WHAT’S HOT TO WATCH TODAY
I HAVE to be honest, I’m not always in the best frame of mind to watch AMBULANCE (9pm, BBC1). Don’t get me wrong, it’s a brilliant programme – an observational documentary that richly deserves the BAFTA it picked up not so long back.
It’s just it can be a challenging watch, particularly if you’re feeling, shall we say, emotionally delicate.
Wimping out like that, of course, is not an option for the crews at the heart of this show, series four of which is switching its focus to the North West Ambulance Service, serving Greater Manchester and beyond. They just have to take whatever the working day chucks at them.
The incident that opens tonight’s episode certainly throws them – and us – in at the deep end.
A deeply distressed woman has called to say her husband, who has a history of heart trouble, has collapsed, and that she can’t feel a pulse.
Advance paramedic Gari, who attends the most critically ill, is soon on the scene, but will he be able to save this poor man?
There are, of course, lighter moments. And you also come to appreciate the range of characters who keep this service running, often adopting a rather wry perspective on things, no doubt to help themselves stay sane.
After one crew has attended to a drunk teenager, a colleague remarks: “It’s better than beating each other up and stabbing each other, which seems to be quite a popular pastime these days.” STILL in Manchester, we have the final part of the Channel 4 police drama NO OFFENCE (9pm). Can DI Viv Deering and her team bring down dodgy mayor Caroline McCoy?