Surgeons: At the Edge of Life

This is an astonishing series that reveals the true complexity of what surgeons can actually do nowadays. It's also a great example of exactly what the BBC was created to do. Unlike most of the TV drama depictions of operating theatres, full of drama and emotion, the reality pictured here is a reassuringly calm and matter-of-fact, as surgeons carry out incredibly complex and high-precision operations with confidence and minimal drama. The thing that most surprised me is how surgeons play the role of super-precise carpenters of plumbers: chiselling, drilling and sawing their way into people's bodies, gluing pieces of bone, or joining arteries together. Every episode makes you gasp in amazement.