Raucous medical comedy Quacks brings laughs if you don't object to blood and guts
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Brits are notoriously hard to please when it comes to comedy – probably because we've produced so many good ones over the years. But with an impressive cast and fun premise, here is one that's worth tuning in for.
Set in Victorian London, the raucous medical romp is about four pioneering friends and rivals.
Robert (Rory Kinnear) is a rockstar surgeon, who's almost as brilliant as he thinks he is.
He packs out theatres to perform operations to crowds of bloodthirsty spectators. They all want to know if he can beat his record for amputating a leg in 92 seconds, and are thrilled to hear that 40% of operations end in the patient's death.
(Image: BBC Publicity Picture)
“This is more fun than Madame Tussauds,” giggles one fan, while Robert puts on his bloody apron and lights up a cigarette (“The smell of gangrene can be terrible.”)
But after botching an amputation, Robert comes under scrutiny from the Royal Physician, Dr Hendrick (Rupert Everett).
Hendrick deserves a shout out for the most hilarious diagnoses, including this gem: “Fast for a week, ride a horse for two hours a day (not Sundays), and place a freshly cooked baked potato on the infected area.”
To save Robert's reputation, drug-addled dentist John (Tom Basden) convinces Robert to use potentially lethal ether in a pioneering operation on a Duke. But John doesn't have a particularly good record when it comes to anaesthetising patients.
(Image: BBC Publicity Picture)
Meanwhile, Robert's friend William (Mathew Baynton), a nervy alienist (that's a psychiatrist to you and me), finds himself treating Robert's alluring wife Caroline (Lydia Leonard), leaving him conflicted.
This gets funnier as it goes along, if you don't object to the sight of blood and gore.