Antiques Roadshow is set to trace the history of nursing from the 19th century to the present day in a special edition of the popular daytime show.
Presenter Fiona Bruce will be joined by Jo Brand on the BBC One showing; the comedian worked as a psychiatric nurse for 10 years before making the switch into the entertainment industry.
She previously acted in her own BBC medical comedy titled Getting On, which was about a geriatric ward in the NHS. Now, she plans to give an insight into her own experience in emergency mental health clinics as well as hospital panto.
During the episode called Antiques Roadshow – A Nursing Special, Bruce discovers more about the nurses and midwives that inspired the hit drama series Call The Midwife.
The show is based on the best-selling memoirs of former nurse and midwife Jennifer Worth, who died in 2011, the year before the first series was broadcast, and Antiques Roadshow will delve deeper into her own life story.
The antique show’s episode was filmed at St Thomas’ and St Bartholomew’s Hospitals in London, and is set to showcase stories from the Windrush generation, which saw people from Caribbean countries arrive in the UK between 1948 and 1971 as part of a scheme to help fill post-war labour shortages.
The first citizens to arrive came from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, with around 500 workers arriving on the HMT Empire Windrush. The vessel docked in Tilbury, Essex, on June 22 1948.
Elsewhere on the special, militaria expert Mark Smith chats with a naval nurse who travelled to the Falklands War on a cruise ship that was converted to treat injured soldiers.
And Ronnie Archer-Morgan will also touch on the story of a nurse who helped pioneer a compassionate approach to community care for Aids patients at the height of the epidemic in the 1980s.
Throughout the show, the presenters will look at objects which have a nursing significance, including early uniforms, medical equipment and medals that had been handed out for bravery.
Antiques Roadshow – A Nursing Special airs on BBC One on Sunday February 26 at 7pm.
