From Casualty to Holby City, Scrubs, Call The Midwife and ER, what IS the most ... trends now
Whether it's Casualty, Holby City or Grey's Anatomy, fast-paced hospital dramas have us on the edge of our seats.
But are they accurate, or should they be taken with a large pinch of salt?
We asked the experts which of your favourite medical TV series is the most accurate - and averaged their scores to give a rank out of 10...
Call The Midwife (7/10)Groans of women in travail have helped make Call The Midwife one of TV's most popular dramas.
Based on the fascinating real-life memoirs of Jennifer Worth, a domiciliary midwife in London's Docklands in the 50s, the BBC favourite has featured the likes of Miriam Margolyes and Cliff Parisi over its 13-series span.
Call the Midwife which screened 12 series, is based on the real-life memoir of Jennifer Worth, who worked as a domiciliary midwife in London's Docklands in the 1950s
Although the BBC's Sunday night staple blurs the line between fact and fiction, the show is historically accurate, experts say.
Nurses say the episodes captured the 'realness of childbirth' as well as how tough it is to be a midwife.
Amanda Azzopardi, an advanced nurse practitioner, said: 'With scenes created for drama purposes, it was really able to capture the true experience of the realness of childbirth and the intensity of the role of being a midwife.
Fellow London-based nurse Emily West said: 'This program beautifully demonstrates how far we have come in nursing and midwifery over the years.
'It puts patients at the heart of it, as it should.
'I am sure there is a variation of inaccuracies — but it still is a true love letter to the midwifery profession.'
Because the drama is set 70 years ago, a lot has changed across the medical scene when it comes to today's medical practices.
Kian Carvell, specialist assessor at EA Mobility, a firm supporting disabled people in their home, said that the equipment and facilities therefore is 'unrealistic to today’s medical environment'.
Last year, Call The Midwife was criticised for not depicting labour accurately.
Scenes of midwives and doctors clamping the umbilical cord were either inaccurate or dramatised as unimportant a third of the time, according to research by a team at King's College London and the University of Liverpool, who analysed 87 births shown in 48 episodes of three UK popular fictional and reality TV programmes.
Angling in on Call The Midwife, the experts concluded that the line between fact and fiction is 'blurred', warning that the show risks misinforming prospective parents and professionals.
The BBC at the time said: 'It's highly accurate to the period it depicts, and shows how childbirth has changed radically over the years.'
Scrubs (8/10)Scrubs is, according to medics we asked, one of the most accurate and relatable TV shows when it comes to depicting life inside a hospital.
The nine series sitcom ran from 2001 to 2010 and tells the story of a group of young doctors, including Dave Franco as Cole Aaronson, in a teaching hospital in Greater Sacramento, California, as they work their way up the ranks.
London-based GP Dr Hana Patel says the show is fairly realistic, accurately honing in on both the 'funny aspects of medicine' and the daily life of working in a hospital.
Ms Azzopardi, of Amanda Azzopardi Aesthetics, agrees that although it is a comedy, Scrubs still is a 'realistic portrayal of the day life of doctors who are in training'.
Bill Lawrence, Scrubs' creator who helped propel Ted Lasso to international acclaim, worked with medical advisors including his LA-based cardiologist friend to ensure scenarios in the show were accurate.
This is Going to Hurt (7/10)Set on a labour ward, the 2022 drama aired on the BBC shows the highs and lows of working as a midwife for the NHS.
As well as capturing the heartbreaking suicide of Shruti, played by Ambika Mod, that left viewers in tears, it showed the stark difference between NHS and private hospitals.
The one-off, seven-episode series, an adaptation of former junior doctor Adam Kay's diaries from working in the NHS, is an 'honest' account, according to Dr Patel.
It portrays the 'raw emotions and struggles with everyday life in medical training', Ms Azzopardi adds. She also believes the show is somewhat accurate.
For Ms West, of the CREO CLINIC, the drama is 'a heartfelt breakup letter to being a junior doctor in a modern day NHS'.
She said: 'The nurse in me wants to give Adam Kay a warm reassuring smile at the beginning of a shift, with the promise of a luke warm tea and stashed away biscuits after ward round, in the hope that he will indeed do his best to make it as painless as possible for everyone’s sake.
'As many healthcare staff would say, the struggle is real, and this series makes a medical professional feel seen.
'From staff dynamics and depictions of emotional burdens, endless tasks, multiplying responsibilities, lack of time and time off.'
However, the drama was slammed by mothers, midwives and pregnancy campaign groups for depicting birth as 'traumatic' and women as 'weak and disempowered.'
The show also came under fire for portraying Ben Wishaw's character Adam as the 'hero' while showcasing the women giving birth as 'misguided fools who think they can have a say in birth'.
In one scene in the first episode, Adam indicates to a woman that he will perform a C-section by simply gesturing a cutting movement. In another, he makes it seem as though a potentially dangerous delivery complication - a umbilical cord prolapse - is commonplace.
Holby City, which shows the daily lives of doctors and patients on the frenetic cardiac unit of Holby City General Hospital, contains more drama than medical accuracy, experts say
BBC's British drama, portraying the daily lives of doctors and patients on the frenetic cardiac unit of the fictional Holby City General Hospital, contains more drama than medical accuracy, some experts say.
Based purely on fiction for drama purposes, Ms Azzopardi says the decommissioned TV series 'lacks realism'.
Dr Patel also criticises the drama, which ran between 1999 and 2022 on prime-time TV, for not being similar to 'real life' working in the NHS.
She said: 'It is an unreal portrayal of issues NHS workers actually face. There may be dramas but not so many in one episode or shift.
'Also dramas have the extremes of cases and social and psychological issues that we see as doctors, and not the day to day stuff.'
Mr Carvell agrees that the show, which over the years featured the likes of One Day's Leo Woodall and Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, is not the most realistic, although very entertaining.
He added: 'It focus more on dramatic effect than the realities of healthcare.
'We do get to see a variety of patients treated and viewers might learn more about conditions they’ve never heard of, but the personal lives of staff often get more focus, which is understandable, as it is a drama.’
In 2013, the show was accused of risking lives with a 'reckless' portrayal of organ donation and prompting potential life savers to come off the donor list.
The particular episode which drew flak was centered on a teenage girl who needed a heart transplant.
NHS Blood and Transplant, which is responsible for organ donation, said it was full of inaccuracies and said the 'bodies of recently dead were portrayed as commodities'.
It said people had contacted them asking to be removed from the organ donor register.
Casualty is a long-running BBC medical drama depicts the working and private lives of medics in A&E. Although it's plot is thrilling, medics say some medical scenes such as medication prescribing are not that realistic
The even longer-running BBC medical drama, that has starred Martin Freeman and Kate Winslet, similarly depicts the working and private lives of medics in A&E.
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