Real doctors have no time for becoming involved in their patient’s lives as often as TV dramas might suggest, says someone who has walked the hospital corridors — and written about the experience. 

Doctor-turned-acclaimed TV drama writer, Jed Mercurio, whose credits include BBC hits Bodyguard and Line of Duty, says he was inspired to start writing in part because medical dramas are “very unrepresentative of what was going on in our health service”. 

“A lot of medical dramas show doctors being fundamentally very idealistic and invested in the patients’ wellbeing, not just in terms of the medical process but also their social lives,” he was reported as saying on World Screen media industry website. 

“A lot of medical dramas still work on the idea that someone comes into a very busy hospital and alongside their medical problem, they receive a talking cure about their social and family and emotional problems from the doctors.