A real tonic for 999 crew
ITHINK I’ve found my TV Heroine Of The Week. She’s called Marion, she’s 95 and she turns up tonight in AMBULANCE (BBC1, 9pm), the award-winning documentary series that’s back for another run.
Marion, who lives alone, has had a fall. She’s been on the floor for a couple of hours but she’s not one to make a fuss. Quite the reverse.
When paramedics Glynn and Andrea (right) from the North West Ambulance Service, arrive to check her over, Marion is more interested in quizzing them about their tattoos.
“I like your thingies on your arm,” she tells Glynn, chirpily. “Does your wife like them? I’d like a little rose if I had one.”
“Why don’t you get one?” Andrea chips in. Marion’s not convinced. “With a bum like mine?” she exclaims.
Ambulance, to be honest, can be a tough show to watch and it drops us right in at the deep end tonight with an opening incident which, I should warn you, is truly heartbreaking.
Call me feeble-minded but I rather wish they’d alert us beforehand as to precisely how distressing each episode is about to be, maybe on a scale of one to 10, so that we can make an informed decision as to whether we have the strength to get through it.
I’m like this with The Supervet as well, by the way.
Anyway, at least Marion’s case has a nice happy ending. The paramedics’ checks reveal she’s fine. She’s clearly one hell of a lady.
“I smoke, you know,” she then tells them, with evident satisfaction. “I’ve smoked from being 19, so I’m not giving it up now.”
There’s very little arguing with that. Before our paramedic pair head off, Andrea kindly offers to put the kettle on. “Tea or coffee?” she asks Marion. “I’ll have a gin and tonic,” Marion replies.
Elsewhere, another show that’s been known to have the occasional downbeat moment – I don’t know if anyone else has spotted that – is EASTENDERS (BBC1, 7.30pm).
Right now, things are looking particularly bleak for mum-to-be Hayley Slater and for a number of reasons.
First, she didn’t plan to get pregnant. Second, she thinks she’d be a terrible mother. Third, she fears she’s done the baby harm with all her drinking. Fourth, she’s a Slater. Fifth, she’s in EastEnders.
Oh, and now, of course, Jean reckons she’s figured out that the baby is Alfie’s, which isn’t going to be great news if it’s true. Will Hayley confirm or deny it? All in all, this poor soul is not in a good place and she’s about to put herself in an even worse one, as she heads to an abandoned tower block and perches on the edge of a balcony. Also tonight we have the penultimate episode of EMMERDALE 1918 (ITV, 8.30pm), in which cast members from the beautifully bonkers Yorkshire soap have been looking at personal stories from a century back, tying in with the end of the First World War. Tonight it’s Bhasker Patel, better known to viewers as factory boss Rishi, recalling the tale of young Rowntree’s clerk Alfred Martlew and what drove him to become a conscientious objector.