The Beatson Cancer Centre in Glasgow is the second biggest in the UK. It treats a population of almost three million people across the west of Scotland, from Lanarkshire to Ayrshire and up to the Western Isles. A centre of excellence in cancer care, the Beatson offers state-of-the-art treatment and is heavily involved in the development and trials of new cancer drugs.

This three-part series tells the stories of patients undergoing treatment at the Beatson, shows the work of the medical staff, and reveals how cancer care has improved in leaps and bounds in the past decade. Each programme focuses on a different cancer - breast, lung, and prostate. These are among the most common in the UK, accounting for a large proportion of cancer deaths each year, and the Beatson is developing new, innovative approaches to their treatment.

This episode focusing on prostate cancer follows six men with the disease who are being treated in different ways. The film highlights the fact that men with early stage, curable prostate cancer are given a choice of treatments - which can be a dilemma in itself. Eddy is 63 and has early stage cancer, which he has chosen to have treated with radiotherapy. Meanwhile, Arthur is adamant that surgery to remove the prostate is the best option - despite the fact that it will leave him impotent. We also meet Craig, who has advanced, incurable cancer, and show how the quality of life he has left is enhanced by an innovative pain-reduction procedure. And we show how clinical trials are improving the outlook for patients through the story of Archie, who has had incurable cancer for eight years, and whose disease is being kept at bay by a new, unlicensed trial drug.

Throughout the series, senior doctors and other staff provide a sense of context for the stories and explain the reality of modern cancer treatment, and how, thanks to new treatments, the diagnosis is no longer quite the terrifying and hopeless prospect it once was. Show less