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Documentary series going beyond the theatre doors of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, where surgeons push medical boundaries to the limits.
2018
Specialist maxillofacial surgeons Tim Martin and Sat Parmar prepare for a marathon operation on 53-year-old Teresa. Four weeks ago, Teresa was diagnosed with a fast-growing cancerous tumour in her face and she will die within weeks unless it is removed.
The surgeons take on unpredictable, high risk operations. They need to stop a patient's heart, chill his body and drain out all his blood before they can operate to save his life.
The extraordinary stories of clinical trials being carried out at the surgical unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
2019
The series returns to the operating theatres of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. A neurosurgeon has to wake his patient up during an operation to remove his brain tumour.
Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon Tim Martin and his operating partner Sat Parmar are planning a marathon operation on former police officer Loretta. They believe they are the first UK surgeons to operate on the disease Loretta's suffering from.
Surgeons at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital carry out radical operations to help change patients’ lives, including the hospital’s largest ever removal of excess tissue.
At Birmingham Children’s Hospital, surgeons must transplant a kidney from a father to his two-year-old son, while a three-year-old girl needs a life-changing heart procedure.
A surgeon performs the most complex operation in his field: removing a woman’s oesophagus and using her own stomach to replace it. Another team tackles a hard-to-reach tumour.
Surgeons take on major trauma operations at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. They have just minutes to save a woman with a life-threatening bleed on her brain.
2020
David Jenkins, a world-leading surgeon at Royal Papworth, performs one of surgery's most technically demanding, and extraordinary, operations. Called a pulmonary endarterectomy (PTE), no other hospital in the UK offers this procedure.
Addenbrooke's and Royal Papworth hospitals in Cambridge are renowned for the expertise of their surgical staff. At both centres, surgeons undertake some of the most complex operations in the world, where technical skill is paramount.
Surgeons Marius Berman and Pedro Catarino take on one of the most difficult transplant procedures at Royal Papworth: the double lung transplant. With donor organs in such short supply, there is even more pressure to execute the operation perfectly.
Surgeons have to balance the considerable risks of a procedure against the risks of not treating their patients' conditions at all. Maureen has an enlarged aorta which could be fatal if it bursts, but the operation to fix it is also very high risk.
Shaun Dooley
Narrator
2025
Surgeons attempt a rare and high-risk transplant to transform their 21-year-old patient’s life, and perform a complex kidney procedure vital for another patient’s survival.
Surgeons battle to save a patient with an aggressive tumour and a patient whose aorta – the body’s biggest artery – could rupture at any moment.
Surgeons at NHS Lothian take on high risk surgery to repair a failing heart and take extreme measures to prevent the return of breast cancer in their young patient.
Surgeons attempt to save a patient’s life and her ability to smile, by removing a tumour in her cheek and reconstructing her facial nerve.
Surgeons at NHS Lothian remove a recurring brain tumour from a 25-year-old patient and attempt a rare ‘off pump’ cardiac procedure on a man with severe coronary disease.
Doctors at NHS Lothian perform high-risk surgery to save their patient’s sight, and three specialists work together to treat a complex case of advanced ovarian cancer.
2026
One patient’s rare penis cancer requires a partial amputation, and another patient with severe endometriosis must have a huge cyst and a damaged kidney removed.
Surgeons face a difficult dilemma in the middle of a life-saving bile duct cancer operation. A chest sarcoma proves more challenging than expected, with no room for error.
A surgeon must remove part of his patient’s tongue and reconstruct it to save her from an aggressive cancer, and surgeons perform a rare simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant.
Surgeons drain all of their patient’s blood from his body to replace damaged arteries. A patient’s fertility is at risk without a complex operation to remove diseased bowel.
A surgeon must remove his patient’s voice box to save his life, while another takes on a life-changing procedure for a patient with a rare auto-immune condition.
A surgeon has one chance to tackle a life-threatening tumour in his patient’s liver and diaphragm. A neurosurgeon must save her patient from paralysis with unerring precision.
2023
Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Major Trauma Centre must operate on a single mum who has a severed spinal cord and a critically injured motorcyclist.
2021
Operations where even a small mistake is catastrophic. Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth hospitals remove a life-threatening tumour and repair a young patient’s aorta.
2024
Surgeons at University Hospital Southampton take on high-risk surgery to remove life-threatening tumours.
Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Hospital perform brain surgery on a patient who is awake and attempt to repair a section of the body’s biggest blood vessel that’s threatening to burst.
Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s operate against the clock to remove a kidney from a husband and transplant it into his wife who is in end stage kidney failure.
Addenbrooke’s surgeons take on two high-risk operations; surgery to excise tumours near the spinal cord and a procedure to remove a dangerous mass off the body’s largest vein.
Addenbrooke’s surgeons perform life changing scoliosis surgery to straighten the spine of their 17-year-old patient but face the risk of causing paralysis.
Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Major Trauma Centre must operate on two road accident victims who have suffered life-changing injuries so serious they could lead to an amputation.
Operations to transform patients’ lives. Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s and Royal Papworth take on a high-risk spine procedure and perform open heart surgery on an 80-year-old patient.
Surgeons at Royal Papworth and Addenbrooke's hospitals must put their patients back together again after removing life-threatening lung and facial tumours.
Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Hospital take on life changing surgery that takes two specialist surgeons two days to perform and involves removing all the organs in the patient’s pelvis.
Surgeons at Addenbrooke’s Hospital perform a complex procedure to help a patient swallow again and remove a tumour that is threatening a patient’s vision.
Addenbrooke’s major trauma team and surgeons treat some of the country's most critically injured patients. Multiple teams must decide whether a man's damaged arm can be saved.
At University Hospital Southampton, surgeons perform life-saving surgery: taking out a patient’s eye and the tumour behind it and removing an 83-year-old man’s cancerous bladder.
Surgeons at University Hospital Southampton operating on two patients - removing rare tumours and correcting a patient’s bowed legs - must alter their plans to avoid catastrophe.
Surgeons at University Hospital Southampton face complex surgery to reconstruct a patient’s jaw and remove a cancerous oesophagus.
Surgeons at University Hospital Southampton perform high risk spinal surgery and attempt to repair a patient’s aorta - the body’s biggest artery - that’s threatening to burst.
Three surgeons operate together on a motorcyclist at University Hospital Southampton’s major trauma centre after a crash leaves the patient with life-changing injuries.
