Abstract
In this chapter I examine the evolution of medical television drama via its various stagings of the traumatised human body. I do so by assessing the status of the body both within TV drama but also in its medical equivalent: the case report. These dual sites reveal that where once the body was a vessel for the practice of heroic doctoring it has become, in contemporary representations, an object of fear. The body is fearful, indeed, to the medical professionals who encounter it, to the viewers or readers who encounter it as a medical or television case and, uncannily, to the human being who inhabits it.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Critical, “Episode 1,” directed by Jon East, written by Jed Mercurio, Sky One, February 24, 2015.
- 2.
Critical, DVD Box Set, Front Cover Promotional Material. Quotation attributed to a review in The Telegraph.
- 3.
The reference here is to two of the earliest medical dramas broadcast in the UK and USA: Dr Finlay’s Casebook (UK, 1962–1971) and Dr Kildare (USA, 1961–1966).
- 4.
Jason Jacobs, Body Trauma TV: The New Hospital Dramas (London: BFI, 2003), 1–16. The dramas cited are Medic (US, 1954–1955); Emergency—Ward 10 (UK, 1957–1967); Dr Kildare (US, 1961–1966); M*A*S*H (US, 1972–1983); ER (US, 1994–2009); House, M.D. (US, 2004–2012) and Cardiac Arrest (UK, 1994–1996).
- 5.
Casualty, BBC, 1986–; Holby City, BBC, 1999–.
- 6.
Deborah Philips, “Medicated Soap: The Woman Doctor in Medical Drama,” in Frames and Fictions of Television: The Politics of Identity Within Drama, ed. Bruce Carson and Margaret Llewellyn-Jones (London: Intellect, 2000), 50; Jacobs, Body Trauma TV, 17.
- 7.
Monroe, series 2, episode 3, first broadcast on October 15, 2012.
- 8.
Charlotte Brunsdon, “Structures of Anxiety : Recent British Television Crime Fiction,” Screen 39, no. 3 (1998): 232; See also Jeremy Ridgman, “Duty of Care: Crime Drama and the Medical Encounter,” Critical Studies in Television 7, no. 1 (2012): 1–12.
- 9.
Nicola Mumoli et al., “An Innocent Gallbladder?,” Lancet 375, no. 9710 (January 16, 2010): 252.
- 10.
Jacobs, Body Trauma TV, 47–48.
- 11.
Arthur Kleinman, The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing and the Human Condition (New York: Basic Books, 1989); Arthur Frank, The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013).
- 12.
Jacobs, Body Trauma TV, 69.
- 13.
Monroe, “Series 2, Episode 2,” directed by Damon Thomas, written by Peter Bowker, ITV, October 8, 2012.
- 14.
Roger C. M. Ho et al., “Amnesia, Political Ambition, and Canned Tuna,” Lancet 373, no. 9660 (January 24, 2009): 352.
- 15.
Shannon M. Kahle, “Reading the Body on House, M.D.: Medical Surveillance as a Model of the Social,” The Communication Review 15, no. 4 (2012): 280.
- 16.
Annemarie Mol, The Body Multiple: Ontology as Medical Practice (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002).
- 17.
Kirsten Ostherr, Medical Visions: Producing the Patient Through Film, Television, and Imaging Technologies (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 215.
- 18.
Matteo Gelardi et al., “Blowing a Nose Black and Blue,” Lancet 373, no. 9665 (February 28, 2009): 780.
- 19.
House, M.D., “Series 1, Episode 2,” directed by Peter O’Fallon, written by Lawrence Kaplow, Fox Productions, November 23, 2004; House, M.D., “Series 1, Episode 8,” directed by Guy Ferland, written by Matt Witten, Fox Productions, January 25, 2005.
- 20.
House, M.D., “Series 1, Episode 2.”
- 21.
Joy V. Fuqua, Prescription TV: Therapeutic Discourse in the Hospital and at Home (Durham: Duke University Press, 2012), 148.
- 22.
Critical, ‘Episode 3’, directed by Jon East, written by Jed Mercurio, March 10, 2015.
- 23.
Elena Strauman and Bethany Goodier, and Alec Charles, who have written recently on House, fail to reflect this aspect of his character, preferring to see him as a figure of authority or emotionally distant. They are, I would argue, rather too sympathetic in their readings. See Elena C. Strauman and Bethany C. Goodier, “The Doctor(s) in House: An Analysis of the Evolution of the Television of the Doctor-Hero,” Journal of Medical Humanities 32 (2011): 31–46; Alec Charles, “Three Characters in Search of an Archetype: Aspects of the Trickster and the Flâneur in the Characterisations of Sherlock Holmes, Gregory House and Dr Who,” Journal of Popular Television 1, no. 1 (2013): 83–102.
- 24.
House, M.D., “Series 1, Episode 8.”
- 25.
House, M.D., “Series 8, Episode 1,” directed by Greg Yaitanes, written by Peter Blake, Fox Productions, October 3, 2011.
- 26.
Steve Woolgar and Javier Lezaun, “The Wrong Bin Bag: A Turn to Ontology in Science and Technology Studies?,” Social Studies of Science 43, no. 3 (2013): 333.
- 27.
Kevin Goodman, “Medical Education: Imagining Doctors : Medical Students and the TV Medical Drama,” Virtual Mentor: American Medical Association Journal of Ethics 9, no. 3 (2007): 185.
- 28.
Goodman, “Imagining Doctors ,” 183.
- 29.
The same structuring principles inform the reading of medical dramas in the following works: Solange Davin, “Healthy Viewing: The Reception of Medical Narratives,” Sociology of Health and Illness 25, no. 6 (2003): 662–79; Candace Cummins Gauthier, “Television Drama and Popular Film as Medical Narrative,” Journal of American Culture 22, no. 3 (1999): 23–25; and Deborah Lupton, “Editorial: Health , Illness and Medicine in the Media,” Health 3, no. 3 (1999): 259–62.
Bibliography
Primary
Critical. 13 Episodes. Hat Trick Productions for Sky One. February 24–May 19, 2015.
House, M.D. 117 Episodes. Heel and Toe Films et al. for Fox Productions, November 16, 2004–May 21, 2012.
Jacobs, Jason. Body Trauma TV: The New Hospital Dramas. London: BFI, 2003.
Monroe. 12 Episodes. Mammoth Screen for ITV, March 10, 2011–November 5, 2012.
Secondary
Brunsdon, Charlotte. “Structures of Anxiety: Recent British Television Crime Fiction.” Screen 39, no. 3 (1998): 223–43.
Charles, Alec. “Three Characters in Search of an Archetype: Aspects of the Trickster and the Flâneur in the Characterisations of Sherlock Holmes, Gregory House and Dr Who.” Journal of Popular Television 1, no. 1 (2013): 83–102.
Davin, Solange. “Healthy Viewing: The Reception of Medical Narratives.” Sociology of Health and Illness 25, no. 6 (2003): 662–79.
Frank, Arthur. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Fuqua, Joy V. Prescription TV: Therapeutic Discourse in the Hospital and at Home. Durham: Duke University Press, 2012.
Gauthier, Candace Cummins. “Television Drama and Popular Film as Medical Narrative.” Journal of American Culture 22, no. 3 (1999): 23–25.
Gelardi, Matteo, Marisa Luisa Fiorella, Eustachio Tarasco, Giovanni Passalacqua, and Francesco Porcelli. “Blowing a Nose Black and Blue.” Lancet 373, no. 9665 (February 28, 2009): 780.
Goodman, Kevin. “Medical Education: Imagining Doctors: Medical Students and the TV Medical Drama.” Virtual Mentor: American Medical Association Journal of Ethics 9, no. 3 (2007): 182–87.
Ho, Roger C. M., Stanley Y. W. Lam, Evangeline S. L. Tan, Pamela N. Y. Ng, and Anselm Mak. “Amnesia, Political Ambition, and Canned Tuna.” Lancet 373, no. 9660 (January 24, 2009): 352.
Kahle, Shannon M. “Reading the Body on House, M.D.: Medical Surveillance as a Model of the Social.” The Communication Review 15, no. 4 (2012): 274–93.
Kleinman, Arthur. The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing and the Human Condition. New York: Basic Books, 1989.
Lupton, Deborah. “Editorial: Health, Illness and Medicine in the Media.” Health 3, no. 3 (1999): 259–62.
Mol, Annemarie. The Body Multiple: Ontology as Medical Practice. Durham: Duke University Press, 2002.
Mumoli, Nicola, Marco Cei, Fabrizio Orlando, Riccardo Luschi, and Giovanni Niccoli. “An Innocent Gallbladder?” Lancet 375, no. 9710 (January 16, 2010): 252.
Ostherr, Kirsten. Medical Visions: Producing the Patient Through Film, Television, and Imaging Technologies. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Philips, Deborah. “Medicated Soap: The Woman Doctor in Medical Drama.” In Frames and Fictions of Television: The Politics of Identity Within Drama, Edited by Bruce Carson and Margaret Llewellyn-Jones, 50–61. London: Intellect, 2000.
Ridgman, Jeremy. “Duty of Care: Crime Drama and the Medical Encounter.” Critical Studies in Television 7, no. 1 (2012): 1–12.
Strauman, Elena C., and Bethany C. Goodier. “The Doctor(s) in House: An Analysis of the Evolution of the Television of the Doctor-Hero.” Journal of Medical Humanities 32 (2011): 31–46.
Woolgar, Steve, and Javier Lezaun. “The Wrong Bin Bag: A Turn to Ontology in Science and Technology Studies?” Social Studies of Science 43, no. 3 (2013): 321–40.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Willis, M. (2018). The Fearful Body in Contemporary Medical Television Drama and Medical Case Reports. In: McCann, D., McKechnie-Mason, C. (eds) Fear in the Medical and Literary Imagination, Medieval to Modern. Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55948-7_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55948-7_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55947-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55948-7
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)