Basic Info

First Air: October 06, 1983

Status: Ended

Seasons & Episodes

Seasons: 1

Episodes: 4

Last Episode

Name: Collapse

Season: 1, Episode: 4

Air Date: 1983-10-27

Runtime: 83 min

The fourth episode confronts the issue of the treatment of mentally ill patients and is perhaps the most overtly troubling.

The Nation's Health

1983 1 seasons 4 episodes

Overview

The Nation's Health is a 4 episode series written by G.F.Newman based on his book of the same name, originally broadcast on the fledgling Channel 4 UK TV channel in 1983. The series consists of four episodes that are, in order, titled: Acute, Decline, Chronic, and Collapse. In it we are faced with a maelstrom of political issues, illnesses, fatalities, personal greed and professional vanities. As may be clear from these titles, the series draws a relentlessly bleak view of the NHS in 1980s Britain. The protagonist of the series is a newly-qualified doctor, Jessie Marvill (Vivienne Ritchie). The series follows Jessie through four different sectors of the NHS, although the episodes are not focused entirely through Jessie: the NHS is seen from a variety of different perspectives, from doctors and patients to administrators and kitchen staff.