Episode Guide
Growth Hurts The Barrier Birth Together Undercurrents Night of the Dead Pain Full Circle Lenox Hill is a wonderful medical documentary series that celebrates the work our healthcare professionals do in the best possible way. With a decent pacing throughout, Lenox Hill juggles the medical profession with each of these doctors’ personal lives and splits that journey across 8 episodes clocking in at about 50 minutes a piece. While this isn’t the first time this sort of documentary has been done – especially considering the success of shows like 24 Hours in A&E and One Born Every Minute – it is a highly polished and emotionally engrossing effort nonetheless. Each of the episodes take an unflinching look at the world of medicine and from neurosurgery to the miracle of giving birth, no stone has been left unturned when it comes to Lenox Hill hospital. Alongside the various different cases and medical drama the professionals deal with, are the personal problems each of our main four doctors have whom we follow across the course of the series. The episodes skip around these 4 different doctors and their ups and downs soon become our ups and downs. Across the series you really start to get invested in what they’re doing and whether it be Neurosurgeons John and David or doctors Amanda and Mirtha, there’s both a continued character arc for them across the season and episode-long cases to deal with. In a way, Lenox Hill feels like the 2 aforementioned UK shows wedged into one and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking or outstanding here that hasn’t been done elsewhere before. Stylistically, the fly on the wall cameras and hand held efforts do a good job getting up close and personal with the different doctors and their cases, with cutaway narration for each as they discuss the profession and why they love it so much. The series does have a tendency to overlap this commentary with back-and-forth conversations in the room between patients and doctors though which results in a cacophonic ramble as the interesting medical lingo is drowned out in favour of personal feelings and emotions toward their career. Of course, because of its strictly American slant expect lots of talk about the homeless situation in the US including the shelter system, insurance payments and more. It’s not a deal breaker of course but it is something worth bearing in mind, especially given how thankful we can be in the UK for having our NHS healthcare. Overall then Lenox Hill is likely to find a pretty big audience and this documentary could not have been released at a better time. It may not be the most original documentary series produced, but it is one that’s likely to garner a pretty big following. The personal journeys for these different doctors make it worth investing some time into the 8 episodes and there’s enough drama and tension throughout to keep you coming back for more.
