AN UPHILL STRUGGLE
MOUNTAIN VETS BBC2, 8pm
YOU may need a strong stomach for some of the scenes here, but the deluge of cute animals should make up for it. This series returns to the vets at the heart of the community of the Kingdom of Mourne in Co Down, Northern Ireland, where 10 dedicated members of staff see to all the animal needs.
This is no gentle farming show, it’s quite dramatic with plenty of urgent call outs and life saving treatment.
It begins with a prize ewe, which is having a difficult labour.
Vet Cahir must perform an emergency C-section – and it doesn’t go exactly as expected.
Elsewhere, vet Nuala tends to a calf with an infected hoof – the only option is to take on a challenging amputation.
Back at the clinic, terrier Kim has been rushed to the clinic because her owner thinks she’s swallowed rat poison.
Young vet Daisy has to act quickly to induce vomiting if she is going to neutralise the poison, which could be fatal.
Vet Jennie is the most recent arrival to the veterinary practice and she’s seeing a newborn lamb which has been brought to the clinic by its dedicated young owner, farmer Stephen.
The lamb’s leg has a bad break and Jennie tries to put a cast in place with the hope it will walk normally again.
Finally, on Nuala’s last day of work before her wedding, nurse Genevieve is up to mischief.
A local wedding tradition known as a ‘doing’, involves friends of the bride-to-be dousing her in buckets of gunge.