St George’s celebrates 70 years of NHS with 100 episodes of 24 Hours in A&E
24 Hours in A&E celebrates its 100th episode at St George’s today (Tuesday 16 January) – during the 70th year of the NHS.
This series – its fourteenth – was filmed over 56 days in April and May 2017 with 110 fixed rig cameras and 76 microphones recording the highs, lows and everyday moments of life in our Emergency Department.
With between 2 and 2.5 million viewers on average per episode and a growing international audience, 24 Hours in A&E remains one of most popular TV shows in the UK – and the longest running documentary series.
Each episode takes seven weeks to create, after six weeks of pre-production and eight weeks filming with the support of 124 people within the production team and involvement from several teams at St George’s.
Spencer Kelly, 24 Hours in A&E Executive Producer, said: “24 Hours in A&E is a series where you often see the best of humanity. Staff caring for patients, families supporting loved ones and patient stories about overcoming life’s challenges are genuinely life affirming and positive – and maybe more poignant in this day and age.”
Jacqueline Totterdell, Chief Executive at St George’s, said: “I love 24 Hours in A&E. It’s a brilliant example of what we do and really shows the community spirit at St George’s including not only the excellent work of our clinical staff but also of our non-clinical teams who make a huge difference to our patients’ experiences.”
The 100th episode – Wrong Place, Wrong Time – features three middle-aged women who are stabbed in broad daylight in a supermarket car park in Surrey. The women, who were previously unknown to each other, are brought to St George’s for specialist trauma care in the aftermath of the attack.
Dr JD Brown, Emergency Doctor at St George’s, said: “If a knife has hit a vital organ or blood vessel then you can be in a lot of trouble, very quickly. Stabbings can be quite common, you expect them on a Friday or Saturday night but you don’t expect it to happen to middle aged ladies in the Sainsbury’s car park.”
Tune in tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm to watch Wrong Place, Wrong Time – and join in the conversation on Twitter by tweeting @StGeorgesTrust and using the hashtag #24HrsAE
24 Hours in A&E relocated to St George’s after six series and 70 episodes at King’s College Hospital in 2014.
Notes to editors
For more information, please contact Pippa Harper, Media Manager at St George’s via philippa.harper@stgeorges.nhs.uk or 020 8266 6128.
