Gripping, compulsive viewing. This series was the BBC at its best. It sits alongside the likes of Tenko, Edge of Darkness, Brideshead Revisited, This Life as the cream of British drama. Its dark, uncompromising humour never failed to entertain thoroughly. It was so good as it managed to be left field but not esoteric, funny but not soft, sexy but not gratuitously so. It remains Helen Baxendale's best work by a country mile. This sort of drama has been lost to a seemingly unending tidal wave of reality TV banality. Series producers need to watch this time and again to understand what really works. It died too soon.

I was close to an individual working as a Junior NHS doc and they told me this was more like a documentary than a drama. I found it compelling and scary to watch. Its strength was watching individuals be subsumed by a monster of a system designed to care for the sick and how they survived. Apparently the Royal College of Nurses complained about the portrayal of nurses as less than angelic, this combined with Helen Baxendale leaving meant a short but bitter sweet run.See "Bodies" for more of the same from the script writer who is/was a hospital doctor.

Cardiac arrest has to be the best hospital series made. Yes it was unpopular with the people but was a reflection of life in the NHS not as a patient but as staff. Espically the Junior house doctors who along with the nursing staff make the system work.

Outstanding stuff! This is clearly one of the classic dark comedies. Why it's not more highly thought of is a mystery. It could be nostalgia, but I still think it's almost perfect...There is a lot of great stuff in this. It is perfectly written - harsh but with enough edge to the humour to keep things in balance. I can't fault the casting either; Helen Baxendale hasn't had a better role since and the whole ensemble plays with panache. It sounds simple but so few people get it right - especially in the UK. You can make a darkly hued comic drama work, if you write it properly and cast it well.Where is it's successor? Come to think of it (especially given it's current relevance) where's the DVD?