Production Focus session, with the team behind Hospital including its commissioning editor at the BBC, Danny Horan, taking an in depth look at how this unique series was commissioned and created.
BBC2’s documentary series Hospital made a huge impact with viewers, with some calling for the Prime Minister & Health Secretary to respond to it. It showed how underfunding has impacted the work of a major trauma hospital in London, part of the Imperial College group of hospitals.
Our panel for the session will include: Executive Producers Simon Dickson, Lorraine Charker-Phillips and Helen Littleboy from Label1 TV, plus other key members of the team, together with BBC Commissioning Editor Danny Horan.
Hospital was the result of a a hugely collaborative effort of producers, directors and editors. According to Label1 TV executive producer Simon Dickson: “Hospital was - in every possible way - a team effort involving indie and broadcaster. The positive interplay between us and the BBC is part of the story behind the show, and why it did so well”
BBC Commissioner Danny Horan wrote in the Huffington Post as the series began: “When the production team began research, they found staff, almost without exception, desperate to be listened to, and keen to open their wards, units and theatres for the wider public to see the state they are in. They found things we’d never seen before - the extent of cancelled ops, the failing targets, outsourcing of some procedures and ‘health tourism’. But they also found extraordinary resilience, remarkably understanding patients and an ability to perform some of the best care and surgery in the world. We wanted to understand how decisions are made in a place where they don’t have the resources to treat everyone as best they can, as quickly as they can. How do they prioritise and who makes the decisions?"
