Night fit for our heroes
I’ve watched countless fly-on-thewall documentaries on the NHS over the past two or three years. I’m not sure how often I’ve said: “These people deserve a bloody award,” but it’s in the hundreds.
So it was great to see some shiny trophies dished out at the NHS Heroes Awards on ITV last night.
The best thing about it was that the recipients were so humble their first thought was to downplay their achievements and share the glory with their teammates instead.
If that lack of ego alone didn’t have you welling up then the stories behind each award surely did. I just hope you hadn’t used up all your tissues blubbing over Harry and Meghan at the weekend.
It was so emotional you had to give double points to the organisers for booking Paul O’Grady as host – just the man you need to distract the crowd with some gallows humour while you attend to that bit of dust in your eye.
The fact Paul has more to thank the NHS for than most made his act even more impressive.
He’d be the first to tell you the night wasn’t about him, though.
It was about the award-winners and the people who wanted to show them some well-deserved, yet never requested, gratitude.
It was such a magical night that when Jurgen Klopp presented young Liverpool fan Lewis Hine with his ticket to the awards I actually found myself hoping his beloved team would win the Champions League Final on Saturday.
Now tell me the NHS doesn’t work miracles.