The Good Karma Hospital. White, uptight and outta sight

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The Good Karma Hospital. White, uptight and outta sight

February 08, 2017 - 09:56
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The British Empire may be a thing of the distant past but on ITV it’s alive and kicking. New Sunday night drama The Good Karma Hospital projects an uncomfortable image that those poor little former colonials still require a redoubtable white British person to run the show.

Neil Morrissey (left) and Amanda Redman (right)

The British Empire may be a thing of the distant past but on ITV it’s alive and kicking. New Sunday night drama The Good Karma Hospital projects an uncomfortable image that those poor little former colonials still require a redoubtable white British person to run the show.

Step forward the marvellously indefatigable Dr Lydia Fonseca, without whom healthcare in southern India would, it seems, fall apart at the seams. Into this implausibly charming third-world chaos steps Dr Ruby Walker – another vital import from the UK who, despite her Englishness, is at least Asian in appearance. Chalk one up for equality.

And we’re off on one of those productions that rely on sun-kissed scenery and the audience not questioning why all these impressive foreigners are required to help the unimpressive locals. Do Indian public hospitals really need imperial outsiders to make them tick? Or is this unlikely sub-tropical setting just a contrived device to spice up a run-of-the-mill medical saga with an exotic backdrop? I’m leaning towards the latter.

The domineering Dr Fonseca is played by Amanda Redman, a fine actress who is extremely good at this sort of role. But the more you watch her strutting around barking orders and being rude, the more you wonder what the hell this series is supposed to be. Think curried Holby City and you’ll get the general idea.

In fairness, it’s not quite as bad as that long forgotten ITV favourite Wild At Heart that unfolded in African safari country but only rarely featured a black face. It was like Ruislip in the jungle. The wonderful white settlers ruled the roost.

In The Good Karma Hospital, the non-Brits get a bit more of a look-in. But rest assured they still play second fiddle. Like Wild At Heart, it looks suspiciously as if guest white British actors will be shipped in to provide the central action. In episode one Philip Jackson was a groom who didn’t know that his wife-to-be was suffering from a terminal brain tumour. The doomed bride was played by Phyllis Logan, she of Mrs Hughes fame on Downton Abbey.

Meanwhile, adding to the white community, Neil Morrissey is a Jack-the-lad bar owner who happens to be shagging the aforementioned Dr Fonseca.  And at the hub of the derivative tale is Dr Walker (Amrita Acharia) who, after splitting from her boyfriend, quit her pressurised NHS job for a new life in the sun.

Immediately thrust into the deep end, she struggles to cope. But naturally she emerges triumphant and delivers a difficult baby. You can’t beat a spot of prime-time child birth to pile on the ratings. Ask the nuns on Call The Midwife.

Our heroine Ruby is clearly destined for romance with the impossibly handsome surgeon who – drum roll – isn’t British. But bet your bottom dollar this series will unfold in waves of predictable stories about grateful patients being saved by the dazzling doctors from abroad.

It’s not the worst thing you’ve ever seen. Reasonably passable weekend escapism. But it’s actually very formulaic. “There’s always a man,” booms Dr Fonseca to the cowering Ruby. “Which is neither interesting nor original.” Rather like this show.

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Wonderhorse's picture

Good clean fun - good cast and just a bit of fun. The hospital looks really authentic having worked as a volunteer in an extraordinarily similar hospital in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh many years ago. The venue is Sri Lanka and it looks as beautiful as ever.