No Angels (Channel 4 2004-2006, Kaye Wragg, Louise Delamere)

No Angels is a drama series focusing on a gang of four young nurses in Leeds who live, work and play together. Exploding the myth of angels by the bedside, this is a witty and truthful exposé of nursing in the modern NHS. Every day the girls face life, death and lunacy on the wards of St. Margaret’s; every night they let off steam, with a dangerous appetite for uncomplicated sex and misbehaviour. And if the drugs don’t work, it’s probably because the junior doctor’s taken them.

Anji (Sunetra Sarker) and Beth (Jo Joyner) are the babies of the gang. Anji may be set on an arranged marriage, and sex-kitten Beth has yet to meet the rich consultant of her dreams, but that’s not going to stop them hunting down any other man they fancy in the meantime. And what they want, they usually get.

Single mum Lia (Louise Delamere) is sharp-tongued and funny. Having mastered the art of sympathetic detachment, she’s a great nurse but a lousy mother. With a 12-year-old daughter acting like she’s 21, Lia is about to find that juggling work and home can be very complicated.

Lovely Kate (Kaye Wragg) is the acting sister on the male-dominated Medical Assessment Unit. She’d cope better with the sexual politics if she remembered the first rule of nursing: doctors are the enemy. But Kate falls for them instead…

Channel 4 Head of Drama, John Yorke said of the series “No Angels is a portrayal of nurses as you have never seen them before. We wanted to create a drama that would reflect young working women with real, unflinching honesty and passion. Setting the drama on the front line of the NHS gave us huge scope to do this: it’s a story of how four girls can overcome an impossibly demanding job with grit, humour, irreverance and determination. No Angels is a frank, funny and totally un-squeamish show, injecting the ‘Angels’ Florence Nightingale stereotype with a good dose of reality.”

cast
Kaye Wragg as Katherine ‘Kate’ Oakley
Louise Delamere as Lia Costoya
Sunetra Sarker as Anji Mittel
Jo Joyner as Beverly ‘Beth’ Nicholls
Francis Magee as Mr. Leslie McManus
James Frost as Callum
Derek Riddell as Dr. Jamie Patterson
Charlotte Leach as Emma
Lynn Ferguson as Stella

crew details
Creator: Toby Whithouse
Producer: Helen Gregory
Executive Producer: Simon Heath

production details
Country: UK
Network and Production Companies: Channel 4 – E4 – World Productions
Duration: 26×50 minute episodes
Aired From: 2 March 2004 – 11 April 2006