Inside Harley Street

Inside Harley Street - in short, a total parody of high society. Where mums pop round to do the washing for their 30yr olds, where school girls are given designer watches for having braces fitted, where doctors buff their fingernails, where nip and tucks cost £30,000 and growing old gracefully is not an option. It is, perhaps, the most ridiculous three-part series I've seen on the BBC in a long time. Albeit that it lost its impact as the episodes continued and we were confronted with the same kinds of people, under similar circumstances.

bbc.co.uk - shoemaker's patient

The Harley Street estate is owned by the Howard DeWalden family and has been in the family for over 300yrs. It is valued at approximately £2.7billion - which goes far enough in explaining the clientele it attracts. On the most part, the documentary delivers exactly what we expect; rich aristocrats who couldn't tell you how much anything costs, stressed businessmen who are looking to find the key to rejuvenation, snobby old ladies who tell us they 'don't sacrifice anything for anyone' - the usual. However, there were moments that touched us too, like the story of a young Russian boy who had undergone numerous back passage operations and just wanted to live a normal life, a sponsored young middle Eastern patient with a brain tumour, or the story of an orthopaedic shoemaker who helps a charming elderly lady and a smiley young woman with cerebral palsy.

radiotimes.com

Part 1 was laughable. Vanessa Engle's frank and antagonistic questions were a dream to watch, the contributors even more so for squirming under her thumb. A particular favourite made it to the opening credits, as one of our doctors reveals, 'I have nothing to hide. If someone asks me what I earn, I earn x'. Vanessa's unique style delivers just what we'd expect in conversation with a lady about to undergo surgery to rid her of her ageing upper arms, as she poses the question, 'Do you ever think: actually, this is not important and I should go and find an orphanage in Romania or fight for world peace instead?' - met with just the kind of shifting eye contact and awkward body shifts that we'd expect. Yet not one of our contributors crumble.

I also enjoyed the fact that the music - including many the Eminem instrumental - was completely juxtaposed with the characters we meet. Although they go some way towards trying to seem approachable and humble, they just come across awkward and false. It's a tough game when you're set out against Engle.

dailymail.co.uk

In part 2, it wasn't just the interviews that spiced up the content, although one person's reasoning behind cosmetic surgery did seem a little over the top - 'People want to look good to keep their jobs'. I guess that means all of our politicians are out of luck for the general election then!

We even met one man who paid £7000 for a hair transplant - the price of holidays for seven years according to his mum.

I was particularly shocked by the visit to the Anti-ageing congress, where it felt more like a trip to the house of horrors than a place where people go to look good and feel young. In fact, I think the Guardian's Michael Hogan pretty much sums it up:

With a sad lack of self-awareness, one woman insisted she’d know when to stop having work done. At least, I think it was a woman. She looked more like a cartoon cat.

ebookee.net

Part 3, strayed towards the more weird and wonderful practices on Harley Street as we meet a therapist who cries because she loves her leeches and a Chinese doctor who prescribes herbs to help women to conceive. There were intravenous drips infusing vitamins directly to the bloodstream and just far too much weird, for far too much money, for my liking.

It was like a high-end cocktail of pompous hypochondriacs and over-paid private medical professionals but not for one minute do we find the contributors painful to watch. The scarce appearance of genuine patients seeking the best care and Engle's authored challenges, are enough to keep us engaged and entertained. It was a good insight into the workings of Harley Street, though I would have liked to have seen more of a focus on the patients journeys through treatment to see what private healthcare is all about.

One thing's for sure, I don't think I'd like to sit opposite Engle, if she's the one asking questions!

tvguide.co.uk