergency medicine
qui_j25 May 2023
This series follows the stories of patients and staff at a busy UK A&E department in London. The way in which patients are treated is very different to that seen in a busy trauma center in North America. Sometimes, one wonders how the patients survive, given the fact that so much time appears to be wasted between arrival and definitive treatment that is required in an operating theater. In addition, because this is a mixed casualty department, it sees a wide variety of non-urgent, minor cases which could be handled in a GP's office. After a while, the episodes become very formulaic and seem to just be copies of one another.
Cringe worthy
IntermusicM1 November 2023
This could be a good programme but unfortunately just succeeds in being cringe worthy.
The commentator makes an in growing toenail sound life threatening.
The endings always show the intended tear jerking conclusions to each case. Oh my god the patient didn't have his leg amputated because of the toenail. The broken leg didn't result in permanent brain damage.
It's not dramatic it's just "pass the sick bucket, for the viewer".
And the relatives stories are also fingers down throat sick making. All these perfect people in perfect relationships. Where does the programme maker find them all? And all the way through, the commentator continues his whiny doom mongering.
Plenty of better medical reality shows out there guys. Give this one a miss.
The commentator makes an in growing toenail sound life threatening.
The endings always show the intended tear jerking conclusions to each case. Oh my god the patient didn't have his leg amputated because of the toenail. The broken leg didn't result in permanent brain damage.
It's not dramatic it's just "pass the sick bucket, for the viewer".
And the relatives stories are also fingers down throat sick making. All these perfect people in perfect relationships. Where does the programme maker find them all? And all the way through, the commentator continues his whiny doom mongering.
Plenty of better medical reality shows out there guys. Give this one a miss.
would be better without over dramatisation and way too long storylines
pamsam-749183 August 2023
It would be so much better without over dramatisation and way too long storylines of random stories of peoples lives. I'd love to watch this without unnecessary stories about their lives - its more than half of the show about person childhood (??!).
This should be a show about what happens on A&E, not how's the life of the patients outside the A&E department.
I think it used to me like that (or maybe I remember another show) and I love those shows as have no idea what happens in A&E - been lucky enough of never admitted.
Skip the unnecessary stories about people next season and I'll watch this again.
This should be a show about what happens on A&E, not how's the life of the patients outside the A&E department.
I think it used to me like that (or maybe I remember another show) and I love those shows as have no idea what happens in A&E - been lucky enough of never admitted.
Skip the unnecessary stories about people next season and I'll watch this again.
Racism
shawnavolley15 February 2023
This show really highlights the disparity between black care and white care.
The white patients tend to get better/quicker treatment for pain management, empathy And better compasstionate explanations. A black person was actually called street by the The Asian doctor. And don't get me started on the rude and obnoxious bulldyke from the first season. The black employees are relegated to the background cleaning or doing data entry. Couldn't hire any black doctors or specialist?
EQUAL TREATMENT HEALTHCARE! EQUAL TREATMENT HEALTH CARE. EQUAL TREATMENTHEALTHCARE.
COURSES IN MEDICAL TRAINING ABOUT DIVERSITY.
The white patients tend to get better/quicker treatment for pain management, empathy And better compasstionate explanations. A black person was actually called street by the The Asian doctor. And don't get me started on the rude and obnoxious bulldyke from the first season. The black employees are relegated to the background cleaning or doing data entry. Couldn't hire any black doctors or specialist?
EQUAL TREATMENT HEALTHCARE! EQUAL TREATMENT HEALTH CARE. EQUAL TREATMENTHEALTHCARE.
COURSES IN MEDICAL TRAINING ABOUT DIVERSITY.
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