At the end of Jed Mercurio’s (Cardiac Arrest) highly acclaimed first series, principal hero of this tragic comedy Registrar Rob Lake (Max Beesley) is set to be working his last days at the hospital due to alleged whistleblowing of supervising consultant and newly appointed Clinical Director Roger Hurley (Patrick Baladi), and has just told a family an error he made due to lack of expertise which resulted in the death of their baby, because he wanted ‘to be judged’.
In essentially two episodes, the plot did a U-turn and management reinstated Lake in order to, one would imagine, ‘keep an eye’ on Hurley, whilst recently
Meanwhile, Hurley sets his sights on improving the hospital’s status, and his own ego, by audaciously gestating the concept of a High Risk Pregnancy Unit, which the money mad management practically salivate over. Over the past ten weeks this intensely graphic and gripping drama has shocked throughout, notably in the opening episode with a uterine inversion (according to British Medical Journal website this occurs when misapplying pressure ‘on the uterine fundus or traction traction on the cord of a non-separated placenta in a woman giving birth to more than one offspring at a time.’ I’m also informed it is a risk associated with late motherhood), caesarian section through a dead woman’s abdomen, a prospective quintuple birth that has to have reduction to two babies or all will be lost, two incidences of mental cruelty, and one a deaf, dumb and blind lady suffering with a high risk pregnancy that goes wrong.
In amongst the carnage, we see Rob embark on some new relationships - one with another member of staff, one with a ‘gynie patient’, one/off relationship with senior nurse Donna Rix, whose husband’s walked out on her in the aftermath of their affair. Rob becomes mates with new Personnel Manager Chrissy, head hunted from University Hospital, and she looks to get inside information on Hurley/Whitman, but then finds herself looking to placate Whitman and inadvertently creates conflict over being accepted by the workforce, or a bureaucratic nincompoop supporting Hospital Director Paul Tennant. Rob himself is forced to decide if he wants to be a pawn in Hospital politics, or leave and start a new life with Donna (whose also sick of the back-stabbing and wants to leave).
Whitman, still reeling from his demotion, looks to get back in the good graces of management by pushing through a drugs trial for what is touted as ‘the new viagra’. His Registrar and unrequited amour Polly Gray (Tamzin Malleson) is saddled with presenting favourable figures, boffs the drug boss, gets pregnant, dumped, and has to deal with the moral issue of presenting positive data given information of a harmful side-effect to the drug comes to her knowledge from a situation outside of the trial. Hurley himself suffers with the possible break-up of his marriage and family, due to an escalating rumour about some shenanigans with SHO Maya Dutta (Preeya Kalidas). She tried it on, but he resisted. Appearances were deceiving, and to deal with the problem Maya was forced to leave and Roger was forced to stay at the hospital.
After you’ve managed to get clear in your mind all those plots woven together - just when you’ve caught your breath, the series came to a climax a fortnight ago, with Whitman suspended indefinitely for some political manoeuver masquerading as ‘stealing coffee’. Hurley and the HRPU remain, with the hospital retaining it’s status and funding, and Whitman out on his ear, leaving Hurley to continue as Clinical Director, and Rob watching over him; covering up his mistakes, whilst we perceive that Donna gives up her nursing position, but will continue to be with Rob.
Essentially gripping viewing, Bodies was not for the faint-hearted through it’s unflinching detail, and deserved more viewers than it got. It is proposed that a Special will tie up all loose ends and close the story of Bodies. Hopefully it will be rewarding enough for one of the best series of the year.
Craig Aston.
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