Nigh Journal

Sunday, May 30th, 2010

Review of PULSE.

With last night’s Casualty cancelled in favour of Eurovision, I got my hour of hospital drama via PULSE, streaming now on iPlayer before it airs on BBC Three on Thursday 3rd June at 9pm.

Launching straight in with a gruesome and somewhat suspect surgery, PULSE establishes that it’s not vampires or other beasties we’re scared of here - it’s people. But be warned, PULSE doesn’t shy away from its full body horror either. We’re quickly introduced to the core cast of trainee doctors as Hannah (Claire Foy - Little Dorrit, Going Postal) returns to the training hospital described as the suicide capital of the NHS. Having suffered a breakdown following the death of her doctor mother, Hannah’s claims to have discovered unorthodox treatments for one of her patients has everyone watching to see if she’s snapped again.

This first hour of PULSE raced by, laying down swift characterisation whilst setting up ominous plot threads for the future. This is a pilot that deserves to take off. Despite moments of wry and gallows humour, Paul Cornell’s script nicely avoids the tongue-in-cheek hokiness of recent British genre fayre, making the drama and the tension all the more gripping.

As Hannah, Claire Foy draws us into not only her personal trauma but also the pressurised world of being a trainee Doctor, seemingly horrific even without your bosses playing Frankenstein. But the supporting cast all get time to shine too, either shattering our pre-conceptions of who they really are or giving us a glimpse of what their journey might be in a full series. Of particular interest was Ben Miles (Coupling) who seems to have started channelling Jonathan Pryce as the hospital’s enigmatic counsellor.

Without wanting to give anything away, PULSE builds up to a game-changing epilogue and proves that horror can work on television. It also looks great so I was pleasantly surprised to learn from the end credits that it was shot by the brilliant Fabian Wagner (who was DOP on my first short film). My only possible qualms were a few disorientating edits and that perhaps we could have learned a little more about what Hannah’s normally like when she isn’t questioning her own sanity. But, as a pilot, this worked entirely. I was hooked and want to see more.

So support PULSE by watching it on iPlayer and leaving your comments, joining the facebook group or watching its TV airing next Thursday. Either way, don’t miss out on exactly the kind of intriguing, challenging and captivating drama BBC Three should be offering more often.