When a Brit buddy recommended this BBC series set in a UK obstetrics & gynecology ward, he said they could never make a series like that in North America.
During the first ep, we were treated to a certain amount of nudity, including a brief shadowy glimpse of pubic hair, so I thought that was what he'd meant. In the first season finale, we're confronted with the sight of a baby's head sticking out of a very realistic vagina. Not the first we've seen & not a brief glimpse either; the whole episode revolves around this baby being stuck & their attempts (including deliberately breaking its collarbone) to get it out. Now I was sure this was what he meant.
Clearly, what we were seeing couldn't have been real; it's not like they could just hire some pregnant woman to give birth on the show & pause with the baby half in & half out. You can only assume the distended vagina & baby's head were plastic constructs, but the straining labia & the wet matted pubic hair were so utterly realistic as to make no difference. They'd gone to meticulous - some might say extreme - lengths to present the reality of an OB/GYN ward. My friend was right, you'd never see anything even resembling that on North American TV.
A few eps in tho, I also came to realize this show was fundamentally different in a more important way from the numerous medical series I enjoy regularly. In the series I've been watching, all the doctors & medical staff - with very few exceptions - are decidedly professional & assiduously dedicated to patient welfare. The unethical or incompetent exceptions are anomalies sooner or later weeded out. (Before going further, I want to say I still believe the majority of doctors do their well-intentioned best according to their fallible human abilities.) -Which makes Bodies all the more shocking:
In Bodies, the doctors' main concerns are statistics, façade, prestige, money & covering your ass. I knew then that was also what he'd meant. The plot revolves around young registrar (UK equivalent of a resident) Rob Lake and a right-minded anesthetist reporting a senior doctor's dangerous incompetence & being subsequently crushed by a vindictive administration. Never have I seen a series really zero in on the arrogance, incompetence & deceit of some medical practitioners & the readiness of hospital administrations to cover it up. You don't see that on North American TV either. Kudos for a truly ground-breaking series.
During the first ep, we were treated to a certain amount of nudity, including a brief shadowy glimpse of pubic hair, so I thought that was what he'd meant. In the first season finale, we're confronted with the sight of a baby's head sticking out of a very realistic vagina. Not the first we've seen & not a brief glimpse either; the whole episode revolves around this baby being stuck & their attempts (including deliberately breaking its collarbone) to get it out. Now I was sure this was what he meant.
Clearly, what we were seeing couldn't have been real; it's not like they could just hire some pregnant woman to give birth on the show & pause with the baby half in & half out. You can only assume the distended vagina & baby's head were plastic constructs, but the straining labia & the wet matted pubic hair were so utterly realistic as to make no difference. They'd gone to meticulous - some might say extreme - lengths to present the reality of an OB/GYN ward. My friend was right, you'd never see anything even resembling that on North American TV.
A few eps in tho, I also came to realize this show was fundamentally different in a more important way from the numerous medical series I enjoy regularly. In the series I've been watching, all the doctors & medical staff - with very few exceptions - are decidedly professional & assiduously dedicated to patient welfare. The unethical or incompetent exceptions are anomalies sooner or later weeded out. (Before going further, I want to say I still believe the majority of doctors do their well-intentioned best according to their fallible human abilities.) -Which makes Bodies all the more shocking:
In Bodies, the doctors' main concerns are statistics, façade, prestige, money & covering your ass. I knew then that was also what he'd meant. The plot revolves around young registrar (UK equivalent of a resident) Rob Lake and a right-minded anesthetist reporting a senior doctor's dangerous incompetence & being subsequently crushed by a vindictive administration. Never have I seen a series really zero in on the arrogance, incompetence & deceit of some medical practitioners & the readiness of hospital administrations to cover it up. You don't see that on North American TV either. Kudos for a truly ground-breaking series.