Young Vets
Season 1 BBC Earth (*184) 16:15 Reality
Reality doccie series Young Vets is anything but cute and cuddly. It’s set in London and follows 10 students at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) as they head into their final year of varsity. “Camera crews follow these potential vets during all their coursework that sees them working on farms and in animal hospitals,” says narrator Tamsin Greig, Anne Trenchard in drama series Belgravia. “They’re going to be doing things in the real world now.”
Some of the many challenges the students face include learning how to deal with aggressive dogs, performing surgery on cows with ovarian cysts in the middle of the farm, or being called in late at night to perform emergency life-or-death surgery on animal patients. “It’s an intense watch that’s not meant to be gruesome or grisly, we’re not showing too much surgery stuff,” explains Tamsin. “We’re showing our viewers a clearer image of the pressure that vet students go through.”
Judy Puddifoot, one of the finalyear students who’s featured, says that it was more daunting being in front of a camera than saving lives. “We’re in our last stretch of our studies, so we’ve got the knowledge and know-how. What we don’t have is composure in front of a camera, which is odd. We can do surgeries but ask us a few questions and we stress.”
Tamsin got first-hand experience with the vet students and admits that it’s “draining work – physically, emotionally, mentally and sometimes all at once. If it becomes your life and you’re working all the time, you’re going to be unbelievably stressed.” These students know how to balance their lives. It’s interesting to see them go from saving lives under pressure to cracking jokes five minutes later.”