Award-winning film about a painfully exclusive club: to join you had to be a Second World War pilot who was badly injured during battle and had undergone reconstructive surgery. President of the club was pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe who rebuilt the hands and faces of the pilots to give them the chance of a normal life. This powerful documentary tells the club's human stories as well as how McIndoe helped shape modern plastic surgery practices.
(Repeated Tuesday on BBC4 at 12 midnight)
The Inside Story: page 60
The Inside Story
Pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe (centre right) didn't just treat the burns sustained by Allied aircrew during the Second World War, he also created a patient support group. The prescription for recovery? Drinking, chasing girls and generally having fun. But don't think the story of The Guinea Pig Club (7.35pm BBC2) is just a piece of history, for the club still operates. Many of its 130 surviving members will turn out for the annual bash next month in East Grinstead, not far from the hospital where they were patients 50-odd years ago. Cheers!
Documentary: The Guinea Pig Club 7.35pm BBC2
The Guinea Pig Club are friends for life, united by a unique bond: they were all RAF men who suffered horrific burns in the Second World War, and they all owe their present happiness to one extraordinary man.
Archibald McIndoe, a charismatic New Zealander, had fallen into reconstructive surgery by accident, but his work at the RAF's East Grinstead hospital revolutionised the field. Improvising brilliantly, he shattered established medical practice at every turn with a series of innovations, many of which are now the norm. Crucially, he didn't stop at rebuilding his patients' faces: he made great efforts to heal their psychological wounds, too, realising that by sticking together they could form their own invaluable support network.
Using interviews and archive photographs, this superb documentary - shown last year on BBC4 - tells inspiring stories of how great hardships were determinedly overcome, thanks to life-changing minor miracles. Indeed, McIndoe, who died in 1960, emerges as an almost messianic figure. Even now, the Guinea Pig Club meet once a year to honour the man whom some of them call "God". (Jack Seale)
