The Diagnosis Detectives, BBC2: ★★★
When I first heard about this new medical series, I thought it sounded like the worst game show idea ever.
Patients with long-term, undiagnosed health issues reveal their symptoms and their medical records to a team of top doctors who are sitting in what looks like Alan
Sugar’s boardroom. The docs must then decide what’s wrong with them.
Luckily, it turned out to be an altogether classier affair, like the BBC’s upmarket version of Embarrassing Bodies, without the unnecessary close-ups of men’s dangly bits.
If you wanted those last night you had to wait for Channel 4’s My Penis And Me, which, I am assured, was a
serious medical documentary and not just another cynical attempt by Channel 4 to claim the top trending slot on social media.
Back on BBC2 we probably had one of the expert gripe-guessers to thank for that daft Diagnosis Detectives title, which sounded more like a discarded sketch idea from The Fast Show.
“Doctors are often like crime detectives,” argued Dr Ray Shidrawi, before going on to explain that an illness is like a crime scene and that it’s their job to piece together all
the evidence and solve the mystery. To be fair, Dr Shidrawi also said, “You have to follow your gut instinct”, which, given he’s a gastroenterologist, has to go down as early contender for TV quote of the week.
He was right, though. His hunch that poor 71-year-old Judy from Kent’s constant bouts of nausea and vomiting were caused by previous operations was spot on.
It’s a shame that Judy didn’t win a dream holiday or a car for her trouble.
‘‘ It’s the BBC’s upmarket version of Embarrassing Bodies