While I was tidying the archives storeroom – I was expecting a visit from the Chair of Addenbrooke’s and the Chair of the University College London Hospitals, (incidentally whose father had been a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon here from 1962 to 1988) – when I came across a box of video tapes.

They all had the title ‘Hospital Watch’ and were dated June 1995.  As I do not have a video player I was not sure what they were, but they turned out to be recordings of a series of programmes filmed here at Addenbrooke’s by the BBC and shown, mostly live, four times a day over five days.

I don’t remember seeing the series as I was serving in the WRAF and at that time I was nearing the end of a tour of the Ascension Islands.

The show was presented by Sue Lawley, Maggie Philbin and Tony Robinson, it had taken over six months to prepare and research and was filmed in the Theatres, the Rosie Day Surgery, The Accident and Emergency Department and on some wards.

This was the fourth time the BBC filmed a series of ‘Hospital Watch’ programmes.  Addenbrooke’s was chosen because of its reputation as a top teaching hospital and the wide specialty range it could offer and the technical feasibility of begin on one site.’  The Tuesday evening programme had viewing figures of 7.2million (6.2million watched the final of ‘The Voice’ last week).