Doctors to Be: 20 Years On returns to a group of medics who began their training at St Mary's in London in 1984 (yes, yes, it's actually 23 years, but let's not quibble). I've watched this since it first popped up two decades ago: I'm about the same age as the now-fortysomething participants, who have, admirably, stuck with the project. In return, and equally admirably, the new generation of programme-makers, reared on a diet of reality TV and casual shafting of the 'cast', has not stitched them up in any way.
The result is a low-key but compelling series catching up with the doctors. Faye, the mature student who was raising a clutch of children on her own and putting herself through medical school, has become a committed maverick and is now a youthful grandmother. She focuses on her patients rather than on procedure; and in telling her story, the series neatly makes the point that process in A&E takes precedence these days.
Jane is no longer a practising doctor. In her 30s she was a compassionate GP who struggled to keep her consultations to the decreed five minutes. She's now a teen agony aunt and health advocate, having left general practice in the 1990s when it was stressed, stretched and hugely unrewarding to have her daughters.
Mark is now a GP, revelling in the financial boom created by the new contract, under which those in general practice can earn £100,000 a year. No longer legally responsible for his patients at all hours, the canny business manager and family man makes sure his surgery hits its targets and still gets to spend plenty of time with his wife and children in his comfortable village. It's great for GPs, but the episode seems subtly to wonder, is it also great for patients?
It's a striking portrait of the evolution of the NHS. Others have become managers and teachers, the latter bemoaning the fact that today's students don't have the deep knowledge of anatomy that their generation had.
The pity is that this excellent series isn't on BBC1 or BBC2. BBC Four is a wonderful channel, with many thought-provoking, intelligent and unflashy programmes. This series strikes me as particularly important - and should be much more visible. I can't even find any reference to it on the BBC website, which is a shame.
Here's a suggestion: how about putting it in the prime-time Saturday night slot that the moribund and risible Casualty now occupies?
