Saving Lives In Leeds BBC Two: BBC documentary will delve into the heroic work of doctors saving patients’ lives in the city

The medical documentary will be spread across eight episodes and has been commissioned by BBC Factual. The first episode will air on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at 9pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Viewers will be introduced to a group of world-leading doctors and surgeons at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust as they battle through their ever-extending waiting lists to transform the lives of their patients. The series will lift the lid on the challenging decisions that clinicians must make on a daily basis; the programme will explore their patients’ emotional journeys and the real impact on their lives and families, against the backdrop of one of the longest waiting lists in NHS history.

The show was filmed last year with exclusive access across one of the biggest NHS Hospital Trusts in the UK, including Leeds General Infirmary that has been saving lives for more than 250 years, and St James’s University Hospital. It will feature extensive interviews and life-changing operations, each clinician’s caseload will take viewers on a journey to the heart of compelling patient stories, as they operate on brain tumours, perform cardiac surgery on babies, provide life-saving liver treatment and carry out a high-risk double hand transplant.

Commissioning editor at BBC Documentaries, Emma Loach, said: “Saving Lives In Leeds will bring us closer than ever before to the clinicians facing difficult dilemmas on a daily basis and show us what they need to overcome before tackling the day job of challenging people’s lives.”

Chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Professor Phil Wood, said: “Saving Lives In Leeds really shines a light on the outstanding people working at Leeds Teaching Hospitals carrying out remarkable and world-leading surgery.

“It highlights some of the challenging decisions they make on a day-to-day basis as they work to ensure our patients get the best possible care. It’s been a really positive opportunity for us to explain the complexity behind some of the decisions we take when managing waiting lists and highlight that we always have our patients’ best interest at the heart of everything we do.”

Co-founder and executive producer at Label1, Lorraine Charker-Phillips, said: “Label1 is proud to bring viewers this eye-opening new medical series with extraordinary, touching and life-affirming stories shown through the eyes of consultants and their patients as they decide who to treat next on their waiting lists.

“Filmed across the whole of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, it gives unique insight into the variety of work being done across their departments, at a time when decisions around how to tackle the growing backlog have never been more important.”