The pressure cooker that is London’s emergency services returns to BBC One this Thursday 5 June, with a new episode of Ambulance that’s as heartbreaking as it is hair-raising. Airing at 9 PM, Stalker on the Line puts the spotlight on the city’s overstretched paramedics and call handlers, who face a mounting crisis of nuisance calls while dealing with serious, sometimes life-threatening situations across the capital.
The episode opens with call handlers wrestling with a sexually abusive caller, tackling the delicate challenge of dealing with disruptive behavior while also ensuring that anyone—even a nuisance caller—gets emergency care when actually needed. Elsewhere, a stabbing in Croydon sends multiple units and London’s Air Ambulance scrambling. Other cases involve a broken ankle, a car accident victim, and a stressed-out bus driver—all highlighting the physical and emotional toll exacted on first responders working in an under-resourced system.
Now in its fourteenth season, Ambulance continues to show the reality of life and death in one of the world’s busiest cities. The series captures the day-to-day heroics of the men and women trying to keep the system afloat, even as cracks begin to show. Prepare to be moved, angered, and above all, made aware of what goes on when you dial 999.
