Fifteen documentary films about life in Britain made week-by-week from September to Christmas last year. 3: The Operation
In the last week of September, 1978, CHARLES MUTCH underwent a major operation. So did the whole of Liverpool's hospital service. As Mr Mutch was being admitted for an aorta replacement, five of the city's oldest hospitals were closing, to be replaced by a single building. The new Royal Liverpool Hospital was to have 820 beds, 3,000 staff and the biggest outpatients' department in the country. But, at four times the estimated cost and five years behind schedule, the critics were calling it ' a £43-million disaster story'.
If all went well, Mr Mutch would be among the last patients on the old operating tables - and the first to recover in the brand new beds. It was to be one of the most important weeks in his life - and in the history of medicine on Mersey-side.
Photography NEIL HIGGINSON Film editor PAUL JACKSON Producer GERALD HARRISON
Executive producer JAMES DEWAR BBC North West