Channel 4's 24 Hours in A&E viewers anger as too much time is spent on patients' 'irrelevant' backstories

Channel 4 viewers have spoken of their fury following tonight's episode of 24 Hours in A&E.

The RTS award-winning show follows patients who are treated in the same 24-hour period at St George's in south-west London, one of the UK's busiest Accident and Emergency departments.

While tonight's episode was packed full of medical emergencies - ranging from traffic collisions to a mysterious illness, viewers say they were left disappointed.

One of the patients on tonight's episode (Channel 4)

Their anger comes as many viewers felt too much time was being spent on the patients' family backstories rather than the brilliant work of the NHS.

In one segment, a woman, who had brought her child in with a twisted ankle, started to talk about the gender pay-gap in banking.

This led to a number of viewers taking to Twitter, urging Channel 4 to have a rethink of how the show is directed.

Paul said: " @Channel4 need to have a look at reworking #24hrsAE that was terrible to watch."

Callum, 20, was found to be suffering with non-epileptic attack disorder (Channel 4)

Steve wrote: "Bored of these back stories that are irrelevant on #24hrsAE ."

Sara said: "Can we not just get rid of these b***** back stories? Please? I'm begging, now."

Michelle tweeted: " @StGeorgesTrust can we please cut back on the back stories? Pay gaps and Callum's mum and dad's full dating history is really boring and got nothing at all to do with the wonderful work your staff do on a daily basis. "

Dave said: " @StGeorgesTrust can you tell the programme makers to make the back stories about the actual injury or injuries, thanks."

And Jacqui wrote: "Stop with the lengthy back stories. We don’t need to know all this."