BBC Radio 4, June 26 2017

Antibiotics no longer work – so there are some very tough calls to be made by those who’ve stuck with the NHS…

The second play developed through the Wellcome Trust Experimental Stories scheme (following Val McDermid’s Resistance, which is now available on download and CD), Culture also looks at a world where antibiotics have ceased to be effective – and that means that not everyone is able to get them. Those who pay for private insurance – sure, they’re okay, at least for the moment. But those who rely on the public health system: well, now there’s a “three strikes and you’re out” policy. And those who fail that or who are here illegally? Their only hope is a court of appeal within each hospital. And those have quotas to fill…

If you’re expecting a diatribe about the current and future state of the NHS, you may be surprised. There are certainly discussions about what’s gone wrong and how holding onto a faded ideal of what the NHS should be is not a sane approach, but the core of the play centres on two people who need antibiotics, but fail the tests for various reasons. David Calder and Olivia Popica are excellent as the pair while Pippa Nixon’s Anna – the doctor caught in the middle of so many different dilemmas – is highly credible.

It’s a tough listen at times, but the ending may well surprise you. Al Smith’s dystopian world still has human beings at its heart – and that’s the unexpectedly hopeful message you come away with.

Verdict: One of the best standalone Dangerous Visions for some time. 9/10

Paul Simpson

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