Life On The Wards

Meera Syal and Eve Myles talk about their new all-star drama celebrating the 70th anniversary of the NHS

- Caren Clark, Richard McClure

NEW DRAMA

The NHS: To Provide All People

Saturday, BBC2, 8pm (times vary)

The daily highs and lows of life in our busy National Health Service come under the spotlight in BBC2’s new moving one-off drama To Provide All People, marking the 70th anniversary of the NHS.

The drama, which takes the form of a poem written by Owen Sheers, follows the events in and around a hospital through the eyes of the doctors, nurses and support staff who work there as well as the patients.

It is based on extensive interviews with people who work at, or have been treated at, Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny, where part of the drama was also filmed.

The all-star cast includes Martin Freeman and Lesley Manville as consultants, Tamsin Greig as a GP, Michelle Fairley as a nurse, Michael Sheen as a porter, and Siân Phillips and Celia Imrie as patients.

Here, Meera Syal, who plays a district nurse, and Eve Myles, who plays a domestic worker, and also narrates the drama with Sheen, reveal more…

What appealed to you about the drama?