Jed Bodies

I know I'm not really doing my bit in the struggle to attain a fitter, leaner Britain by encouraging you to watch TV, but it would be remiss of me if I didn't advise you that starting tonight at 9pm on digital channel BBC3 there is the start of a six-part adaptation of Jed Mercurio's novel Bodies. Those of you that hang on my every word (c'mon, you'll feel so much better about yourself for admitting it) will remember I wrote a positive review of the book last summer. Quoting myself, as all the great delusional intellectuals do (and because the bloody thing starts in 20mins), this is what I had to say -

'Mercurio was the man behind the heart-stopping 90s medical TV series Cardiac Arrest (which brought Helen Baxendale to prominence) and if you remember that series you won't be surprised to hear that the novel is scalpel-edge in its visceral depiction of the modern day National Health Service, where overworked, underprepared doctors; oversexed nurses and mendacious, corrupt consultants are the order of the day. Not that Bodies isn't an enjoyable read, written as it is with a bloodshot eye for gory detail and gallows humour as black as a goth funeral at midnight. Throw in some lusty bouts of frantically-snatched sex between medical professionals and what you're left with is an entertaining rendition of Carry On Doctor as written by Franz Kafka. Not for the squeamish or hypochondriacal, mind.'

Bloody hell, I don't half go on a bit sometimes, eh? But it seems the TV adaptation has something to live up to, although reassuringly Mercurio himself has done the screenplay, which transfers the action to the obstetrics and gynaecology departments, and apparently features prosthetic vaginas a go-go. As opposed to the false twats who run the hospital, who are presumably played by real actors.

If you're reading this too late to catch the show tonight at 9, there is a repeat about 12.30, plus another I think on Wednesday night.